Gamble Amandine, Ramos Raül, Parra-Torres Yaiza, Mercier Aurélien, Galal Lokman, Pearce-Duvet Jessica, Villena Isabelle, Montalvo Tomás, González-Solís Jacob, Hammouda Abdessalem, Oro Daniel, Selmi Slaheddine, Boulinier Thierry
CEFE, CNRS, University of Montpellier, EPHE, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, IRD, Montpellier, France.
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2019 Jan 12;8:221-228. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.01.002. eCollection 2019 Apr.
Efficiently tracking and anticipating the dynamics of infectious agents in wild populations requires the gathering of large numbers of samples, if possible at several locations and points in time, which can be a challenge for some species. Testing for the presence of specific maternal antibodies in egg yolks sampled on the colonies could represent an efficient way to quantify the exposure of breeding females to infectious agents, particularly when using an abundant and widespread species, such as the yellow-legged gull (). We used such an approach to explore spatio-temporal patterns of exposure to , a pathogenic protozoan responsible of toxoplasmosis in humans and other warm-blooded vertebrates. First, we tested the validity of this approach by exploring the repeatability of the detection of specific antibodies at the egg level using two different immunoassays and at the clutch level using an occupancy model. Then, samples gathered in 15 colonies from France, Spain and Tunisia were analysed using an immunoassay detecting antibodies specifically directed against . Prevalence of specific antibodies in eggs was overall high while varying significantly among colonies. These results revealed that circulated at a large spatial scale in the western Mediterranean yellow-legged gull population, highlighting its potential role in the maintenance community of this parasite. Additionally, this study illustrates how species commensal to human populations like large gulls can be used as wildlife sentinels for the tracking of infectious agents at the human-wildlife interface, notably by sampling eggs.
要有效地追踪和预测野生动物群体中感染因子的动态变化，需要采集大量样本，如有可能，需在多个地点和不同时间点进行采集，这对某些物种来说可能是一项挑战。检测在繁殖地采集的蛋黄中特定母源抗体的存在情况，可能是量化繁殖雌性动物接触感染因子程度的一种有效方法，特别是当使用一种数量丰富且分布广泛的物种时，比如黄腿鸥。我们采用这种方法来探索感染刚地弓形虫（一种导致人类和其他温血脊椎动物患弓形虫病的致病性原生动物）的时空模式。首先，我们通过使用两种不同的免疫测定法在蛋的层面以及使用占有率模型在一窝蛋的层面探索特定抗体检测的可重复性，来检验这种方法的有效性。然后，我们使用一种能检测针对刚地弓形虫的特异性抗体的免疫测定法，对从法国、西班牙和突尼斯的15个繁殖地采集的样本进行了分析。蛋中特异性抗体的总体患病率较高，但不同繁殖地之间差异显著。这些结果表明，刚地弓形虫在地中海西部黄腿鸥种群中在较大空间尺度上传播，凸显了其在该寄生虫维持群落中的潜在作用。此外，这项研究还说明了像大型海鸥这样与人类共生的物种如何能够作为野生动物哨兵，用于在人类 - 野生动物界面追踪感染因子，特别是通过对蛋进行采样。
