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Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany

In Europe, raccoons are invasive neozoons with their largest population in Germany. Globally, this mesocarnivore acts as a wildlife reservoir for many (non-)zoonotic (re-)emerging pathogens, but very little epidemiological data is available for southwest Germany. This exploratory study aimed to scre...

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Autores principales: Reinhardt, Nico P., Köster, Judith, Thomas, Astrid, Arnold, Janosch, Fux, Robert, Straubinger, Reinhard K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10054312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36986312
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12030389
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author Reinhardt, Nico P.
Köster, Judith
Thomas, Astrid
Arnold, Janosch
Fux, Robert
Straubinger, Reinhard K.
author_facet Reinhardt, Nico P.
Köster, Judith
Thomas, Astrid
Arnold, Janosch
Fux, Robert
Straubinger, Reinhard K.
author_sort Reinhardt, Nico P.
collection PubMed
description In Europe, raccoons are invasive neozoons with their largest population in Germany. Globally, this mesocarnivore acts as a wildlife reservoir for many (non-)zoonotic (re-)emerging pathogens, but very little epidemiological data is available for southwest Germany. This exploratory study aimed to screen free-ranging raccoons in Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW, Germany) for the occurrence of selected pathogens with One Health relevance. Organ tissue and blood samples collected from 102 animals, obtained by hunters in 2019 and 2020, were subsequently analysed for two bacterial and four viral pathogens using a qPCR approach. Single samples were positive for the carnivore protoparvovirus-1 (7.8%, n = 8), canine distemper virus (6.9%, n = 7), pathogenic Leptospira spp. (3.9%, n = 4) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (15.7%, n = 16). West Nile virus and influenza A virus were not detected. Due to their invasive behaviour and synanthropic habit, raccoons may increase the risk of infections for wildlife, domestic animals, zoo animals and humans by acting as a link between them. Therefore, further studies should be initiated to evaluate these risks.
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spelling pubmed-100543122023-03-30 Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany Reinhardt, Nico P. Köster, Judith Thomas, Astrid Arnold, Janosch Fux, Robert Straubinger, Reinhard K. Pathogens Article In Europe, raccoons are invasive neozoons with their largest population in Germany. Globally, this mesocarnivore acts as a wildlife reservoir for many (non-)zoonotic (re-)emerging pathogens, but very little epidemiological data is available for southwest Germany. This exploratory study aimed to screen free-ranging raccoons in Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW, Germany) for the occurrence of selected pathogens with One Health relevance. Organ tissue and blood samples collected from 102 animals, obtained by hunters in 2019 and 2020, were subsequently analysed for two bacterial and four viral pathogens using a qPCR approach. Single samples were positive for the carnivore protoparvovirus-1 (7.8%, n = 8), canine distemper virus (6.9%, n = 7), pathogenic Leptospira spp. (3.9%, n = 4) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (15.7%, n = 16). West Nile virus and influenza A virus were not detected. Due to their invasive behaviour and synanthropic habit, raccoons may increase the risk of infections for wildlife, domestic animals, zoo animals and humans by acting as a link between them. Therefore, further studies should be initiated to evaluate these risks. MDPI 2023-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC10054312/ /pubmed/36986312 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12030389 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Reinhardt, Nico P.
Köster, Judith
Thomas, Astrid
Arnold, Janosch
Fux, Robert
Straubinger, Reinhard K.
Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany
title Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany
title_full Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany
title_fullStr Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany
title_full_unstemmed Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany
title_short Bacterial and Viral Pathogens with One Health Relevance in Invasive Raccoons (Procyon lotor, Linné 1758) in Southwest Germany
title_sort bacterial and viral pathogens with one health relevance in invasive raccoons (procyon lotor, linné 1758) in southwest germany
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10054312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36986312
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12030389
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