Knox Fiona, Stephens Nahiid, Keatley Sarah, Ash Amanda, Douch James, Cowen Saul, Rayner Kelly, Vaughan-Higgins Rebecca
Murdoch University School of Veterinary Medicine, 90 South St, Murdoch, Western Australia, 6150, Australia.
Melbourne University Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Asia-Pacific Centre for Animal Health, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia.
Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2025 Jan 7;26:101037. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2025.101037. eCollection 2025 Apr.
From 2020 to 2022, systematic investigation of wildlife mortalities on Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia was initiated to inform wildlife disease risk analyses for translocation purposes. As part of this monitoring, in November 2020, a sandy inland mouse () was found deceased with multiple comorbidities. Gross necropsy, histopathology and ancillary molecular testing identified several novel host-parasite associations. was identified via molecular methods in association with consistent cutaneous pathology, representing the first known detection of this parasite in an Australian native rodent. A putative novel virus belonging to the subfamily was also identified, representing the first known detection of a herpesvirus () from this species, although it was not clearly associated with other disease processes. A heavy burden of the cestode was also present in the gastrointestinal tract, representing a new host record for this species, whilst a pancreatic adenocarcinoma was also found. Beyond the novelty of these host records, these findings contribute to important health baselines of rodent populations on Dirk Hartog Island and highlight the value of investigating mortalities and implementing health surveillance as part of ecological monitoring and wildlife translocation projects.
2020年至2022年期间，西澳大利亚州德克·哈托格岛启动了对野生动物死亡情况的系统调查，以便为出于转移目的的野生动物疾病风险分析提供信息。作为这项监测工作的一部分，2020年11月，发现一只内陆沙鼠死亡，伴有多种合并症。大体尸检、组织病理学检查和辅助分子检测确定了几种新的宿主-寄生虫关联。通过分子方法确定了与一致的皮肤病理学相关的[寄生虫名称未给出]，这是该寄生虫在澳大利亚本土啮齿动物中的首次已知发现。还鉴定出一种属于[病毒亚科名称未给出]亚科的假定新型病毒，这是该疱疹病毒属（[病毒属名称未给出]）在该物种中的首次已知发现，尽管它与其他疾病过程没有明显关联。胃肠道中还存在大量的[绦虫名称未给出]绦虫，这是该物种的一个新宿主记录，同时还发现了一例胰腺腺癌。除了这些宿主记录的新颖性之外，这些发现有助于确定德克·哈托格岛啮齿动物种群的重要健康基线，并突出了调查死亡情况和实施健康监测作为生态监测和野生动物转移项目一部分的价值。
