Serosurvey of Smooth Brucella, Leptospira spp. and Toxoplasma gondii in Free-Ranging Jaguars (Panthera onca) and Domestic Animals from Brazil.

Mariana Malzoni Furtado,Zenaide Maria De Morais,Grasiela Edith De Oliveira Porfírio,Cassia Yumi Ikuta,Gisele Oliveira De Souza,Rahel Sollmann,Leandro Silveira,Natália Mundim Tôrres,José Soares Ferreira Neto,Hilda Fátima De Jesus Pena,Solange Maria Gennari,Anah Tereza De Almeida Jácomo,Odir Antônio Dellagostin

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0143816

Mariana Malzoni Furtado, Zenaide Maria De Morais + Show 11 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143816

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Abstract

This study investigated the exposure of jaguar populations and domestic animals to smooth Brucella, Leptospira spp. and Toxoplasma gondii in the Cerrado, Pantanal and Amazon biomes of Brazil. Between February 2000 and January 2010, serum samples from 31 jaguars (Panthera onca), 1,245 cattle (Bos taurus), 168 domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and 29 domestic cats (Felis catus) were collected and analysed by rose bengal test for smooth Brucella, microscopic agglutination test for Leptospira spp. and modified agglutination test for T. gondii. Cattle populations from all sites (9.88%) were exposed to smooth Brucella, but only one jaguar from Cerrado was exposed to this agent. Jaguars captured in the Cerrado (60.0%) and in the Pantanal (45.5%) were seropositive for different serovars of Leptospira spp., cattle (72.18%) and domestic dogs (13.1%) from the three sites and one domestic cat from Pantanal were also seropositive for the agent. The most prevalent serotype of Leptospira spp. identified in jaguars from the Cerrado (Grippotyphosa) and the Pantanal (Pomona) biomes were distinct from those found in the domestic animals sampled. Jaguars (100%), domestic dogs (38.28%) and domestic cats (82.76%) from the three areas were exposed to T. gondii. Our results show that brucellosis and leptospirosis could have been transmitted to jaguars by domestic animals; and jaguars probably play an important role in the maintenance of T. gondii in nature.

Highlights

The impact of pathogens on the population dynamics of wild carnivores remains unknown, the impact of infection and disease on their populations is predicted to grow over the 50–100 years [1,2]
Individuals sampled from Emas National Park (ENP) region were more exposed to smooth Brucella than individuals from Cantao State Park (CSP) region (p = 0.032), and cattle were significantly more exposed to the agent than domestic dogs (p = 0.014)
Jaguars captured in ENP and in the Pantanal were seropositive for different serovars of Leptospira spp. with titers ranging between 100 and 6400, while the four jaguars from CSP were negative for the agent

Summary

Introduction

The impact of pathogens on the population dynamics of wild carnivores remains unknown, the impact of infection and disease on their populations is predicted to grow over the 50–100 years [1,2]. The transmission of pathogens can occur in both directions: from domestic to wild or wild to domestic animals [5]. There are few reported incidents in carnivores, and the infection occurs through ingestion of aborted fetuses of infected animals [6]. Cats normally are resistant to Brucella spp. and had no clinical disease [6]. Exposure to B. abortus has already been described for large cats in captivity, like lions (Panthera leo) in the United States [8] and jaguars (Panthera onca) in Chile [9] and Brazil [10]

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