Süld Karmen, Tammeleht Egle, Valdmann Harri, Saarma Urmas
Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia, Estonia.
Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia, Estonia.
Vet Parasitol. 2017 Aug 30;243:67-70. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2017.05.029. Epub 2017 Jun 3.
Sarcoptic mange is a highly contagious zoonotic skin disease that can have severe effect on population dynamics of many wild mammals. However, very little is known about its effect on the activity and space use of infected animals. In this study we equipped two raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in a mange outbreak area with radio-collars and observed the spatial and temporal effects of sarcoptic mange to these individuals. Initially, the raccoon dogs had no external symptoms of mange infection, but developed these during the study period. One of the raccoon dogs died just 32 and the other 52days after collaring. During a relatively short period before their death, there was an abrupt and drastic decline in their home range size. For one of the animals it started about 1 month before its death and the home range size reduced >1000×, whereas for the other raccoon dog it took place within the last week, decreasing >200×. The daily covered distances also declined considerably. These results indicate that at the later stage sarcoptic mange affected the physiological state of the diseased animals so forcefully that made them almost immobile. Our results show for the first time how rapid and severe could the impact of sarcoptic mange be for one of its most important reservoir and vector species.
疥螨病是一种极具传染性的人畜共患皮肤病，会对许多野生哺乳动物的种群动态产生严重影响。然而，对于其对受感染动物活动和空间利用的影响却知之甚少。在本研究中，我们给疥螨病爆发地区的两只貉（Nyctereutes procyonoides）佩戴了无线电项圈，并观察了疥螨病对这些个体的时空影响。最初，貉没有疥螨感染的外部症状，但在研究期间出现了这些症状。其中一只貉在佩戴项圈后仅32天死亡，另一只在52天后死亡。在它们死亡前的相对较短时间内，其家域面积急剧大幅下降。对于其中一只动物，这种下降在其死亡前约1个月开始，家域面积减少了1000多倍；而对于另一只貉，这种下降发生在最后一周内，减少了200多倍。每日活动距离也大幅下降。这些结果表明，在后期，疥螨病对患病动物的生理状态影响极大，使其几乎无法活动。我们的结果首次表明，疥螨病对其最重要的宿主和传播物种之一的影响可能有多迅速和严重。
