Disease In Wild Animals Research Articles

Diseases in wild animals in relation to nature management

Diseases in wild animals in relation to nature management

Investigation and Management of Disease in Wild Animals

Investigation and Management of Disease in Wild Animals

Oral immunization of rabbits with VP60 particles confers protection against rabbit hemorrhagic disease.

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) causes more than 90% mortality in adult rabbits. In this study, the cDNA of the VP60 coding sequence of RHDV was cloned under the control of the polyhedrin and p10 promoters of baculovirus to be expressed in insect cells. The expression of RHDV VP60 under the control of the p10 promoter was 5-10 times higher than using the polyhedrin promoter. The p10-derived VP60 was able to assemble into virus-like particles (VLPs). RHDV VLPs were successfully used to protect rabbits against the disease even at doses as low as 0.5 micrograms when injected intramuscularly or subcutaneously. The ability to elicit an immune response was independent of the adjuvant or the route of immunization. Remarkably, oral administration of RHDV VLPs efficiently induced protecting antibodies to RHD at doses as low as 3 micrograms. The use of binary ethylenimine for the stabilization of the VLPs was decisive for eliciting a good oral immunity. This report demonstrates the potential use of these procapsids in obtaining RHD oral vaccines and opens the door to the use of these capsids for the prevention of the disease in wild animals. Therefore, a new, and potentially important application of recombinant VLPs in the induction of protective immunity by the oral route is foreseen.

Validity of using serological tests for diagnosis of diseases in wild animals.

Transposition of diagnostic tests used in domestic livestock species to free-ranging and captive wildlife species has two problems. First, most existing tests have not been adequately validated in domestic livestock. Second, assumptions that a serological test will perform identically in wildlife and livestock species may not be correct, due to differences in pathogenic strains and serovars, host serological responses, and exposure to organisms of similar antigenic structure which produce cross-reacting antibodies. Some assays require species-specific reagents/test components which might not be commercially available, and most assays have not been standardized. The authors outline the principles involved in the evaluation of a serological diagnostic test, and provide examples of how knowledge of test sensitivity and specificity can be used to estimate true prevalence, to determine whether a population is infected, and to facilitate management decisions with regard to animal translocations.

Special challenges of maintaining wild animals in captivity in South America.

The author summarises the occurrence of major diseases in wild animals maintained in captivity in South America. The epidemiology, impact and significance of the diseases are discussed, together with appropriate husbandry practices to control and prevent transmissible diseases. The following animal groups and pathologies are considered in this review: poxvirus dermatitis, gastroenteritis, pneumonia, amoebosis and coccidiosis in reptiles, management practices and diseases (including botulism, bacterial enteritis, psittacosis, aspergillosis and parasitic diseases in birds), enterocolitis, pneumonias and internal parasites in non-human primates, canine distemper, parvoviruses, babesiosis, internal and external parasites in carnivores, tuberculosis and enteritis in tapirs, haemorrhagic disease in cervids.

Surveillance of wild animal diseases in Europe

A study of the methods and personnel involved in general surveillance of wild animal diseases in Europe was conducted by correspondence and personal interview in 1993-1994. Twenty-seven of the thirty-six countries contacted participated in the study. A great range was observed in the intensity of surveillance programmes and the details of their organisation. Programmes of comprehensive general surveillance were present in four countries, while eleven countries had general surveillance programmes which were limited to certain geographical regions and/or wild animal species. Twelve countries had no programmes of general wildlife disease surveillance, but had surveillance programmes for one or more specific diseases which included wild animals. Significant information on the occurrence of diseases in wild animals was available in each participating country. Factors found to be important in the structure and function of surveillance programmes were as follows: historical occurrences of rabies, hog cholera (classical swine fever), viral haemorrhagic disease of rabbits and the European brown hare syndrome; approaches to wildlife management and relationships between wildlife-oriented field personnel and the surveillance programme; whether or not fees were charged for diagnosis of diseases in wild animal specimens; training and equipment of diagnostic personnel; organisation of wild animal disease data.

Régime alimentaire du renard roux (Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus, 1758) en Lorraine (France)

Since 1982, a field team from the Centre national d'études vétérinaires et alimentaires, Laboratoire d'études sur la rage et la pathologie des animaux sauvages (Laboratory for the Study of Rabies and Diseases of Wild Animals of the National Centre for Veterinary and Food Studies) has undertaken a detailed study of the ecology and ethology of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus, 1758) in the Lorraine region of France, as part of a campaign against two zoonoses: rabies and alveolar echinococcosis. The purpose of the study was to determine the diet of this carnivore in relation to availability of prey within the study area. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of faeces was used for this purpose. Analysis of 160 faeces samples collected between January 1988 and October 1990 showed that rodents were the main food source for foxes, which showed a marked preference for the genus Microtus (voles). The frequency of appearance and quantity of the remains of Microtus spp. in the faeces were much greater than those of all other foods. However, foxes consumed quite a wide variety of food: plants, birds, insectivores, lagomorphs and many species of rodents. The foxes studied therefore presented characteristics intermediate between "generalists" and "specialists" in their choice of mammalian prey.

Infectious diseases in wild animals in Utah. VII. Experimental infection of rodents with Rickettsia rickettsii.

Summary The quantitative susceptibility of native and standard laboratory rodents to infection with Rickettsia rickettsii was determined using the development of spotted fever group complement-fixing (CF) antibody as the criterion for determining infection. Most species of rodents were moderately to highly susceptible to infection, while two species appeared to be comparatively resistant to infection. The development and persistence of rickettsemia in inoculated rodents was investigated. In most rodents a rickettsemia developed within two days and persisted for up to 16 days after the inoculation of R. rickettsii. The correlation of susceptibility as determined by CF antibody response with susceptibility observed by the development and persistence of rickettsemia was discussed. Of the many species of rodents tested, only one, the bushy-tailed wood rat, appeared to be highly resistant to infection as determined by the methods used. In eight species of rodents tested there was no tendency to develop a latent infection as all rodents had cleared the rickettsiae from their tissues by the fourth week after inoculation of R. rickettsii, as determined by the method employed. The development and persistence of spotted fever group CF antibody was observed in seven species of rodents. Peak titers occurred during the 2nd to 4th week after inoculation and low levels were detectable in most animals several months after inoculation.

Infectious diseases in wild animals in Utah. VI. Experimental infection of birds with Rickettsia rickettsii.

Lundgren, D. L. (University of Utah, Salt Lake City), B. D. Thorpe, and C. D. Haskell. Infectious diseases in wild animals in Utah. VI. Experimental infection of birds with Rickettsia rickettsii. J. Bacteriol. 91:963-966. 1966.-Chickens, pigeons, pheasants, sparrow hawks, red-tailed hawks, ravens, magpies, and a marsh hawk were inoculated with Rickettsia rickettsii, the etiological agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The development and persistence of complement-fixing (CF) antibodies and rickettsemias were tested for in these birds. Rickettsiae were recovered from the blood of a number of birds up to the 16th day after inoculation, whereas only the pigeon was found to develop high CF antibody titers. It was concluded that certain species of birds have the potential of contributing to the dissemination of R. rickettsii in nature, and that the CF test is generally unsuitable for serological diagnosis of this organism in birds.

Applicability of the Ascoli Test to Epizootic Tularemia in Wild Rodents

The Ascoli thermoprecipitin test for diagnosis of tularemia has been applied to experimentally infected animals including voles (Microtus) and found to be useful in identifying the infection (Larson, 1951). Sarchi (1930) reported successful use of the method for diagnosis of tularemia in water rats (Arvicola) in Russia, but no reports have appeared in this country on practical application of the test to diagnosis of disease in wild animals. A great increase in voles in several western states and the occurrence of tularemia among them (Jellison et al., 1958) afforded an opportunity for application of the test to field specimens.

PATHOLOGIC ANATOMY IN THE HYPOPHYSIS CEREBRI IN WILD ANIMALS

The attention of an observer is attracted to diseases of the endocrine system by unmistakable abnormality of development in young individuals, by a group of signs of variable definiteness or by autopsy observations. Except in certain gigantic states and sexual dystrophies, changes in anatomy and physiology of the pituitary body do not express themselves in a clear-cut manner. Acromegalic and genital alterations, while fairly clear in the human being, are not by any means so readily determined in the lower animals. This is especially true of wild varieties. In a reasonably complete review of the literature I did not discover a satisfactory case of pituitary disease in wild animals. There are numerous references in the literature to inflammation, strumas and tumors in the domestic animals, and there is a considerable volume of writing about the state of the hypophysis during pregnancy and hibernation. However, the relationship of pathologic to clinical