Abstract:
Coronaviruses have been confirmed to infect a variety of species, but only one case of associated winter dysentery of European bison has been described. The study aimed to analyze the prevalence, and define the impact on the species conservation, the source of coronavirus infection, and the role of the European bison in the transmission of the pathogen in Poland. Molecular and serological screening was performed on 409 European bison from 6 free-ranging and 14 captive herds over the period of 6 years (2017-2023). Presence of coronavirus was confirmed in one nasal swab by pancoronavirus RT-PCR and in 3 nasal swab samples by bovine coronavirus (BCoV) specific real time RT-PCR. The detected virus showed high (> 98%) homology in both RdRp and Spike genes to BCoV strains characterised recently in Polish cattle and strains isolated from wild cervids in Italy. Antibodies specific to BCoV were found in 6.4% of tested samples, all originating from free-ranging animals. Seroprevalence was higher in adult animals over 5 years of age (p = 0.0015) and in females (p = 0.09). Our results suggest that European bison play only a limited role as reservoirs of bovine-like coronaviruses. Although the most probable source of infections in the European bison population in Poland is cattle, other wild ruminants could also be involved. In addition, the zoonotic potential of bovine coronaviruses is quite low.
摘要:
冠状病毒已被证实感染多种物种,但只描述了一例欧洲野牛相关的冬痢疾。这项研究旨在分析患病率,并定义对物种保护的影响,冠状病毒感染的来源,以及欧洲野牛在波兰病原体传播中的作用。在6年(2017-2023年)的时间内,对409只欧洲野牛从6只自由放养和14只圈养牛群中进行了分子和血清学筛查。通过泛冠状病毒RT-PCR在一个鼻拭子中和通过牛冠状病毒(BCoV)特异性实时RT-PCR在3个鼻拭子样品中确认了冠状病毒的存在。检测到的病毒在RdRp和Spike基因中与最近在波兰牛中表征的BCoV毒株和从意大利野生宫颈分离的毒株均显示出高(>98%)同源性。在6.4%的测试样品中发现了BCoV特异性抗体,都来自自由放养的动物。5岁以上的成年动物(p=0.0015)和雌性动物(p=0.09)的血清阳性率更高。我们的结果表明,欧洲野牛作为牛样冠状病毒的储库仅发挥有限的作用。尽管波兰欧洲野牛种群中最可能的感染源是牛,其他野生反刍动物也可能参与其中。此外,牛冠状病毒的人畜共患潜力相当低。