Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Ohio State University, 1920 Coffey Rd., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD, 20705-2350, USA.
Ecohealth. 2019 Mar;16(1):109-115. doi: 10.1007/s10393-018-1390-x. Epub 2019 Jan 9.
The protozoan Neospora caninum is transmitted between domestic and wildlife species. Urbanized environments and deer density may facilitate this transmission and play a critical role in the spillover of N. caninum from domestic animals to wildlife. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; WTD) are an important intermediate host for maintaining the sylvatic cycle of N. caninum in the USA. Here, we assayed serum samples from 444 WTD from a nature reservation across a suburban to urban gradient in Ohio, USA. Antibodies to N. caninum were found by using a recombinant NcGRA6 ELISA in 23.6% (105/444). Significant risk factors for seropositivity were age class and urbanization. Deer from urbanized environments were at greater odds of being seropositive (89/323, 27.6%) than those from suburban habitats (16/121, 13.2%), and this difference persisted when adjusting for age and sex. Age was also a significant risk factor with adults at greater odds to be seropositive than fawns and yearlings. We speculate the main route of exposure in WTD is ingestion of N. caninum oocysts from contaminated environments and urbanized habitats facilitate this exposure.
刚地弓形虫是一种原生动物，在家畜和野生动物之间传播。城市化环境和鹿的密度可能会促进这种传播，并在刚地弓形虫从家畜向野生动物溢出中发挥关键作用。白尾鹿（Odocoileus virginianus；WTD）是维持美国刚地弓形虫森林循环的重要中间宿主。在这里，我们检测了来自美国俄亥俄州一个自然保护区的 444 头 WTD 的血清样本，该保护区跨越了从郊区到城市的梯度。使用重组 NcGRA6 ELISA 检测到 23.6%（105/444）的血清对刚地弓形虫呈抗体阳性。血清阳性的显著危险因素是年龄类别和城市化。来自城市化环境的鹿比来自郊区栖息地的鹿（89/323，27.6%）更有可能呈血清阳性，并且在调整年龄和性别后，这种差异仍然存在。年龄也是一个重要的危险因素，成年鹿比幼鹿和一岁鹿更有可能呈血清阳性。我们推测，WTD 暴露的主要途径是摄入受污染环境中的刚地弓形虫卵囊，而城市化栖息地促进了这种暴露。
