Protein metabolism and physical fitness are physiological determinants of body condition in Southern European carnivores

The physiological significance of biometric body condition indices (bBCI) is poorly understood. We hypothesized that bBCI are composite metrics of nutritional physiology, physical fitness and health. To test this hypothesis, we first compared the performance of eight bBCI, using 434 Southern European carnivores from six species as a model system; and then identified, by non-destructive methods, the hematology and serum biochemistry correlates of three selected bBCI. Fulton’s K Index, Major Axis Regression Residuals and Scaled Mass Index were the only bBCI insensitive to the effect of sex and age. The most informative physiological parameters in explaining the variation of these bBCI were the albumin (Effect Size (ES) = − 1.66 to − 1.76), urea (ES = 1.61 to 1.85) and total bilirubin (ES = − 1.62 to − 1.79). Hemoglobin and globulins (positive) and cholesterol (negative) were moderately informative (0.9 <|ES|< 1.5). This study shows that most bBCI do not control for the effect of age and sex in Southern European carnivores. Our results support that bBCI are composite measures of physiologic processes, reflecting a positive gradient from protein-poor to protein-rich diets, accompanied by increased physical fitness. Biometric body condition indices allow the integration of ecologically relevant physiological aspects in an easily obtained metric.Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness [FJCI-2015-24949]; Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha [Project PREG-05-23]; Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales [Project OAPN352/2011]; Juan de la Cierva research contracts from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Funder Id: 10.13039/501100004837 from the Spanish Ministry of Economyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Computer Vision Applied to Detect Lethargy through Animal Motion Monitoring: A Trial on African Swine Fever in Wild Boar

Early detection of infectious diseases is the most cost-effective strategy in disease surveillance for reducing the risk of outbreaks. Latest deep learning and computer vision improvements are powerful tools that potentially open up a new field of research in epidemiology and disease control. These techniques were used here to develop an algorithm aimed to track and compute animal motion in real time. This algorithm was used in experimental trials in order to assess African swine fever (ASF) infection course in Eurasian wild boar. Overall, the outcomes showed negative correlation between motion reduction and fever caused by ASF infection. In addition, infected animals computed significant lower movements compared to uninfected animals. The obtained results suggest that a motion monitoring system based on artificial vision may be used in indoors to trigger suspicions of fever. It would help farmers and animal health services to detect early clinical signs compatible with infectious diseases. This technology shows a promising non-intrusive, economic and real time solution in the livestock industry with especial interest in ASF, considering the current concern in the world pig industry

Epidemiological impacts of attenuated African swine fever virus circulating in wild boar populations

8 Pág.African swine fever virus (ASFV) genotype II has been present in wild boar in the European Union since 2014. Control measures have reduced the incidence of the ASF, but highly virulent as well as attenuated ASFV strains continue to circulate. We present the intraherd epidemiological parameters of low and highly virulent ASFV in wild boar from experimental data, and for the first time, evaluate the impact of attenuated strain circulation through unique deterministic compartmental model simulations under various potential scenarios and hypotheses. Using an estimated PCR infectious threshold of TPCR = 36.4, we obtained several transmission parameters, like an Rx (experimental intraherd R0) value of 4.5. We also introduce two novel epidemiological parameters: infectious power and resistance power, which indicate the ability of animals to transmit the infection and the reduction in infectiousness after successive exposures to varying virulence strains, respectively. The presence of ASFV attenuated strains results in 4-17% of animals either remaining in a carrier state or becoming susceptible again when exposed to highly virulent ASFV for more than two years. The timing between exposures to viruses of different virulence also influences the percentage of animals that die or remain susceptible. The findings of this study can be utilized in epidemiological modelling and provide insight into important risk situations that should be considered for surveillance and future potential ASF vaccination strategies in wild boar.This research was funded by the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Union Project “VACDIVA-A Safe DIVA vaccine for African Swine Fever control and eradication” (grant agreement no. 862874 ), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) grant PID2019-106337GB-I00 , and the research group MOMAT (Ref. [910480]) supported by the Complutense University of Madrid.Peer reviewe

Spatiotemporal interactions between wild boar and cattle: implications for cross-species disease transmission

Authors’ contributions JAB, JV contributed to the conception, design, data collection, laboratory work, data analysis, drafting and writing of the manuscript. MCL, PA, ADML contributed to design, data análisis and drafting of the manuscript. JAA, CG, FC, RCS participated in the data collection and drafting of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.Controlling infectious diseases at the wildlife/livestock interface is often difficult because the ecological processes driving transmission between wildlife reservoirs and sympatric livestock populations are poorly understood. Thus, assessing how animals use their environment and how this affects interspecific interactions is an important factor in determining the local risk for disease transmission and maintenance. We used data from concurrently monitored GPS-collared domestic cattle and wild boar (Sus scrofa) to assess spatiotemporal interactions and associated implications for bovine tuberculosis (TB) transmission in a complex ecological and epidemiological system, Doñana National Park (DNP, South Spain). We found that fine-scale spatial overlap of cattle and wild boar was seasonally high in some habitats. In general, spatial interactions between the two species were highest in the marsh-shrub ecotone and at permanent water sources, whereas shrub-woodlands and seasonal grass-marshlands were areas with lower predicted relative interactions. Wild boar and cattle generally used different resources during winter and spring in DNP. Conversely, limited differences in resource selection during summer and autumn, when food and water availability were limiting, resulted in negligible spatial segregation and thus probably high encounter rates. The spatial gradient in potential overlap between the two species across DNP corresponded well with the spatial variation in the observed incidence of TB in cattle and prevalence of TB in wild boar. We suggest that the marsh-shrub ecotone and permanent water sources act as important points of TB transmission in our system, particularly during summer and autumn. Targeted management actions are suggested to reduce potential interactions between cattle and wild boar in order to prevent disease transmission and design effective control strategies.Junta de Comunidades Castilla-La Mancha (PEII10-0262-7673)Unión Europea (FP7 grant 613779 WildTBVac)Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadUniversidad de Castilla La ManchaAPHAEA (219235-FP7-ERA-NET-EMIDA)Depto. de Sanidad AnimalFac. de VeterinariaTRUEpu