Acute Die-off of Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) in the Eastern Austrian Alps due to Bacterial Bronchopneumonia withPasteurellaceae

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Monitoring circulating pathogens in wildlife populations is important in evaluating causes and sources of disease as well as understanding transmission between wild and domestic animals. In spring 2010, a sudden dieoff in a chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) population sharing habitat with livestock occurred in northeastern Austria. Nineteen animals were submitted for examination. Necropsy and pathohistologic and bacteriologic results yielded lesions associated with Pasteurellaceae species. Additional testing included enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus and random amplification of polymorphic DNA PCR analysis to evaluate the circulating strains. The isolated strains were most closely related to Mannheimia glucosida and Bibersteinia trehalosi. Reports of mass mortalities in chamois due to pneumonia have been reported previously in the northern Alpine area of Italy. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of acute mortality due to strains of Mannheimia and Bibersteinia in Austrian chamois.

Opportunistic bacteria and mass mortality in ungulates: lessons from an extreme event

“…We found that the only HS case of similar magnitude in wild or domestic ungulates was also recorded in saigas (in 1988). Parasite loads associated with one case (Posautz et al 2014) Tick-borne fever increases susceptibility to M. haemolytica cytotoxin (Woldehiwet et al 1993) Note: Mongolian gazelle cases listed under HS but in fact the syndrome is unidentified. Often restricted to single herds and a limited spatial range, both the numbers dead and mortality rates tend to be low, even in dense populations.…”

“…In saigas, while an organism described as P. haemolytica was isolated in the 1984 outbreak (Aikimbaev et al 1985), it is not clear whether other pathogens were not involved or not detected. & Coccidia (Posautz et al 2014) and the two cases of bronchopneumonia in reindeer (listed in Table 1) infected with Hypoderma tarandi, Dictyocaulus vivparus, or Cephenomyia trompe (Skjenneberg 1957, Kummeneje 1976). One of the pasteurellosis cases in Mongolian gazelles has also been associated with a viral infection (Dash and Sokolov 1986; see Appendix S2iii).…”

“…Examples include the case of PP in chamois infected with worms Strongyloides sp., Haemonchus sp. & Coccidia (Posautz et al 2014) and the two cases of bronchopneumonia in reindeer (listed in Table 1) infected with Hypoderma tarandi, Dictyocaulus vivparus, or Cephenomyia trompe (Skjenneberg 1957, Kummeneje 1976. Mortality rates.…”

“…Nutritional stress has been linked to bighorn lambing rates and lamb survival following die-offs (Enk et al 2001) and may be associated with individual outbreaks (Festa-Bianchet 1988). Only in the reviewed case involving chamois were animals clearly in very poor condition, due to heavy parasite loads (Posautz et al 2014) None Trace elements One study on "pasteurellosis" in Mongolian gazelles found trace element levels to be different in die-off areas than on neighboring pastures, but nature of syndrome and pathogen is unconfirmed (Rotshild et al 1988) Selenium deficiency linked to low lamb survival following a pneumonic pasteurellosis die-off in bighorn sheep and poor immune competence may have been behind the initial outbreak (Hnilicka et al 2002) Virulence of M. haemolytica and P. multocida increased by iron compounds (Mohamed andAbdelsalam 2008, Wilson andHo 2013). Unbalanced Cu: Mo ratios and low selenium linked to disease caused by M. haemolytica (Stabel et al 1989, Gengelbach et al 1997) Transmission between species Synchronicity between outbreaks in deer and livestock has been noted on Russian deer farms (Lunitsyn et al 2007).…”

The diagnostic activity on wild animals through the description of a model case report (caseous lymphadenitis by <i>Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis</i> associated with <i>Pasteurella</i> spp and parasites infection in an alpine ibex –<i>Capra ibex</i>)

“…Out of 74 lung affections, with lesions characteristic of Pasteurellaceae (in particular fibrinous pleuropneumonia in apical lobes associated to pleural exudation); M. haemolytica was the causative agent in 51 cases, and P. multocida in 23 cases. Strains of Mannheimia, generally identified with biochemical methods, it is likely, on the basis of what is reported by some researchers (Villard et al, 2006;Posautz et al, 2014), that a certain proportion may correspond to the T biotype, recently reclassified as Pasteurella trehalosi. Pasteurellosis, both for domestic and wild ruminants, can be fatal in severe or complicated cases, when the lesions involve more of the lung tissue, over the classical localization in apical lobes.…”