HUN-REN-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary.
Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 13;14(1):23945. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-74575-2.
Exposure to contagious pathogens can result in behavioural changes, which can alter the spread of infectious diseases. Healthy individuals can express generalized social distancing or avoid the sources of infection, while infected individuals can show passive or active self-isolation. Amphibians are globally threatened by contagious diseases, yet their behavioural responses to infections are scarcely known. We studied behavioural changes in agile frog (Rana dalmatina) juveniles upon exposure to a Ranavirus (Rv) using classic choice tests. We found that both non-infected and Rv-infected focal individuals spatially avoided infected conspecifics, while there were no signs of generalized social distancing, nor self-isolation. Avoidance of infected conspecifics may effectively hinder disease transmission, protecting non-infected individuals as well as preventing secondary infections in already infected individuals. On the other hand, the absence of self-isolation by infected individuals may facilitate it. Since infection status did not affect the time spent near conspecifics, it is unlikely that the pathogen manipulated host behaviour. More research is urgently needed to understand under what circumstances behavioural responses can help amphibians cope with infections, and how that affects disease dynamics in natural populations.
接触传染性病原体可能导致行为改变，从而改变传染病的传播。健康个体可以表现出普遍的社交距离或避免感染源，而感染个体可以表现出被动或主动的自我隔离。两栖动物受到传染性疾病的全球威胁，但它们对感染的行为反应却鲜为人知。我们使用经典选择测试研究了敏捷蛙（Rana dalmatina）幼体在接触 Ranavirus（Rv）时的行为变化。我们发现，未感染和感染 Rv 的焦点个体在空间上都避开了感染的同种个体，而没有表现出普遍的社交距离，也没有自我隔离。避开感染的同种个体可以有效地阻止疾病传播，保护未感染的个体，并防止已感染个体的二次感染。另一方面，感染个体的自我隔离缺失可能会促进疾病的传播。由于感染状况不影响个体与同种个体的接近时间，因此病原体不太可能操纵宿主行为。迫切需要更多的研究来了解在什么情况下行为反应可以帮助两栖动物应对感染，以及这如何影响自然种群中的疾病动态。
