Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Buck Island Ranch, Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, FL 33960, USA.
Viruses. 2024 Aug 31;16(9):1397. doi: 10.3390/v16091397.
Understanding the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of transboundary animal diseases (TADs) among wild pigs () will aid in preventing the introduction or containment of TADs among wild populations. Given the challenges associated with studying TADs in free-ranging populations, a surrogate pathogen system may predict how pathogens may circulate and be maintained within wild free-ranging swine populations, how they may spill over into domestic populations, and how management actions may impact transmission. We assessed the suitability of Torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1) to serve as a surrogate pathogen for molecular epidemiological studies in wild pigs by investigating the prevalence, persistence, correlation with host health status and genetic variability at two study areas: Archbold's Buck Island Ranch in Florida and Savannah River Site in South Carolina. We then conducted a molecular epidemiological case study within Archbold's Buck Island Ranch site to determine how analysis of this pathogen could inform transmission dynamics of a directly transmitted virus. Prevalence was high in both study areas (40%, = 190), and phylogenetic analyses revealed high levels of genetic variability within and between study areas. Our case study showed that pairwise host relatedness and geographic distance were highly correlated to pairwise viral genetic similarity. Molecular epidemiological analyses revealed a distinct pattern of direct transmission from pig to pig occurring within and between family groups. Our results suggest that TTSuV1 is highly suitable for molecular epidemiological analyses and will be useful for future studies of transmission dynamics in wild free-ranging pigs.
了解野生动物（）中跨界动物疾病（TADs）的流行病学和传播动态，有助于防止 TADs 在野生动物种群中的引入或控制。鉴于在自由放养种群中研究 TADs 所面临的挑战，替代病原体系统可能会预测病原体如何在野生自由放养猪群中循环和维持，它们如何溢出到家养种群中，以及管理措施如何影响传播。我们评估了 Torque teno sus 病毒 1（TTSuV1）作为野生猪分子流行病学研究替代病原体的适宜性，方法是在两个研究区域（佛罗里达州的 Archbold's Buck Island Ranch 和南卡罗来纳州的 Savannah River Site）调查其流行率、持久性、与宿主健康状况的相关性和遗传变异性。然后，我们在 Archbold's Buck Island Ranch 进行了分子流行病学病例研究，以确定分析这种病原体如何为直接传播病毒的传播动态提供信息。两个研究区域的流行率均很高（40%，=190），系统发育分析显示研究区域内和之间存在高水平的遗传变异。我们的病例研究表明，宿主亲缘关系和地理距离的两两相关性与病毒遗传相似性的两两相关性非常高。分子流行病学分析显示，在家庭群体内部和之间存在直接从猪到猪的明显传播模式。我们的研究结果表明，TTSuV1 非常适合分子流行病学分析，将有助于未来对野生自由放养猪传播动态的研究。
