Cargando…

The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia

BACKGROUND: Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. are important emerging causes of disease in dogs. Alongside these domesticated hosts, there is increasing recognition that these piroplasms can also be found in a range of wild animals with isolated reports describing the presence of these pathogen in foxe...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Beck, Ana, Huber, Doroteja, Polkinghorne, Adam, Kurilj, Andrea Gudan, Benko, Valerija, Mrljak, Vladimir, Reljić, Slaven, Kusak, Josip, Reil, Irena, Beck, Relja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5379697/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28376903
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-017-2106-8
_version_ 1782519657957163008
author Beck, Ana
Huber, Doroteja
Polkinghorne, Adam
Kurilj, Andrea Gudan
Benko, Valerija
Mrljak, Vladimir
Reljić, Slaven
Kusak, Josip
Reil, Irena
Beck, Relja
author_facet Beck, Ana
Huber, Doroteja
Polkinghorne, Adam
Kurilj, Andrea Gudan
Benko, Valerija
Mrljak, Vladimir
Reljić, Slaven
Kusak, Josip
Reil, Irena
Beck, Relja
author_sort Beck, Ana
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. are important emerging causes of disease in dogs. Alongside these domesticated hosts, there is increasing recognition that these piroplasms can also be found in a range of wild animals with isolated reports describing the presence of these pathogen in foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and captive grey wolves (Canis lupus). The prevalence and impact of these infections in free-ranging populations of canids are unknown. To gain a better insight into the epidemiology and pathogenesis of piroplasm infections in free-ranging grey wolves, pathological and molecular investigations into captive and free-ranging grey wolves in Croatia were performed. RESULTS: The carcasses of 107 free-ranging wolves and one captive wolf were the subjects of post-mortem investigations and sampling for molecular studies. A blood sample from one live captured wolf for telemetric tracking was also used for molecular analysis. PCR amplification targeting the 18S RNA gene revealed that 21 of 108 free-ranging wolves and one captive animal were positive for Theileria/Babesia DNA. Subsequent sequencing of a fragment of the 18S RNA gene revealed that 7/22 animals were positive for Babesia canis while the other amplified sequence were found to be identical with corresponding 18S rDNA sequences of Theileria capreoli isolated from wild deer (15/22). Haematological and cytological analysis revealed the presence of signet-ring shaped or pear-shaped piroplasms in several animals with the overall parasite burden in all positive animals assessed to be very low. Pathological investigation of the captive animal revealed fatal septicemia as a likely outcome of hemolytic anaemia. There was little or no evidence of hemolytic disease consistent with babesiosis in other animals. CONCLUSION: Importantly, the presence of B. canis in free-ranging grey wolves has not been described before but has been reported in a single fox and domestic dogs only. That B. canis infections cause disease in dogs but have little impact on wolf health possibly suggests that the wolf is the natural and the domestic dog is a secondary host. Surprisingly, the frequent finding of Theileria capreoli in wolves suggests that this Theileria species is not restricted to ungulates (cervids) but commonly infects also this carnivore species. Nevertheless, the potential role that these asymptomatically infected animals may play in the dispersal of these pathogens to susceptible sympatric species such as domesticated dogs requires further investigation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2106-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5379697
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-53796972017-04-07 The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia Beck, Ana Huber, Doroteja Polkinghorne, Adam Kurilj, Andrea Gudan Benko, Valerija Mrljak, Vladimir Reljić, Slaven Kusak, Josip Reil, Irena Beck, Relja Parasit Vectors Research BACKGROUND: Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. are important emerging causes of disease in dogs. Alongside these domesticated hosts, there is increasing recognition that these piroplasms can also be found in a range of wild animals with isolated reports describing the presence of these pathogen in foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and captive grey wolves (Canis lupus). The prevalence and impact of these infections in free-ranging populations of canids are unknown. To gain a better insight into the epidemiology and pathogenesis of piroplasm infections in free-ranging grey wolves, pathological and molecular investigations into captive and free-ranging grey wolves in Croatia were performed. RESULTS: The carcasses of 107 free-ranging wolves and one captive wolf were the subjects of post-mortem investigations and sampling for molecular studies. A blood sample from one live captured wolf for telemetric tracking was also used for molecular analysis. PCR amplification targeting the 18S RNA gene revealed that 21 of 108 free-ranging wolves and one captive animal were positive for Theileria/Babesia DNA. Subsequent sequencing of a fragment of the 18S RNA gene revealed that 7/22 animals were positive for Babesia canis while the other amplified sequence were found to be identical with corresponding 18S rDNA sequences of Theileria capreoli isolated from wild deer (15/22). Haematological and cytological analysis revealed the presence of signet-ring shaped or pear-shaped piroplasms in several animals with the overall parasite burden in all positive animals assessed to be very low. Pathological investigation of the captive animal revealed fatal septicemia as a likely outcome of hemolytic anaemia. There was little or no evidence of hemolytic disease consistent with babesiosis in other animals. CONCLUSION: Importantly, the presence of B. canis in free-ranging grey wolves has not been described before but has been reported in a single fox and domestic dogs only. That B. canis infections cause disease in dogs but have little impact on wolf health possibly suggests that the wolf is the natural and the domestic dog is a secondary host. Surprisingly, the frequent finding of Theileria capreoli in wolves suggests that this Theileria species is not restricted to ungulates (cervids) but commonly infects also this carnivore species. Nevertheless, the potential role that these asymptomatically infected animals may play in the dispersal of these pathogens to susceptible sympatric species such as domesticated dogs requires further investigation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2106-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2017-04-04 /pmc/articles/PMC5379697/ /pubmed/28376903 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-017-2106-8 Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Beck, Ana
Huber, Doroteja
Polkinghorne, Adam
Kurilj, Andrea Gudan
Benko, Valerija
Mrljak, Vladimir
Reljić, Slaven
Kusak, Josip
Reil, Irena
Beck, Relja
The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia
title The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia
title_full The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia
title_fullStr The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia
title_full_unstemmed The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia
title_short The prevalence and impact of Babesia canis and Theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Croatia
title_sort prevalence and impact of babesia canis and theileria sp. in free-ranging grey wolf (canis lupus) populations in croatia
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5379697/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28376903
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-017-2106-8
work_keys_str_mv AT beckana theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT huberdoroteja theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT polkinghorneadam theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT kuriljandreagudan theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT benkovalerija theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT mrljakvladimir theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT reljicslaven theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT kusakjosip theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT reilirena theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT beckrelja theprevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT beckana prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT huberdoroteja prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT polkinghorneadam prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT kuriljandreagudan prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT benkovalerija prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT mrljakvladimir prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT reljicslaven prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT kusakjosip prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT reilirena prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia
AT beckrelja prevalenceandimpactofbabesiacanisandtheileriaspinfreeranginggreywolfcanislupuspopulationsincroatia