U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
ORCID IDs
Sarah N. Bevins https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4999-6836
Susan A. Shriner https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0349-7182
Date of this Version
9-1-2021
Citation
VECTOR-BORNE AND ZOONOTIC DISEASES Volume 21, Number 9, 2021
DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2020.2765
Abstract
Plague is caused by a bacterial pathogen (Yersinia pestis) that can infect a wide range of mammal species, but its presence in wildlife is often underappreciated. Using a large-scale data set (n = 44,857) that details the extent of Y. pestis exposure in wildlife, we document exposure in 18 wildlife species, including coyotes (Canis latrans), bobcats (Lynx rufus), and black bears (Ursus americanus). Evidence of plague activity is widespread, with seropositive animals detected in every western state in the contiguous United States. Pathogen monitoring systems in wildlife that are both large scale and long-term are rare, yet they open the door for analyses on potential shifts in distribution that have occurred over time because of climate or land use changes. The data generated by these long-term monitoring programs, combined with recent advances in our understanding of pathogen ecology, offer a clearer picture of zoonotic pathogens and the risks they pose.
Included in
Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Other Veterinary Medicine Commons, Population Biology Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons, Veterinary Infectious Diseases Commons, Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology Commons, Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health Commons, Zoology Commons
Comments
This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License [CC-BY]