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East-West Divide: temperature and land cover drive spatial variation of Toxoplasma gondii infection in Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) from England and Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2017

WILLOW A. SMALLBONE Open the ORCID record for WILLOW A. SMALLBONE [Opens in a new window] ,
ELIZABETH A. CHADWICK Open the ORCID record for ELIZABETH A. CHADWICK [Opens in a new window] ,
JANET FRANCIS ,
EDWARD GUY ,
SARAH E. PERKINS ,
ELLIE SHERRARD-SMITH  and
JOANNE CABLE
WILLOW A. SMALLBONE
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK
ELIZABETH A. CHADWICK*
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK
JANET FRANCIS
Affiliation:
Toxoplasma Reference Unit, Public Health Wales Microbiology, Singleton Hospital, Swansea SA2 8QA, UK
EDWARD GUY
Affiliation:
Toxoplasma Reference Unit, Public Health Wales Microbiology, Singleton Hospital, Swansea SA2 8QA, UK
SARAH E. PERKINS
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK
ELLIE SHERRARD-SMITH
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling and NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Modelling Methodology, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UK
JOANNE CABLE
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK
*
*Corresponding author: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK. E-mail: ChadwickEA@cardiff.ac.uk
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Summary

Toxoplasma gondii, a zoonotic parasite of global importance, infects all endothermic vertebrates, with extensive health implications. The prevalence of this parasite is seldom monitored in wildlife. Here, a semi-aquatic species, the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) was used as a model to assess the potential effect of climate, land cover and biotic factors on T. gondii seroprevalence in British wildlife. The Sabin–Feldman cytoplasm-modifying dye test identified T. gondii antibodies in 25·5% of blood samples from otters found dead, mainly as road kill, in England and Wales, between 2004 and 2010. Otters in the east of England were more likely to be infected with T. gondii than those in western regions. Land cover and temperature are key determinants of T. gondii infection risk, with more infection in arable areas and lower infection where temperatures are higher. The probability of T. gondii infection increased with host age, reflecting cumulative exposure with time, but there was no association between T. gondii seroprevalence and cause of host death.

Keywords

landscape ecologymeteorological variationspatial distributionzoonosistoxoplasmosisotter
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 144 , Issue 11 , September 2017 , pp. 1433 - 1440
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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