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Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis

Tularemia is a zoonotic disease found throughout most of the northern hemisphere that may experience range expansion with warming temperatures. Rodents and lagomorphs are reservoirs for the disease, and outbreaks of tularemia often follow peaks in their abundance. As small mammals dominate the diet...

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Autores principales: Buhler, Kayla, Bouchard, Émilie, Elmore, Stacey, Samelius, Gustaf, Jackson, Jessica, Tomaselli, Matilde, Fenton, Heather, Alisauskas, Ray, Jenkins, Emily
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9861794/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36678376
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12010028
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author Buhler, Kayla
Bouchard, Émilie
Elmore, Stacey
Samelius, Gustaf
Jackson, Jessica
Tomaselli, Matilde
Fenton, Heather
Alisauskas, Ray
Jenkins, Emily
author_facet Buhler, Kayla
Bouchard, Émilie
Elmore, Stacey
Samelius, Gustaf
Jackson, Jessica
Tomaselli, Matilde
Fenton, Heather
Alisauskas, Ray
Jenkins, Emily
author_sort Buhler, Kayla
collection PubMed
description Tularemia is a zoonotic disease found throughout most of the northern hemisphere that may experience range expansion with warming temperatures. Rodents and lagomorphs are reservoirs for the disease, and outbreaks of tularemia often follow peaks in their abundance. As small mammals dominate the diet of arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus), we determined whether they may serve as sentinels by identifying antibodies in live-captured and harvested foxes from northern Canada. Overall seroprevalence was 2% (CI95 1–2%) in 176 foxes harvested in 2018–2019 compared to 17% (CI95 12–22%) of 230 foxes captured live in 2011–2021. Prevalence was at an all-time high in 2018, following a peak in vole abundance in 2017. Antibodies were identified in fox pups born in 2018 and 2019, suggesting that F. tularensis was actively transmitted during the summers. High precipitation during the summer, increased snow cover and colder temperatures in May, and a higher abundance of voles were all associated with increased seroprevalence in live-captured foxes. Thus, exposure to F. tularensis is largely mediated through climate and rodent populations in the Canadian Arctic, and arctic foxes are useful sentinels for F. tularensis in northern ecosystems. Further studies should investigate whether infection impacts arctic fox survival and reproductive success in the circumpolar North.
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spelling pubmed-98617942023-01-22 Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis Buhler, Kayla Bouchard, Émilie Elmore, Stacey Samelius, Gustaf Jackson, Jessica Tomaselli, Matilde Fenton, Heather Alisauskas, Ray Jenkins, Emily Pathogens Article Tularemia is a zoonotic disease found throughout most of the northern hemisphere that may experience range expansion with warming temperatures. Rodents and lagomorphs are reservoirs for the disease, and outbreaks of tularemia often follow peaks in their abundance. As small mammals dominate the diet of arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus), we determined whether they may serve as sentinels by identifying antibodies in live-captured and harvested foxes from northern Canada. Overall seroprevalence was 2% (CI95 1–2%) in 176 foxes harvested in 2018–2019 compared to 17% (CI95 12–22%) of 230 foxes captured live in 2011–2021. Prevalence was at an all-time high in 2018, following a peak in vole abundance in 2017. Antibodies were identified in fox pups born in 2018 and 2019, suggesting that F. tularensis was actively transmitted during the summers. High precipitation during the summer, increased snow cover and colder temperatures in May, and a higher abundance of voles were all associated with increased seroprevalence in live-captured foxes. Thus, exposure to F. tularensis is largely mediated through climate and rodent populations in the Canadian Arctic, and arctic foxes are useful sentinels for F. tularensis in northern ecosystems. Further studies should investigate whether infection impacts arctic fox survival and reproductive success in the circumpolar North. MDPI 2022-12-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9861794/ /pubmed/36678376 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12010028 Text en © 2022 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
Buhler, Kayla
Bouchard, Émilie
Elmore, Stacey
Samelius, Gustaf
Jackson, Jessica
Tomaselli, Matilde
Fenton, Heather
Alisauskas, Ray
Jenkins, Emily
Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis
title Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis
title_full Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis
title_fullStr Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis
title_full_unstemmed Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis
title_short Tularemia above the Treeline: Climate and Rodent Abundance Influences Exposure of a Sentinel Species, the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), to Francisella tularensis
title_sort tularemia above the treeline: climate and rodent abundance influences exposure of a sentinel species, the arctic fox (vulpes lagopus), to francisella tularensis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9861794/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36678376
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12010028
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