Pamela C Köster, Ana M Figueiredo, Jenny G Maloney, Alejandro Dashti, Begoña Bailo, Rita T Torres, Carlos Fonseca, Atle Mysterud, Miguel Á Habela, Antonio Rivero-Juarez, Joaquín Vicente, Emmanuel Serrano, Maria C Arnal, Daniel Fernández de Luco, José A Armenteros, Ana Balseiro, Guillermo A Cardona, João Carvalho, Dário Hipólito, Joana Fernandes, Josman D Palmeira, Rafael Calero-Bernal, David González-Barrio, Monica Santin, David Carmena
{"title":"Blastocystis occurrence and subtype diversity in European wild boar (Sus scrofa) from the Iberian Peninsula.","authors":"Pamela C Köster, Ana M Figueiredo, Jenny G Maloney, Alejandro Dashti, Begoña Bailo, Rita T Torres, Carlos Fonseca, Atle Mysterud, Miguel Á Habela, Antonio Rivero-Juarez, Joaquín Vicente, Emmanuel Serrano, Maria C Arnal, Daniel Fernández de Luco, José A Armenteros, Ana Balseiro, Guillermo A Cardona, João Carvalho, Dário Hipólito, Joana Fernandes, Josman D Palmeira, Rafael Calero-Bernal, David González-Barrio, Monica Santin, David Carmena","doi":"10.1186/s13567-024-01385-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ongoing increase in wild boar populations across Europe has fostered human-wildlife conflicts, including the transmission of emerging pathogens with zoonotic importance. Blastocystis is a ubiquitous, faecal-oral transmitted protist that can cause gastrointestinal illnesses and is observed in humans and animals worldwide. The role of wildlife in the epidemiology of Blastocystis is insufficiently understood. Thus, we investigated the occurrence and subtype diversity of Blastocystis in free-ranging wild boars from the Iberian Peninsula using conventional PCR and next-generation amplicon sequencing of a fragment of the ssu RNA gene. A total of 459 wild boar faecal samples were collected across Spain (n = 360) and Portugal (n = 99) between 2014 and 2021. Blastocystis was present in 15.3% (70/459; 95% CI 12.1-18.9) of the wild boars analysed, and its occurrence was significantly higher in Portugal (34.3%, 34/99; 95% CI 25.1-44.6) than in Spain (10.0%, 36/360; 95% CI 7.1-13.6). Seven Blastocystis subtypes (ST5, ST10b, ST13-ST15, ST24b, and ST43) were detected among the surveyed wild boar populations, with greater variability detected in Portuguese samples. ST5 was identified in all the Blastocystis-positive animals, whereas 14.3% of them harboured ST mixed colonisations. Our results demonstrate that Blastocystis ST5 is particularly adapted to infect wild boars. The additional identification of zoonotic STs reinforces the role of wild boars as spreaders of zoonotic infections with public health significance.</p>","PeriodicalId":23658,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Research","volume":"55 1","pages":"133"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11460206/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Veterinary Research","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13567-024-01385-9","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"VETERINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The ongoing increase in wild boar populations across Europe has fostered human-wildlife conflicts, including the transmission of emerging pathogens with zoonotic importance. Blastocystis is a ubiquitous, faecal-oral transmitted protist that can cause gastrointestinal illnesses and is observed in humans and animals worldwide. The role of wildlife in the epidemiology of Blastocystis is insufficiently understood. Thus, we investigated the occurrence and subtype diversity of Blastocystis in free-ranging wild boars from the Iberian Peninsula using conventional PCR and next-generation amplicon sequencing of a fragment of the ssu RNA gene. A total of 459 wild boar faecal samples were collected across Spain (n = 360) and Portugal (n = 99) between 2014 and 2021. Blastocystis was present in 15.3% (70/459; 95% CI 12.1-18.9) of the wild boars analysed, and its occurrence was significantly higher in Portugal (34.3%, 34/99; 95% CI 25.1-44.6) than in Spain (10.0%, 36/360; 95% CI 7.1-13.6). Seven Blastocystis subtypes (ST5, ST10b, ST13-ST15, ST24b, and ST43) were detected among the surveyed wild boar populations, with greater variability detected in Portuguese samples. ST5 was identified in all the Blastocystis-positive animals, whereas 14.3% of them harboured ST mixed colonisations. Our results demonstrate that Blastocystis ST5 is particularly adapted to infect wild boars. The additional identification of zoonotic STs reinforces the role of wild boars as spreaders of zoonotic infections with public health significance.
期刊介绍:
Veterinary Research is an open access journal that publishes high quality and novel research and review articles focusing on all aspects of infectious diseases and host-pathogen interaction in animals.