Institute of Vertebrate Biology, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
Sci Rep. 2021 May 25;11(1):10869. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89283-4.
Conservation efforts have led to the recovery of the endangered mountain gorilla populations. Due to their limited potential for spatial expansion, population densities increased, which may alter the epidemiology of infectious diseases. Recently, clinical gastrointestinal illnesses linked to helminth infections have been recorded in both gorilla populations. To understand drivers and patterns of helminth infections we quantified strongylid and tapeworm infections across both Virunga Massif and Bwindi populations using fecal egg counts. We assessed the impact of age, sex, group size, season and spatial differences used as a proxy, which reflects observed variation in the occurrence of gastrointestinal problems, vegetation types, gorilla subpopulation growth and associated social structure on helminth infections. We revealed striking geographic differences in strongylid infections with higher egg counts mostly in areas with high occurrences of gastrointestinal disease. Increased helminth egg counts were also associated with decreasing group size in some areas. Observed spatial differences may reflect mutual effects of variations in subpopulation growth rates, gorilla social structure, and vegetation associated with altitude across mountain gorilla habitat. Helminth infection intensities in Virunga gorillas were lowest in the youngest and the oldest animals. Elucidating parasite infection patterns of endangered species with low genetic diversity is crucial for their conservation management.
保护工作使得濒危的山地大猩猩种群得以恢复。由于它们在空间扩展方面的潜力有限，种群密度增加，这可能改变传染病的流行病学。最近，在两个大猩猩种群中都记录到了与寄生虫感染有关的临床胃肠道疾病。为了了解寄生虫感染的驱动因素和模式，我们使用粪便虫卵计数法对维龙加山脉和布温迪种群中的Strongylid 和绦虫感染进行了定量分析。我们评估了年龄、性别、群体大小、季节和空间差异（作为代理）的影响，这些差异反映了胃肠道问题、植被类型、大猩猩亚种群增长以及相关社会结构的发生变化，对寄生虫感染的影响。我们发现 Strongylid 感染存在显著的地理差异，在胃肠道疾病高发地区的虫卵计数更高。在一些地区，随着群体规模的减小，寄生虫卵的数量也在增加。观察到的空间差异可能反映了高山大猩猩栖息地中种群增长率、大猩猩社会结构和与海拔相关的植被的变化相互作用。维龙加大猩猩的寄生虫感染强度在最年轻和最年长的动物中最低。阐明遗传多样性低的濒危物种的寄生虫感染模式对于它们的保护管理至关重要。
