| Summary: | Tese apresentada a Universidade Federal de Lavras, como parte das exigências do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, área de concentração em Ecologia e Monitoramento de Ecossistemas Sob Interferência Antrópica, para a obtenção do título de Doutor. Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Ecologia e Monitoramento de Ecossistemas Sob Interferência Antrópica The importance of health and diseases for biodiversity conservation is worldwide recognized since decades ago. However, in Brazil, only recently this concern has entered the scientific and conservationist community. Despite the lack of data on the real impact of diseases over the Brazilian wildlife, some species shows ecological and epidemiological traits that may make them good health sentinels in certain scenarios, being also targets for prevention of outbreaks or disease-induced mortality in threatened populations. Domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) are considered an invasive species with high negative impact over wildlife. They act as efficient mesopredators, competitively interfere and are the main reservoirs of pathogens to wild carnivores. They are also an important source of zoonosis, and recent studies demonstrate that they are strongly present inside Brazilian protected areas. However, little is known about their potential as disease reservoirs for humans and animals in wildlife/domestic animal/human interface zones in the country. Even less is known about the factors associated with this potential. With this background in mind, the aims of this study were to assess the occurrence and prevalence of infectious agents and parasites important for conservation (especially of mammal carnivores) and for human health in rural dog populations living around and near Atlantic Forest fragments, and also to raise disease-related risk factors. Such factors can be ultimately manageable to protect human and animal health in these areas. We used a cross-sectional epidemiological approach to perform a serologic inquiry ...
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