Brennan Reilly N, Paulson Sally L, Escobar Luis E
Department of Entomology Virginia Tech Blacksburg Virginia USA.
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Virginia Tech Blacksburg Virginia USA.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Jun 18;14(6):e11509. doi: 10.1002/ece3.11509. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Pathogen spillover corresponds to the transmission of a pathogen or parasite from an original host species to a novel host species, preluding disease emergence. Understanding the interacting factors that lead to pathogen transmission in a zoonotic cycle could help identify novel hosts of pathogens and the patterns that lead to disease emergence. We hypothesize that ecological and biogeographic factors drive host encounters, infection susceptibility, and cross-species spillover transmission. Using a rodent-ectoparasite system in the Neotropics, with shared ectoparasite associations as a proxy for ecological interaction between rodent species, we assessed relationships between rodents using geographic range, phylogenetic relatedness, and ectoparasite associations to determine the roles of generalist and specialist hosts in the transmission cycle of hantavirus. A total of 50 rodent species were ranked on their centrality in a network model based on ectoparasites sharing. Geographic proximity and phylogenetic relatedness were predictors for rodents to share ectoparasite species and were associated with shorter network path distance between rodents through shared ectoparasites. The rodent-ectoparasite network model successfully predicted independent data of seven known hantavirus hosts. The model predicted five novel rodent species as potential, unrecognized hantavirus hosts in South America. Findings suggest that ectoparasite data, geographic range, and phylogenetic relatedness of wildlife species could help predict novel hosts susceptible to infection and possible transmission of zoonotic pathogens. Hantavirus is a high-consequence zoonotic pathogen with documented animal-to-animal, animal-to-human, and human-to-human transmission. Predictions of new rodent hosts can guide active epidemiological surveillance in specific areas and wildlife species to mitigate hantavirus spillover transmission risk from rodents to humans. This study supports the idea that ectoparasite relationships among rodents are a proxy of host species interactions and can inform transmission cycles of diverse pathogens circulating in wildlife disease systems, including wildlife viruses with epidemic potential, such as hantavirus.
病原体溢出是指病原体或寄生虫从原始宿主物种传播到新的宿主物种，这是疾病出现的前奏。了解导致人畜共患病循环中病原体传播的相互作用因素，有助于识别病原体的新宿主以及导致疾病出现的模式。我们假设生态和生物地理因素驱动宿主相遇、感染易感性和跨物种溢出传播。利用新热带地区的啮齿动物-外寄生虫系统，以共享的外寄生虫关联作为啮齿动物物种间生态相互作用的代理，我们通过地理范围、系统发育相关性和外寄生虫关联来评估啮齿动物之间的关系，以确定泛化宿主和特化宿主在汉坦病毒传播循环中的作用。基于外寄生虫共享，在网络模型中对总共50种啮齿动物的中心性进行了排名。地理邻近性和系统发育相关性是啮齿动物共享外寄生虫物种的预测因素，并且与通过共享外寄生虫在啮齿动物之间较短的网络路径距离相关。啮齿动物-外寄生虫网络模型成功预测了7种已知汉坦病毒宿主的独立数据。该模型预测了5种新的啮齿动物物种为南美洲潜在的、未被识别的汉坦病毒宿主。研究结果表明，野生动物物种的外寄生虫数据、地理范围和系统发育相关性有助于预测易受感染的新宿主以及人畜共患病原体的可能传播。汉坦病毒是一种具有高后果的人畜共患病原体，有动物对动物、动物对人类和人类对人类传播的记录。对新啮齿动物宿主的预测可以指导在特定地区和野生动物物种中进行主动的流行病学监测，以降低汉坦病毒从啮齿动物溢出传播给人类的风险。这项研究支持了这样一种观点，即啮齿动物之间的外寄生虫关系是宿主物种相互作用的代理，可以为野生动物疾病系统中传播的各种病原体的传播循环提供信息，包括具有流行潜力的野生动物病毒，如汉坦病毒。
