Influence of cohabitation between domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) and Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica hispanica) on seroprevalence of infectious diseases

Abstract

We have investigated the prevalence of infection with different pathogens in domestic goat (Capra hircus) and Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica hispanica) populations from two neighbouring geographical zones (with or without cohabitation between wild and domestic species) in Spain. No ibexes were found to be seropositive for Brucella melitensis, Mycoplasma mycoides supspecies mycoides (Mycoplasma mycoides), bovine leukaemia virus, and Chlamydophila abortus or bovine herpes virus type 1 (BHV-1). Domestic goats from both zones were detected with antibodies to Chlamydophila abortus and BHV-1. The percentage seroprevalence against Coxiella burnetii, Mycoplasma agalactiae, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) and bluetongue virus (BTV) was clearly higher in domestic goats compared to wild ibexes in both zones, although CAEV showed negative results in a zone where species were isolated from each other. Moreover, Borrelia burgdorferi and Pestivirus infection showed moderate seroprevalence differences between domestic and wild goats in cohabitation zones, with the highest prevalence found in wild ibexes from a non-cohabitation zone. Our results showed that cohabitation between species was a risk factor (P < 0.05) in Q fever infection.