Assessing the potential spread and maintenance of foot-and-mouth disease virus infection in wild ungulates: general principles and application to a specific scenario in Thrace

Dhollander, S and Belsham, G J and Lange, M and Willgert, K and Alexandrov, T and Chondrokouki, E and Depner, K and Khomenko, S and Ozyoruk, F and Salman, M and Thulke, H H and Botner, A

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases (2014) 63: 165–174

DOI: 10.1111/tbed.12240

Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), due to infection with serotype O virus, occurred in wild boar and within eleven outbreaks in domestic livestock in the south-east of Bulgaria, Thrace region, in 2011. Hence, the issue of the potential for the spread and maintenance of FMD virus (FMDV) infection in a population of wild ungulates became important. This assessment focused on the spread and maintenance of FMDV infection within a hypothetical wild boar and deer population in an environment, which is characterized by a climate transitional between Mediterranean and continental and variable wildlife population densities. The assessment was based on three aspects: (i) a systematic review of the literature focusing on experimental infection studies to identify the parameters describing the duration of FMDV infection in deer and wild boar, as well as observational studies assessing the occurrence of FMDV infection in wild deer and wild boar populations, (ii) prevalence survey data of wild boar and deer in Bulgaria and Turkey and (iii) an epidemiological model, simulating the host-to-host spread of FMDV infections. It is concluded, based on all three aspects, that the wildlife population in Thrace, and so wildlife populations in similar ecological settings, are probably not able to maintain FMD in the long term in the absence of FMDV infection in the domestic host population. However, limited spread of FMDV infection in time and space in the wildlife populations can occur. If there is a continued cross-over of FMDV between domestic and wildlife populations or a higher population density, virus circulation may be prolonged.

Citation

Dhollander, S., Belsham, G. J., Lange, M., Willgert, K., Alexandrov, T., Chondrokouki, E., Depner, K., Khomenko, S., Ozyoruk, F., Salman, M., Thulke, H. H., & Botner, A. (2014). Assessing the potential spread and maintenance of foot-and-mouth disease virus infection in wild ungulates: general principles and application to a specific scenario in Thrace. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 63, 165–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.12240 Deer, Wild animals, Wild boar

Keywords

• Deer
• Wild animals
• Wild boar