Tag, you're it!: viral diseases in native otters of south-central Chile due to coexistence with invasive American mink and domestic dogs.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Biological invasions represent a significant epidemiological route for the introduction and dispersion of pathogens, facilitating disease emergence and transmission among native biodiversity. In the temperate rainforest ecoregion of south-central Chile, the native semiaquatic mustelid Lontra felina (marine otter) and L. provocax (southern river otter) coexist both sympatrically and syntopically with two invasive species-American mink (Neogale vison) and domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), that act as carriers and hosts of canine parvovirus and distemper.

Methodology

To assess the occurrence of both diseases, we: (1) collected serum and mucous membrane samples from four species across three sectors of this ecoregion; and (2) employe

SUBMITTER: Santibanez A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12659695 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature