Perec-Matysiak Agnieszka, Leśniańska Kinga, Buńkowska-Gawlik Katarzyna, Merta Dorota, Popiołek Marcin, Hildebrand Joanna
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Wrocław, 51-148 Wrocław, Poland.
Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Institute of Biology, Pedagogical University of Kraków, 30-084 Kraków, Poland.
Pathogens. 2021 Nov 13;10(11):1478. doi: 10.3390/pathogens10111478.
Wild carnivores, both introduced and native species, are able to adapt well to peri-urban environments, facilitating cross-species pathogen transmission with domestic animals, and potentially humans. The role of wild living reservoir hosts cannot be ignored because of their known carriage of zoonotic genotypes. In the past decades, populations of wild living carnivores, i.e., native, such as red foxes, and invasive, such as raccoon dogs and raccoons, have increased and adapted to synanthropic environments across Europe, including Poland. The knowledge concerning genotype identification and distribution in wild carnivores is limited worldwide. A total of 322 individual fecal samples from six carnivore species, i.e., raccoon, raccoon dog, red fox, European badger, pine and beech martens, were collected and then analysed for the presence of using the nested PCR method. Overall prevalence of the pathogen was estimated to be as high as 27.3%. The infection rates for varied between the carnivore species, from 13.7% in beech martens to 40.4% in raccoon dogs. Based on sequence analysis of the ITS region of the rRNA gene marker, we detected five known genotypes of in examined animals. In the invasive species, NCF2 and D genotypes have been identified, whereas in the native ones, NCF2, D, C, EbCar2 and Type IV genotypes were identified. All genotypes recorded in this survey clustered in Group 1, showing their zoonotic potential. Our results provide the first description of the occurrence and genotypes of the microsporidian in wild living population of raccoon dogs in Europe. Our findings are important for the study of pathogen epidemiology and emphasize the fact that the invasive and the native wild living carnivores, both widely distributed, should be considered more seriously as significant sources of zoonotic pathogens hazardous to domestic and farmed animals and humans.
野生食肉动物，包括外来物种和本地物种，都能够很好地适应城市周边环境，这促进了跨物种病原体在家畜以及潜在的人类之间的传播。野生宿主的作用不容忽视，因为它们携带已知的人畜共患病基因型。在过去几十年里，野生食肉动物的数量，即本地的如赤狐，以及入侵的如貉和浣熊，在欧洲包括波兰都有所增加，并适应了与人类共生的环境。关于野生食肉动物基因型鉴定和分布的知识在全球范围内都很有限。总共收集了来自六种食肉动物物种，即浣熊、貉、赤狐、欧洲獾、松貂和石貂的322份个体粪便样本，然后使用巢式PCR方法分析是否存在[病原体名称未给出]。病原体的总体患病率估计高达27.3%。[病原体名称未给出]的感染率在不同食肉动物物种之间有所不同，从石貂的13.7%到貉的40.4%。基于rRNA基因标记的ITS区域的序列分析，我们在被检查的动物中检测到了[病原体名称未给出]的五种已知基因型。在入侵物种中，鉴定出了NCF2和D基因型，而在本地物种中，鉴定出了NCF2、D、C、EbCar2和IV型基因型。本次调查中记录的所有[病原体名称未给出]基因型都聚集在第1组，显示出它们的人畜共患病潜力。我们的结果首次描述了欧洲野生貉种群中微孢子虫[病原体名称未给出]的发生情况和基因型。我们的发现对于病原体流行病学研究很重要，并强调了这样一个事实，即广泛分布的入侵和本地野生食肉动物应被更严肃地视为对家畜和养殖动物以及人类有害的人畜共患病原体的重要来源。
