Graham A L, Nussey D H, Lloyd-Smith J O, Longbottom D, Maley M, Pemberton J M, Pilkington J G, Prager K C, Smith L, Watt K A, Wilson K, McNEILLY T N, Brülisauer F
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology,Princeton University,Princeton,NJ,USA.
Institute of Evolutionary Biology,School of Biological Sciences,University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh,UK.
Epidemiol Infect. 2016 Jul;144(9):1879-88. doi: 10.1017/S0950268816000017. Epub 2016 Feb 1.
We assessed evidence of exposure to viruses and bacteria in an unmanaged and long-isolated population of Soay sheep (Ovis aries) inhabiting Hirta, in the St Kilda archipelago, 65 km west of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The sheep harbour many metazoan and protozoan parasites but their exposure to viral and bacterial pathogens is unknown. We tested for herpes viral DNA in leucocytes and found that 21 of 42 tested sheep were infected with ovine herpesvirus 2 (OHV-2). We also tested 750 plasma samples collected between 1997 and 2010 for evidence of exposure to seven other viral and bacterial agents common in domestic Scottish sheep. We found evidence of exposure to Leptospira spp., with overall seroprevalence of 6·5%. However, serological evidence indicated that the population had not been exposed to border disease, parainfluenza, maedi-visna, or orf viruses, nor to Chlamydia abortus. Some sheep tested positive for antibodies against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) but, in the absence of retrospective faecal samples, the presence of this infection could not be confirmed. The roles of importation, the pathogen-host interaction, nematode co-infection and local transmission warrant future investigation, to elucidate the transmission ecology and fitness effects of the few viral and bacterial pathogens on Hirta.
我们评估了生活在苏格兰外赫布里底群岛本贝丘拉以西65公里处圣基尔达群岛希尔塔岛上的未管理且长期隔离的索艾羊（绵羊属）群体接触病毒和细菌的证据。这些绵羊携带许多后生动物和原生动物寄生虫，但它们接触病毒和细菌病原体的情况尚不清楚。我们检测了白细胞中的疱疹病毒DNA，发现42只受试绵羊中有21只感染了绵羊疱疹病毒2型（OHV - 2）。我们还检测了1997年至2010年间收集的750份血浆样本，以寻找接触苏格兰家养绵羊中常见的其他七种病毒和细菌病原体的证据。我们发现了接触钩端螺旋体属的证据，总体血清阳性率为6.5%。然而，血清学证据表明该群体未接触过边境病病毒、副流感病毒、梅迪 - 维斯纳病毒或orf病毒，也未接触过流产衣原体。一些绵羊针对鸟分枝杆菌副结核亚种（MAP）的抗体检测呈阳性，但由于缺乏回顾性粪便样本，无法证实这种感染的存在。引入、病原体与宿主的相互作用、线虫共感染以及局部传播的作用值得未来进行研究，以阐明少数病毒和细菌病原体在希尔塔岛的传播生态及对健康的影响。
