Loring Ángela, Carrera-Faja Laura, Ribas Maria Puig, Rosell Rosa, Marco Ignasi, Cabezón Oscar, Espunyes Johan
Wildlife Conservation Medicine Research Group (WildCoM), Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici V, Travessera dels Turons s/n, Bellaterra 08193, Spain.
Unitat mixta d'Investigació IRTA-UAB en Sanitat Animal. Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra 08193, Spain.
J Wildl Dis. 2023 Oct 1;59(4):786-790. doi: 10.7589/JWD-D-22-00181.
Since 2001, high-mortality outbreaks of border disease (BD) have negatively affected populations of Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica). Studies in the affected areas determined that sympatric wild ruminants did not seem to have an epidemiologic role in the circulation of border disease virus (BDV). However, the recent increase in European mouflon (Ovis aries musimon) densities might enhance the risk of pathogen transmission among chamois and mouflons. We conducted a serologic and virologic investigation of BDV in European mouflon from the Spanish Pyrenees, with the aim of determining potential changes in the role of this species in BDV epidemiology. From 2018 to 2022, we detected antibodies against BDV in 31/185 (16.7%) animals but did not detect BDV RNA in any spleen sample (0/65). These results indicate that BDV infection is occurring in these mouflon populations to a greater extent than previously described, which could shift the current understanding of BD epidemiology in the Pyrenees and cause an unpredictable effect on both chamois and mouflon populations. Further studies on the molecular identification of BDV in mouflon and chamois are required to better understand the contribution of mouflon in the epidemiology of BD.
自2001年以来，边境病（BD）的高死亡率疫情对比利牛斯羚羊（Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica）种群产生了负面影响。在受影响地区的研究确定，同域分布的野生反刍动物在边境病病毒（BDV）传播中似乎不具有流行病学作用。然而，欧洲摩弗伦羊（Ovis aries musimon）密度最近的增加可能会提高羚羊和摩弗伦羊之间病原体传播的风险。我们对来自西班牙比利牛斯山脉的欧洲摩弗伦羊进行了BDV的血清学和病毒学调查，目的是确定该物种在BDV流行病学中作用的潜在变化。在2018年至2022年期间，我们在31/185（16.7%）只动物中检测到了抗BDV抗体，但在任何脾脏样本中均未检测到BDV RNA（0/65）。这些结果表明，BDV感染在这些摩弗伦羊种群中的发生程度比之前描述的更高，这可能会改变目前对比利牛斯山脉BD流行病学的认识，并对羚羊和摩弗伦羊种群产生不可预测的影响。需要进一步研究摩弗伦羊和羚羊中BDV的分子鉴定，以更好地了解摩弗伦羊在BD流行病学中的作用。
