Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region

Leptospirosis is a worldwide-spread zoonosis causing disease and death in dogs and in humans. A Leptospiral infection has been recorded in several wild carnivore species in Europe, but tissue pathological changes were not commonly described. The Grey wolf (Canis lupus) has been expanding its distrib...

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Published in:International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Main Authors: Marco Bregoli, Stefano Pesaro, Martina Ustulin, Denis Vio, Paola Beraldo, Marco Galeotti, Monia Cocchi, Laura Lucchese, Cristina Bertasio, Maria Beatrice Boniotti, Luca Lapini, Alda Natale
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052512
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spelling ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/1660-4601/18/5/2512/ 2023-08-20T04:05:45+02:00 Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region Marco Bregoli Stefano Pesaro Martina Ustulin Denis Vio Paola Beraldo Marco Galeotti Monia Cocchi Laura Lucchese Cristina Bertasio Maria Beatrice Boniotti Luca Lapini Alda Natale agris 2021-03-03 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052512 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Infectious Disease Epidemiology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052512 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; Volume 18; Issue 5; Pages: 2512 Leptospira Canis lupus zoonosis Text 2021 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052512 2023-08-01T01:11:41Z Leptospirosis is a worldwide-spread zoonosis causing disease and death in dogs and in humans. A Leptospiral infection has been recorded in several wild carnivore species in Europe, but tissue pathological changes were not commonly described. The Grey wolf (Canis lupus) has been expanding its distribution range in north-eastern Italy during the last decade. A young wolf, representing the first individual handled in the region, was found road-killed and then submitted to necropsy. Pathological changes included erosive lesions of gingival mucosa, mild liver enlargement, and multifocal degenerative-necrotic areas along with hyperemic reactive lesions; multifocal interstitial nephritis and multifocal lung hemorrhages were observed. A Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) able to detect pathogenic species of Leptospira performed on a kidney sample was positive. Serological reactions for serogroup Gryppotyphosa (1:6400), Pomona (1:800), and Icterohaemorrhagiae (1:200) were evidenced by MAT. Genotyping by Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) performed on detected Leptospira characterized it as belonging to Sequence Type (ST) 117, which refers to L. kirschneri, serogroup Pomona, serovar Mozdok. Regardless of the role of Leptospira infection as an eventual predisposing factor to the road killing of this wolf, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of Leptospira-induced pathology in a wolf in Europe. Surveys on Leptospira infection in free-ranging wildlife species should be pursued in order to achieve further epidemiological knowledge on the circulation of the Leptospira strain. Text Canis lupus MDPI Open Access Publishing Pomona ENVELOPE(-45.900,-45.900,-60.583,-60.583) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 5 2512
institution Open Polar
collection MDPI Open Access Publishing
op_collection_id ftmdpi
language English
topic Leptospira
Canis lupus
zoonosis
spellingShingle Leptospira
Canis lupus
zoonosis
Marco Bregoli
Stefano Pesaro
Martina Ustulin
Denis Vio
Paola Beraldo
Marco Galeotti
Monia Cocchi
Laura Lucchese
Cristina Bertasio
Maria Beatrice Boniotti
Luca Lapini
Alda Natale
Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
topic_facet Leptospira
Canis lupus
zoonosis
description Leptospirosis is a worldwide-spread zoonosis causing disease and death in dogs and in humans. A Leptospiral infection has been recorded in several wild carnivore species in Europe, but tissue pathological changes were not commonly described. The Grey wolf (Canis lupus) has been expanding its distribution range in north-eastern Italy during the last decade. A young wolf, representing the first individual handled in the region, was found road-killed and then submitted to necropsy. Pathological changes included erosive lesions of gingival mucosa, mild liver enlargement, and multifocal degenerative-necrotic areas along with hyperemic reactive lesions; multifocal interstitial nephritis and multifocal lung hemorrhages were observed. A Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) able to detect pathogenic species of Leptospira performed on a kidney sample was positive. Serological reactions for serogroup Gryppotyphosa (1:6400), Pomona (1:800), and Icterohaemorrhagiae (1:200) were evidenced by MAT. Genotyping by Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) performed on detected Leptospira characterized it as belonging to Sequence Type (ST) 117, which refers to L. kirschneri, serogroup Pomona, serovar Mozdok. Regardless of the role of Leptospira infection as an eventual predisposing factor to the road killing of this wolf, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of Leptospira-induced pathology in a wolf in Europe. Surveys on Leptospira infection in free-ranging wildlife species should be pursued in order to achieve further epidemiological knowledge on the circulation of the Leptospira strain.
format Text
author Marco Bregoli
Stefano Pesaro
Martina Ustulin
Denis Vio
Paola Beraldo
Marco Galeotti
Monia Cocchi
Laura Lucchese
Cristina Bertasio
Maria Beatrice Boniotti
Luca Lapini
Alda Natale
author_facet Marco Bregoli
Stefano Pesaro
Martina Ustulin
Denis Vio
Paola Beraldo
Marco Galeotti
Monia Cocchi
Laura Lucchese
Cristina Bertasio
Maria Beatrice Boniotti
Luca Lapini
Alda Natale
author_sort Marco Bregoli
title Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
title_short Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
title_full Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
title_fullStr Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
title_full_unstemmed Environmental Exposure of Wild Carnivores to Zoonotic Pathogens: Leptospira Infection in the First Free Living Wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) Found Dead in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
title_sort environmental exposure of wild carnivores to zoonotic pathogens: leptospira infection in the first free living wolf (canis lupus linnaeus, 1758) found dead in the friuli venezia giulia region
publisher Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publishDate 2021
url https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052512
op_coverage agris
long_lat ENVELOPE(-45.900,-45.900,-60.583,-60.583)
geographic Pomona
geographic_facet Pomona
genre Canis lupus
genre_facet Canis lupus
op_source International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; Volume 18; Issue 5; Pages: 2512
op_relation Infectious Disease Epidemiology
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052512
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052512
container_title International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
container_volume 18
container_issue 5
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