Chatper 3 : Wild Vertebrates

Abstract:

This chapter focuses on wild vertebrates which include carnivores, rodents, lagomorphs, primates, bats, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. Global trade, hunting safaris, sileage feeding, and habitat reduction increase chances of encounters with wild vertebrates, infections that cross from wildlife to livestock (e.g., Mycobacterium bovis), and jumps of agents across species to humans, e.g., human immunodeficiency virus (from primates in Africa), monkeypox virus (from Gambian giant rats imported into the United States), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) (from carnivores in China). By habitat and invertebrate vector, wild herbivores maintain zoonotic viruses, bacteria, and protozoa. In the African rain forest, hunters handling dead duikers (Cephalophus, a small forest herbivore) are suspected of triggering infection chains and outbreaks. In Africa and Southwest Asia, hyraxes (Procavia and Heterohyrax) are natural hosts of Leishmania aethiopica. Transmissible mink encephalopathy is sporadically diagnosed in farmed mink (Mustela vison). Seroreactivity in carnivores may merely reflect past exposure to arthropod-borne viruses. Skunks, weasles, raccoons, and red and gray foxes are presumed reservoir hosts of Powassan virus. Cryptosporidium muris infects mice and other rodents. Viruses reported in laboratory rodents include cytomegalovirus and ectromelia virus. Rodents in Africa, including squirrels (Funisciurus and Heliosciurus) and Gambian rats (Cricetomys emini), are likely reservoirs of Monkeypox virus (MPXV). The mammalian order Lagomorpha includes hares and rabbits (Leporidae) and pikas (Ochotonidae). Bordetella bronchiseptica and Pasteurella multocida commonly colonize the upper respiratory tract of laboratory and wild lagomorphs. Infections in humans can result from handling living or dead animals.