Molecular Detection of Zoonotic and Non-Zoonotic Pathogens from Wild Boars and Their Ticks in the Corsican Wetlands.

Baptiste Defaye,Vanina Pasqualini,Clemence Galon,Sébastien Grech-Angelini,Christian Pietri,Sara Moutailler,Yann Quilichini

doi:10.3390/pathogens10121643

Abstract

Corsica is the main French island in the Mediterranean Sea and has high levels of human and animal population movement. Among the local animal species, the wild boar is highly prevalent in the Corsican landscape and in the island’s traditions. Wild boars are the most commonly hunted animals on this island, and can be responsible for the transmission and circulation of pathogens and their vectors. In this study, wild boar samples and ticks were collected in 17 municipalities near wetlands on the Corsican coast. A total of 158 hunted wild boars were sampled (523 samples). Of these samples, 113 were ticks: 96.4% were Dermacentor marginatus, and the remainder were Hyalomma marginatum, Hyalomma scupense and Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. Of the wild boar samples, only three blood samples were found to be positive for Babesia spp. Of the tick samples, 90 were found to be positive for tick-borne pathogens (rickettsial species). These results confirm the importance of the wild boar as a host for ticks carrying diseases such as rickettsiosis near wetlands and recreational sites. Our findings also show that the wild boar is a potential carrier of babesiosis in Corsica, a pathogen detected for the first time in wild boars on the island.

Highlights

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most widely distributed ungulates in the world, present on all continents except Antarctica [1]
We collected tissue samples and ticks from wild boar from the Corsican wetlands, and we focused the screening on the detection of 34 species and 11 genera of bacteria, viruses, and parasites expected to be present and belonging to the main tick-borne pathogens or non-tick-borne pathogens with an considerable impact on animal and human health, including: African swine fever virus, Anaplasma spp., Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Aujeszky’s virus, Babesia bigemina, Babesia bovis, Pathogens 2021, 10, 1643
We report two wild boar hunting season surveys (2018–2019 and 2019–2020) in several coastal or near-coastal administrative municipalities of Corsica with the aim of identifying major non-vector pathogens, tick-borne pathogens, and their vectors

Summary

Introduction

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most widely distributed ungulates in the world, present on all continents except Antarctica [1]. Wild boars can represent a major hazard via direct or indirect interaction with many different species, including domestic pigs, livestock [5,6,7], and humans. These interactions can increase the risk of transmission of pathogens [8,9,10,11]. Wetlands represent one of the main watering and resting areas for both animals and humans [14,15] These habitats are important for public health given their role in vector proliferation and pathogen transmission [16,17,18]. The diversity and the prevalence of ectoparasite communities and pathogens can change [19]

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