Nol Pauline, Ionescu Radu, Geremariam Welearegay Tesfalem, Barasona Jose Angel, Vicente Joaquin, de Jesus Beleño-Sáenz Kelvin, Barrenetxea Irati, Jose Torres Maria, Ionescu Florina, Rhyan Jack
Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health, Veterinary Services, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA.
Department of Electronics, Electrical and Automatic Engineering, Rovira i Virgili University, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
Pathogens. 2020 May 2;9(5):346. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9050346.
The presence of complex (MTBC) in wild swine, such as in wild boar () in Eurasia, is cause for serious concern. Development of accurate, efficient, and noninvasive methods to detect MTBC in wild swine would be highly beneficial to surveillance and disease management efforts in affected populations. Here, we describe the first report of identification of volatile organic compounds (VOC) obtained from the breath and feces of wild boar to distinguish between MTBC-positive and MTBC-negative boar. We analyzed breath and fecal VOC collected from 15 MTBC-positive and 18 MTBC-negative wild boar in Donaña National Park in Southeast Spain. Analyses were divided into three age classes, namely, adults (>2 years), sub-adults (12-24 months), and juveniles (<12 months). We identified significant compounds by applying the two-tailed statistical t-test for two samples assuming unequal variance, with an α value of 0.05. One statistically significant VOC was identified in breath samples from adult wild boar and 14 were identified in breath samples from juvenile wild boar. One statistically significant VOC was identified in fecal samples collected from sub-adult wild boar and three were identified in fecal samples from juvenile wild boar. In addition, discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to build classification models for MTBC prediction in juvenile animals. Using DFA, we were able to distinguish between MTBC-positive juvenile wild boar and MTBC-negative juvenile wild boar using breath VOC or fecal VOC. Based on our results, further research is warranted and should be performed using larger sample sizes, as well as wild boar from various geographic locations, to verify these compounds as biomarkers for MTBC infection in this species. This new approach to detect MTBC infection in free-ranging wild boar potentially comprises a reliable and efficient screening tool for surveillance in animal populations.
在野猪等野生猪科动物中存在复合菌（结核分枝杆菌复合群，MTBC），比如在欧亚大陆的野猪中存在该菌，这引发了严重关注。开发准确、高效且非侵入性的方法来检测野生猪科动物中的MTBC，将对受影响种群的监测和疾病管理工作大有裨益。在此，我们报告首次从野猪的呼吸气体和粪便中鉴定出挥发性有机化合物（VOC），以区分MTBC阳性和MTBC阴性野猪。我们分析了从西班牙东南部多尼亚纳国家公园采集的15头MTBC阳性和18头MTBC阴性野猪的呼吸气体和粪便VOC。分析分为三个年龄组，即成年猪（>2岁）、亚成年猪（12 - 24个月）和幼猪（<12个月）。我们通过对两个样本应用假设方差不等的双尾统计t检验（α值为0.05）来鉴定显著化合物。在成年野猪的呼吸样本中鉴定出一种具有统计学意义的VOC，在幼猪的呼吸样本中鉴定出14种。在亚成年野猪粪便样本中鉴定出一种具有统计学意义的VOC，在幼猪粪便样本中鉴定出3种。此外，判别函数分析（DFA）用于构建幼龄动物MTBC预测的分类模型。使用DFA，我们能够利用呼吸VOC或粪便VOC区分MTBC阳性幼龄野猪和MTBC阴性幼龄野猪。基于我们的结果，有必要进一步开展研究，且应使用更大样本量以及来自不同地理位置的野猪进行研究，以验证这些化合物作为该物种MTBC感染生物标志物的有效性。这种检测自由放养野猪中MTBC感染的新方法可能构成一种用于动物种群监测的可靠且高效的筛查工具。
