Recent Changes in Infectious Diseases in European Wildlife

Abstract

Many infectious diseases originating from, or carried by, wildlife affect wildlife conservation and biodiversity, livestock health, or human health. We provide an update on changes in the epidemiology of 25 selected infectious, wildlife-related diseases in Europe (from 2010-16) that had an impact, or may have a future impact, on the health of wildlife, livestock, and humans. These pathogens were selected based on their: 1) identification in recent Europe-wide projects as important surveillance targets, 2) inclusion in European Union legislation as pathogens requiring obligatory surveillance, 3) presence in recent literature on wildlife-related diseases in Europe since 2010, 4) inclusion in key pathogen lists released by the Office International des Epizooties, 5) identification in conference presentations and informal discussions on a group email list by a European network of wildlife disease scientists from the European Wildlife Disease Association, or 6) identification as pathogens with changes in their epidemiology during 2010-16. The wildlife pathogens or diseases included in this review are: avian influenza virus, seal influenza virus, lagoviruses, rabies virus, bat lyssaviruses, filoviruses, canine distemper virus, morbilliviruses in aquatic mammals, bluetongue virus, West Nile virus, hantaviruses, Schmallenberg virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus, African swine fever virus, amphibian ranavirus, hepatitis E virus, bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis), tularemia (Francisella tularensis), brucellosis (Brucella spp.), salmonellosis (Salmonella spp.), Coxiella burnetii, chytridiomycosis, Echinococcus multilocularis, Leishmania infantum, and chronic wasting disease. Further work is needed to identify all of the key drivers of disease change and emergence, as they appear to be influencing the incidence and spread of these pathogens in Europe. We present a summary of these recent changes during 2010-16 to discuss possible commonalities and drivers of disease change and to identify directions for future work on wildlife-related diseases in Europe. Many of the pathogens are entering Europe from other continents while others are expanding their ranges inside and beyond Europe. Surveillance for these wildlife-related diseases at a continental scale is therefore important for planet-wide assessment, awareness of, and preparedness for the risks they may pose to wildlife, domestic animal, and human health.

Infectious Disease Monitoring of European Bison (Bison bonasus)

“…In the case of environmental impact, it is also necessary to take into account people who are susceptible to zoonoses, can themselves be a source of infections, or can be a mechanical vector of infectious and invasive agents transmitted to animals, becoming endemic in sylvatic environment [39]. Those aspects meet in the One Health approach, which include wildlife as a key component of the ecosystem [9,32,40,41]. Therefore, in the case of an epizootic, surveillance should be carried out in both domestic and non-domestic populations, both free-living and captive, and the potential role of humans (animal care takers, breeders, vets) as vectors should be taken into account.…”

“…in European bison in Poland was also ruled out [11]. However, since some diseases of wildlife considered so far as absent in certain geographic areas such as African swine fever in wild boar or chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids become endemic in Europe, the threat of EHD in the future should also be considered real [9].…”

“…Therefore, the establishment of commercial American bison farms disqualifies the immediate vicinity as potential places for the release of European bison into the wild. Moreover, the presence of American bison poses a critical epizootic risk to the European cousin, since they can transmit the pathogens threating European bison health, which are absent or emerging in Europe [9], for example, Fasciola magna invasions [10] or epizootic hemorrhagic disease, caused by EHDV [11]. The close interspecies relationship does not ensure similar susceptibility to diseases.…”

Infection with Foamy Virus in Wild Ruminants—Evidence for a New Virus Reservoir?

“…Since BFV is highly prevalent within cattle populations [3,7,20], special attention should be paid to the possible involvement of BFV in inter-species transmission, especially regarding free-ranging wild ruminants. This is a very important and pertinent issue, owing to increasing human impact on the environment, globalization, and the establishment of breeding of some wild ruminants posing new threats including the uncontrolled transmission of infectious agents into wildlife [21,22]. There are many examples of highly prevalent life-stock viral pathogens crossing species barriers into wild ruminants, including bovine respiratory viruses like parainfluenza virus (BPIV-3), bovine adenovirus (BAdV), or bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) infecting European bison (Bison bonasus) in Poland [23].…”

Serological study on brucellosis in captive elephants (Elephas maximus) and stray dogs in North Thailand

“…isolated from wild animals were smooth Brucella spp. [ 6 , 23 , 24 ], the studies on wildlife brucellosis have been limited to some species, specifically in Asian elephants. Consequently, there are less information available for Asian elephant brucellosis.…”