Wildlife hosts for OIE ‐Listed diseases: considerations regarding global wildlife trade and host–pathogen relationships

Abstract

The expanding international wildlife trade, combined with a lack of surveillance for key animal diseases in most countries, represents a potential pathway for transboundary disease movement. While the international wildlife trade represents over US $300 billion per year industry involving exchange of billions of individual animals, animal products, and plants as traditional medicines, meat from wild animals, trophies, live exotic pets, commercial products and food, surveillance and reporting of OIE‐Listed diseases in wildlife are often opportunistic. We reviewed peer‐reviewed literature for reports of 73 OIE‐Listed terrestrial animal diseases in wild animals and found 528 possible wild animal hosts using our methodology. Not all host–pathogen relationships indicate that a particular species serves an epidemiologically significant role in the transmission of disease, but improved reporting of infections in wild animals along with clinical and pathological findings would contribute to improved One Health risk assessments.

The pattern of anthrax at the wildlife-livestock-human interface in Zimbabwe

“…In agreement with other reports in literature, the wild ungulates in the family Bovidae, including the greater kudu, the buffalo, the bushbuck ( Tragelaphus scriptus ), among others have predominated in mortalities due to anthrax [ 3 , 13 , 33 ]. In the Save River Conservancy and Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve, the greater kudu accounted for 75.9% and 64.5% of the mortalities, respectively [ 14 ].…”

“…This is expected to rise as elsewhere and Smith et al . (2017) [ 3 ] gave a global number of 58 species of animals affected by anthrax.…”

“…Anthrax, caused by Bacillus anthracis , an endospore-forming Gram positive bacterium [ 1 , 2 ] is a cosmopolitan disease that exists since antiquity and has become endemic in some regions of the world. Anthrax is endemic in much of sub-Saharan Africa where it occurs naturally in wildlife and livestock, with herbivores being particularly susceptible [ 3 – 6 ]. Zimbabwe, alongside other southern African countries, falls under anthrax endemic regions [ 7 – 11 ].…”

Risky Business: Live Non-CITES Wildlife UK Imports and the Potential for Infectious Diseases

“…Furthermore, in general, there is a lack of surveillance for key animal diseases in most countries, and minimal health monitoring systems exist surrounding the trade of some wild animals, heightening the potential risk for transboundary disease movement [49]. To address the problem of emerging infectious diseases arising from wild animal pathogens, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) considers wild animal translocation as a particularly high-risk activity and advocates a prevention-led approach as part of a four-stage strategy [50].…”

Advanced surveillance and preparedness to meet a new era of invasive vectors and emerging vector-borne diseases

“…Vectors can invade via ship, ground, or air traffic, in some cases while attached to a host; pathogens can be introduced through vectors, contaminated products, or vertebrate hosts (including humans). Investigators have analyzed global movement data of people and animals in the context of pathogen and vector invasions for a number of different pathogen systems [ 4 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]; however, these data can often be expensive or difficult to obtain, presenting road blocks to such important analyses. Estimating the likelihood of a pathogen entering by a particular pathway subsequently directs surveillance and prevention measures to intercept these invasions at a port of entry.…”