High pathogen prevalence in an amphibian and reptile assemblage at a site with risk factors for dispersal in Galicia, Spain.

ABSTRACT: Ranaviruses are agents of disease, mortality and population declines in ectothermic vertebrates and emergences have been repeatedly linked to human activities. Ranaviruses in the common midwife toad ranavirus lineage are emerging in Europe. They are known to be severe multi-host pathogens of amphibians and can also cause disease in reptiles. Recurrent outbreaks of ranavirus disease and mortality affecting three species have occurred at a small reservoir in north-west Spain but no data were available on occurrence of the pathogen in the other amphibian and reptile species present or at adjacent sites. We sampled nine species of amphibians and reptiles at the reservoir and nearby sites and screened for ranavirus presence using molecular methods. Our results show infection with ranavirus in a

SUBMITTER: von Essen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7392302 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature