Understanding and managing canine distemper virus as a disease threat to Amur tigers

The endangered population of Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) in the Russian Far East (RFE) faces an increasing risk of extinction due to infection with canine distemper virus (CDV). Short-lasting CDV infections are unlikely to be maintained in small populations of species with limited connectivity like tigers, where viruses fade out as susceptible hosts are depleted. Multi-host pathogens can persist in more abundant host species that can act as reservoirs of infection for threatened populations. This study combines assessments of host demography, serology and viral phylogeny to establish the relative contribution of domestic dogs and small bodied wild mesocarnivores to the maintenance of CDV, and as sources of infection for tigers. No antibodies were detected among tigers sampled prior to 2000 (n=19), but were measured in 35.7% of tigers in subsequent years (n=56), with at least five discrete transmission events occurring in one well-monitored population. Viral sequences from three tigers and one Far Eastern leopard (P. pardus orientalis) aligned within the Arctic-like clade of CDV, and shared recent common ancestry with viruses from 22 other wild carnivores from the region. Extensive spatial mixing of wild carnivore lineages suggested long chains of transmission consistent with a maintenance population. The exposure of tigers following 2000 coincides with increases in sable (Martes zibellina) numbers and hunting pressure, which could lead to greater pathogen prevalence and potential for spill over from a wild reservoir. The ratio of humans to dogs in rural areas in the RFE are among the lowest in the world (1.73), but the overall number of dogs has been stable during the period of increased CDV exposure in tigers. The only CDV sequence obtained from dogs shared high identity with Asia-4 clade viruses from dogs in Thailand, and was distantly related to wildlife sequences from the RFE. Serum antibodies were detected in dogs in all 26 communities where households were surveyed, but seroprevalence was higher in remote, less densely populated areas, suggesting possible transmission from wildlife. Although the maintenance of CDV in Russian dogs remains unconfirmed, the strong support for a wildlife reservoir limits options for managing the impact of CDV on tiger populations. The high turnover of large and often inaccessible populations of mesocarnivores combines with limitations in vaccine safety, efficacy and delivery, to render the control of CDV in a wildlife reservoir untenable. Managing the impact of CDV on Amur tigers must therefore focus on restoring the size and integrity of remaining tiger populations to withstand future outbreaks. The safety and efficacy of vaccine products for tigers should also be investigated, for use in low coverage vaccination strategies that could enhance the long-term persistence of tiger populations

Emerging Infectious Disease: Host and Parasite Perspectives

Avian malaria and related haematozoa are nearly ubiquitous parasites that can impose fitness costs of variable severity and may, in some cases, cause substantial mortality in their host populations. One example of the latter, the emergence of avian malaria in the endemic avifauna of Hawaii, has become a model for understanding the consequences of human-mediated disease introduction. The drastic declines of native Hawaiian birds due to avian malaria provided the impetus for examining more closely several aspects of host-parasite interactions in this system. Host-specificity is an important character determining the extent to which a parasite may emerge. Traditional parasite classification, however, has used host information as a character in taxonomical identification, potentially obscuring the true host range of many parasites. To improve upon previous methods, I first developed molecular tools to identify parasites infecting a particular host. I then used these molecular techniques to characterize host-specificity of parasites in the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus. I show that parasites in the genus Plasmodium exhibit low specificity and are therefore most likely to emerge in new hosts in the future. Subsequently, I characterized the global distribution of the single lineage of P. relictum that has emerged in Hawaii. I demonstrate that this parasite has a broad host distribution worldwide, that it is likely of Old World origin and that it has been introduced to numerous islands around the world, where it may have been overlooked as a cause of decline in native birds. I also demonstrate that morphological classification of P. relictum does not capture differences among groups of parasites that appear to be reproductively isolated based on molecular evidence. Finally, I examined whether reduced immunological capacity, which has been proposed to explain the susceptibility of Hawaiian endemics, is a general feature of an "island syndrome" in isolated avifauna of the remote Pacific. I show that, over multiple time scales, changes in immune response are not uniform and that observed changes probably reflect differences in genetic diversity, parasite exposure and life history that are unique to each species

The influence of human settlements on gastrointestinal helminths of wild monkey populations in their natural habitat

Human-wildlife interactions have reached unprecedented levels in the present days and humans are changing the earth\u27s ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than ever before. The aim of my work was to determine the influence of humans on the presence of gastrointestinal parasites in wild primates. My results are indicating that human induced changes to the monkey\u27s habitat have a significant negative impact on the parasite burdens and parasite community structure of wild monkeys

The importance of jackals and domestic dogs for the transmission of generalist canid pathogens to sympatric carnivores in Namibia

Generalist canid pathogens are of increasing concern to carnivore conservation. The continued encroachment of rapidly growing domestic dog (Canis familiaris) populations into wildlife areas provides increased opportunities for disease transmission between dogs and both terrestrial and aquatic wildlife species. The jackal species, widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa and adaptable to both human-disturbed and protected landscapes, are thought to play a central role in the maintenance and transmission of generalist canid pathogens and to act as a source of infection for both wild and domestic species. This thesis investigates the role played by the black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) in the transmission and maintenance of canine distemper and other canid pathogens within a Namibian coastal carnivore guild, comprising black-backed jackals, brown hyenas (Hyaena brunnea), Cape fur seals (Arotocephalus pusillus pusillus), and domestic dogs from urban settlements.The first of the chapters containing original data, Chapter 3, describes a canine distemper outbreak in the jackals and dogs of the guild, providing the first evidence for, and a description of, natural canine distemper infection in jackals and demonstrates that this species was responsible for the rapid spread of the epidemic along the Namibian coast and for the spill-back of the virus into the dog population. Chapter 4 investigates the exposure of the sympatric Cape fur seal population to morbilliviruses using virus neutralisation -tests for canine distemper, phocine distemper and dolphin morbillivirus and demonstrates that it is unlikely that a morbillivirus is endemic in this population and that the seals did not suffer a large increase in seroprevalence or mortality as a result of the canine distemper outbreak in the jackals and dogs. In Chapter 5, serological data indicates that jackals and dogs both have high levels of exposure to canine adenovirus, canine herpesvirus and sarcoptic mange but that exposure to canine parvovirus, although high in the dogs is very low in the jackal population. Canine adenovirus and sarcoptic mange are likely to be endemic in the jackal and dog populations, hence jackals may act as a source of infection to sympatric wildlife and as a source of re-infection for dogs. In Chapter 6, behavioural observations of jackal-jackal and jackal-seal interactions are used to determine contact rates for the transmission of canine distemper virus. Contact rates of different subsets of the jackal population are compared to determine ifthere is any heterogeneity which would support the existence of a core group of individuals primarily responsible for the spread of canine distemper virus within the jackal population. Contact rates and overlap of jackal home ranges at the colony, as determined from radio-telemetry data are used to help understand the observed prevalence of exposure to canine distemper virus in the jackal and seal populations.The results of this study are discussed in relation to the control of distemper infection in wild and domestic canids, in Namibia and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, and the importance of disease surveillance in jackal populations is stressed as disease management programs aimed at controlling canine distemper and other common viral infections in domestic dogs must assess the risk of re-infection from jackals or other sympatric wildlife species

The New Age of Russia. Occult and Esoteric Dimensions

Occult and esoteric ideas became deeply embedded in Russian culture long before the Bolshevik Revolution. After the Revolution, occult ideas were manifested in literature, the humanities and the sciences as well. Although the Soviet government discouraged and eventually prohibited metaphysical speculation, that same government used the Occult for its own purposes and even funded research on it. In Stalin's time, occultism disappeared from public view, but it revived clandestinely in the post-Stalin Thaw and became a truly popular phenomenon in post-Soviet Russia. From cosmism to shamanism, from space exploration to Kabbalah, from neo-paganism to science fiction, the field is wide. Everyone interested in the occult and esoteric will appreciate this book, because it documents their continued importance in Russia and raises new issues for research and discussion. www.new-age-of-russia.co

Tea Time in Romanov Russia: A Cultural History, 1616-1917

This dissertation reexamines controversies surrounding consumption, cultural borrowing, and identity in modern Russia through a study of tea as a commodity, a social ritual, and a national symbol. During the Romanov period (1613-1917), tea evolved from a foreign medicine, to an aristocratic luxury, to a household necessity. The samovar, or tea urn, played a central role in this process, having been adopted by Russian nobles in the eighteenth century and imagined as a Russian national symbol by the late nineteenth. The first Russians to encounter tea were emissaries sent to the courts of Inner Asian and Chinese rulers, and their reluctance to consume tea in ceremonial settings reflected their political and cultural priorities. Back in Moscow, foreign doctors working for the court medical establishment promoted tea as an effective remedy for various illnesses. Western visitors to seventeeth-century Muscovy noted the presence of tea in markets and medical settings, but tea consumption was not widespread. Around 1700, new English and Dutch technologies for making tea made their way to Russia, signaling tea’s transition from a foreign medicine to a fashionable pastime. The samovar, a self-contained apparatus designed to boil water for tea, evolved from seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century English and Dutch designs. The device came into use in aristocratic Russian households in the middle of the eighteenth century. The samovar facilitated the development of a distinctively Russian tea culture in the second half of the eighteenth century, when tea consumption and ownership of tea ware spread. Satirical critiques of tea implicated it in the percieved deleterious effects of westernization and luxury. Russian tea importation and consumption began to climb steeply in the 1790s and saw sustained growth until the end of the imperial period. Nineteenth-century works of Russian literature transformed “tea” into a discursive space with associations of intimacy, familial harmony, refinement, and sobriety. The samovar became a symbol setting the Russian nation apart from the other peoples of the empire. While tea’s role in Russian society remained contested, most understood tea and the samovar as symbols of authentic Russianness and, in the twentieth century, as touchstones of “old” Russian culture.Doctor of Philosoph