Sociospatial structure explains marked variation in brucellosis seroprevalence in an Alpine ibex population.

ABSTRACT: In a context of (re)emerging infectious diseases with wildlife reservoirs, understanding how animal ecology shapes epidemiology is a key issue, particularly in wild ungulates that share pathogens with domestic herbivores and have similar food requirements. For the first time in Europe, brucellosis (Brucella melitensis), a virulent zoonosis, persisted in an Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) population and was transmitted to cattle and humans. To better understand disease dynamics, we investigated the relationships between the spatial ecology of ibex and the epidemiology of brucellosis. Combining home range overlap between 37 GPS-collared individuals and visual observations of 148 visually-marked individuals monitored during the 2013-2016 period, we showed that females were spatially segregated in at

SUBMITTER: Marchand P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5688143 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature