wildlife viral diseases - Aimee Flashcards
are viral infections a disease of wild animals considerations
do they truly cause infection or are they just carried around
do endangered species and zoo animals go through bottle neck events
yes
what is a genetic bottle neck event?
A genetic bottleneck occurs when a population is greatly reduced in size, limiting the genetic diversity of the species
what do bottle necks lead to
immunosuppression - less genetics to pull from
are there ecological consequences of viral infections
yes - regulatory effects of viruses on populations and biological control
can turtles get herpesvirus?
yes
do wildlife species have retroviruses?
yes
does being infected with viral diseases have a cost?
yes - in swans infected with low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) they’re less likely to eat more
Costs of an immune response - does it reduce survival
yes - birds that were challenged with a toxic compound were less likely to fly back from where they migrated (dead)
can bottle neck events cause inbreeding?
yes
if an infection happens and there are decreased animals returning to the summer habitat, what are the genetic consequences?
fewer genes in the gene pool - higher interrelatedness/inbreeding
do sea lions with more relatedness have increased chances of carcinomas and infection by helminths, and bacterial infections?
yes
18% of mature sea lions that were found stranded along the Californian coast and died during rehabilitation had
histologically aggressive, widely metastatic genital transitional cell carcinomas
does herpesvirus affect sea lions
yes! and infects reproductive tract and further impedes reproductive abilities, leading to even more interrelatedness
name one species that’s undergone a bottleneck
cheetahs!
does a bottleneck event influence ability to mount an immune response?
yes - a bottleneck causes decreased genetic diversity which causes a decreased ability to mount an immune response
what is the effect of the genetic bottleneck on populations of cheetahs dealing with a coronavirus?
very little genetic diversity so increased amounts of cheetahs die from coronavirus because their immune systems are less able to mount a response :(
do viruses have effects on reintroduction efforts?
yes - release of animals back into the wild can release viruses into the wild which will hurt wild animals
example of reintroduction with viruses
western barred bandicoots (say that 5 times fast) reintroduced to the wild brought bandicoot papillomatosis carcinomatosis virus type 1 a novel oncogenic virus that contains genetic material from both papilloma and polyoma viruses
does bandicoot papillomatosis carcinomatosis virus type 1 affect only western barred bandicoots?
no - also affected whatever carnivores ate the bandicoots
what virus did reintroduced Attwater’s prairie chicken bring to the population?
reticuloendotheliosis (retrovirus)
is rabies all over the world?
no - some areas are classified as “rabies-free” or rabies-free
which province has the most rabies?
Ontario - followed by Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC, and Quebec
which strain of rabies is most prevalent in Alberta?
Bat in both 2023 & 2024
is there a high risk for adopting puppies from Nunavut with rabies?
yes - contact with arctic foxes - puppies have had rabies before
did Ontario do rabies prevention?
yes - baiting for fox strain and raccoon strain
ways you can distribute rabies vaccines to wild animals
1- by plane dropping them
2- laying traps and returning to vaccinate animals caught (have to check traps frequently because you don’t want the animals to over heat
are intradermal or intramuscular vaccines better for rabies
intradermal! dendritic cells in skin are really good at picking up pathogens
what kind of vaccine is the rabies oral vaccine for animals
modified live vaccine
what happens when humans don’t wear gloves when they handle the oral rabies vaccine?
pox virus induced pustules
what is the effect of rabies vaccination?
HUGE effect on decreasing rabies
did France decrease rabies in their population after a vaccination campaign
yes
did increasing the rabies vaccination also increase the fox population
yes
what are the challenges to baiting arctic foxes in Canada
so much territory up north + very expensive
can viruses influence the landscape?
yes - when wildebeest got a virus & were decimated, the forest was also destroyed due to wildebeest not eating the grass which led to fires ravaging the ecosystem. Reversed (forests came back) when wildebeest popn recovered
what is rinderpest
distemper virus similar to dog distemper + measles
when rinderpest was vaccinated against in wildebeest what happened
0% antibodies in the population compared to 86% & popn came back
can lions get distemper?
yes - & it reduced the population in 1994. It was a spillover infection and may have been a co-infection with babesia
name a epizootic disease of rabbits
rabbit hemorrhagic disease
what happened to the Iberian lynx?
the Iberian lynx eats many (87% of diet) rabbits. With rabbit hemorrhagic disease, lots of rabbits died :(which decimated Iberian lynx popns as well
is anyone trying to fix the Iberian lynx population problem?
yes - trying to bring rabbits back to the population by creating rabbit tunnels/ warrens
-creating firebreaks to preserve habitat.
-There’s also a committee dedicated to it
- breeding stations that only lynx can get into
why did Australians introduce myxomatosis?
population control
what happened with myxomatosis in Australia?
rabbit population developed resistance - used to be 100% mortality after injection but then after 30 years mortality was less than 50%
do robins, chickadees, gulls, ducks, geese have LPAI?
robins + chickadees don’t, gulls, ducks, geese do
–> huge amounts of LPAI in ponds
how did HPAI appear?
LPAI mutated - now transmission + pathogenicity is much higher
dead end hosts of HPAI
harbour seals in Quebec
black bear
wild foxes
are there current outbreaks of HPAI in Alberta
not currently
how many flocks in Canada affected by HPAI
3 000 000+
how many wild birds in Canada infected with HPAI in 2024 confirmed?
3188
is there Covid in deer?
yes ! TONS! prevalence up to 80% in Ohio
is there deer to human transmission of covid?
suspected
what strain of covid do deer have?
in deer, don’t find omicron - You instead find a strain that was part of 2nd outbreak
- now have a reservoir of old covid strain - if covid gets much different than omicron, can get spillback into the population
hypothesis on how deer were infected with covid-19
humans infected - infects Martens - passed on to deer
hunters infected - pass to wildlife
