Rietz Janine, Beudert Burkhard, Ferry Nicolas, Böcker Lukas, Conraths Franz J, Probst Carolina, Zedrosser Andreas, Küchenhoff Helmut, Hais Martin, Schlüter Jens, Lackner Tomas, von Hoermann Christian, Müller Jörg, Heurich Marco
Department of National Park Monitoring and Animal Management, Bavarian Forest National Park, Grafenau, Germany.
Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 16;15(1):25795. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-07716-w.
Infectious diseases in wildlife threaten not only those species but also domestic animals and human health, necessitating strategies to prevent pathogen spread. The natural decomposition of carcasses may lead to pathogen inactivation due to associated increases in temperature and changes in the pH of the carcass and in the surrounding soil. In this study, the internal temperatures of 64 decomposing wild boar carcasses, the pH in the topsoil beneath 74 carcasses, and the pH of muscle and rectal tissue from 12 carcasses were monitored throughout the decomposition process. Carcass temperatures increased during decomposition, frequently exceeding 30 °C during aerobic decomposition in summer (maximum 58 °C). The pH in the carcasses increased until skeletonization, ranging from pH 4 to above pH 8. Soil pH also continuously increased during the decomposition, reaching a pH above 9 and remaining stable for at least 30 days post-skeletonization. The information on natural carcass decomposition processes provided by our study can serve as a basis for future studies to assess if elevated carcass temperatures and pH changes are sufficient for pathogen inactivation. However, our results suggest that, in most cases, neither the increase in carcass temperatures nor the changes in pH exceed the thresholds required to inactivate African swine fever virus.
野生动物中的传染病不仅威胁这些物种,还威胁家畜和人类健康,因此需要采取策略来防止病原体传播。尸体的自然分解可能会导致病原体失活,这是由于尸体及其周围土壤的温度升高和pH值变化所致。在本研究中,在整个分解过程中监测了64具野猪尸体的内部温度、74具尸体下方表土的pH值以及12具尸体肌肉和直肠组织的pH值。尸体温度在分解过程中升高,夏季有氧分解期间经常超过30°C(最高58°C)。尸体的pH值在骨骼化之前不断升高,范围从pH 4到pH 8以上。土壤pH值在分解过程中也持续升高,在骨骼化后达到pH 9以上,并在至少30天内保持稳定。我们的研究提供的关于尸体自然分解过程的信息可作为未来研究的基础,以评估尸体温度升高和pH值变化是否足以使病原体失活。然而,我们的结果表明,在大多数情况下,尸体温度的升高和pH值的变化都未超过使非洲猪瘟病毒失活所需的阈值。