Conjunctivitis Associated with <i>Chlamydia pecorum</i> in Three Koalas (<i>Phascolarctos cinereus</i>) in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia

Funnell, Oliver; Johnson, Lynley; Woolford, Lucy; Boardman, Wayne; McLelland, David J.

doi:10.7589/2013-03-066

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Levels of C. pecorum infection appear to have remained stable, with PCR prevalence of 88% also found in a subset of the current 2012–13 koala cohort (n = 62) . That the first three reported cases of severe conjunctivitis confirmed as C. pecorum occurred in 2012, in the same timeframe as the current study, suggests an emergence of clinical chlamydiosis in Mount Lofty koalas during this period. This may be related to host or pathogen factors, with a recent study identifying lower prevalence of a virulence‐associated plasmid in C. pecorum strains isolated from SA koalas compared with those from the eastern states…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Necropsy findings of koalas from the Mount Lofty Ranges population in South Australia

et al. 2018

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Necropsy findings of koalas from the Mount Lofty Ranges population in South Australia

et al. 2018

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“…However, the markedly lower apparent prevalence of p Cpec in South Australian koala samples (11 %) (Table 4 , Additional file 6 : Table S4) relative to koala samples from QLD, Vic, and NSW (73 – 84 %) appears worthy of further investigation. Anecdotal evidence and preliminary PCR-based screening studies [ 58 ] (Speight K.N., Polkinghorne A., Penn R., Boardman W., Timms P., Fraser T., Johnson K., Faull R., Bate S., Woolford L., 2015, unpublished observations), suggest that C. pecorum infections in SA may be less common and pathogenic than those described in eastern and northern Australian states (QLD and NSW) [ 17 ]. Similarly low prevalence of chlamydial disease has been proposed for Victorian koalas.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic diversity in the plasticity zone and the presence of the chlamydial plasmid differentiates Chlamydia pecorum strains from pigs, sheep, cattle, and koalas

et al. 2015

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BackgroundChlamydia pecorum is a globally recognised pathogen of livestock and koalas. To date, comparative genomics of C. pecorum strains from sheep, cattle and koalas has revealed that only single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a limited number of pseudogenes appear to contribute to the genetic diversity of this pathogen. No chlamydial plasmid has been detected in these strains despite its ubiquitous presence in almost all other chlamydial species. Genomic analyses have not previously included C. pecorum from porcine hosts. We sequenced the genome of three C. pecorum isolates from pigs with differing pathologies in order to re-evaluate the genetic differences and to update the phylogenetic relationships between C. pecorum from each of the hosts.MethodsWhole genome sequences for the three porcine C. pecorum isolates (L1, L17 and L71) were acquired using C. pecorum-specific sequence capture probes with culture-independent methods, and assembled in CLC Genomics Workbench. The pairwise comparative genomic analyses of 16 pig, sheep, cattle and koala C. pecorum genomes were performed using several bioinformatics platforms, while the phylogenetic analyses of the core C. pecorum genomes were performed with predicted recombination regions removed. Following the detection of a C. pecorum plasmid, a newly developed C. pecorum-specific plasmid PCR screening assay was used to evaluate the plasmid distribution in 227 C. pecorum samples from pig, sheep, cattle and koala hosts.ResultsThree porcine C. pecorum genomes were sequenced using C. pecorum-specific sequence capture probes with culture-independent methods. Comparative genomics of the newly sequenced porcine C. pecorum genomes revealed an increased average number of SNP differences (~11 500) between porcine and sheep, cattle, and koala C. pecorum strains, compared to previous C. pecorum genome analyses. We also identified a third copy of the chlamydial cytotoxin gene, found only in porcine C. pecorum isolates. Phylogenetic analyses clustered porcine isolates into a distinct clade, highlighting the polyphyletic origin of C. pecorum in livestock.Most surprising, we also discovered a plasmid in the porcine C. pecorum genome. Using this novel C. pecorum plasmid (pCpec) sequence, a) we developed a pCpec screening assay to evaluate the plasmid distribution in C. pecorum from different hosts; and b) to characterise the pCpec sequences from available previously sequenced C. pecorum genome data. pCpec screening showed that the pCpec is common in all hosts of C. pecorum, however not all C. pecorum strains carry pCpec.ConclusionsThis study provides further insight into the complexity of C. pecorum epidemiology and novel genomic regions that may be linked to host specificity. C. pecorum plasmid characterisation may aid in improving our understanding of C. pecorum pathogenesis across the variety of host species this animal pathogen infects.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-2053-8) contains supplementary material, which is...

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“…Also reported was a diabetes syndrome affecting koalas in care that could impact on the rehabilitation success of koalas in Queensland, a species now listed as vulnerable under the EPBC Act 1999 [37]. The first two confirmed clinical cases of chlamydiosis in koalas in South Australia were reported to the AWHN through the pilot project [39]. The South Australian koala population was thought to be free of Chlamydia [40], so these reports may be an indicator of an emerging disease in the South Australian koala population.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging Infectious Diseases in Free-Ranging Wildlife–Australian Zoo Based Wildlife Hospitals Contribute to National Surveillance

Cox-Witton

Reiss²,

Woods

et al. 2014

PLoS ONE

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Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly originating from wildlife. Many of these diseases have significant impacts on human health, domestic animal health, and biodiversity. Surveillance is the key to early detection of emerging diseases. A zoo based wildlife disease surveillance program developed in Australia incorporates disease information from free-ranging wildlife into the existing national wildlife health information system. This program uses a collaborative approach and provides a strong model for a disease surveillance program for free-ranging wildlife that enhances the national capacity for early detection of emerging diseases.

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Conjunctivitis Associated with Chlamydia pecorum in Three Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia

Cited by 10 publications

References 7 publications

Necropsy findings of koalas from the Mount Lofty Ranges population in South Australia

Necropsy findings of koalas from the Mount Lofty Ranges population in South Australia

Genetic diversity in the plasticity zone and the presence of the chlamydial plasmid differentiates Chlamydia pecorum strains from pigs, sheep, cattle, and koalas

Emerging Infectious Diseases in Free-Ranging Wildlife–Australian Zoo Based Wildlife Hospitals Contribute to National Surveillance

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