For example, relatively frequent opportunities of indirect contact between domestic and wild ungulates at shared water and food points have showed to play a relevant role in the transmission of pathogens of economic and public health concern, including agents of bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, pseudorabies, and African swine fever ( 10– 15), among others. During the last few decades, several hypotheses about how wildlife-domestic animals interactions can contribute to infectious disease emergence have been tested. The second may determine indirect cross-species transmission of several environmentally-resistant pathogens (including viruses, bacteria, and macro parasites), where the interacting hosts would be exposed to the contaminated environments they share ( 4– 6).Ĭreated by the encroachment of human activities into natural landscapes, wildlife-domestic interfaces represent critical boundaries where humans, vectors, and reservoir hosts (wildlife or domestic animals) coexist, thus increasing contact and the risk of cross-species transmission and emergence of pathogens ( 7– 9). Direct interactions involve spatial and temporal co-occurrence and often a specific behavioral interaction, while indirect interactions only require spatial co-occurrence of reservoir and susceptible hosts within a certain time window ( 3). From an epidemiological perspective, there are direct and indirect interactions that could facilitate pathogen transmission. Interspecific interactions are relevant behavioral factors that modulate population and community dynamics at multiple ecological levels ( 1, 2). Our outcomes will inform theoretical epidemiological models designed to predict and minimize the contact risk between domestic and threatened species, guiding effective control strategies at the wildlife-domestic interface. Our research contributes to improving the knowledge on the spatio-temporal patterns of interspecific contact between invasive and native carnivores within the context of multi-host pathogen dynamics. Based on previous studies, we suggest periurban zones may constitute a potential focus of pathogen exposure between dog and fox populations in the study area. We detected a marked temporal segregation between dogs and foxes, but dog-chilla interactions resulted in shorter time intervals (2.5 median days) compared to dog-culpeo interactions (7.6 median days), suggesting a higher potential risk of pathogen spillover between the first species pairing. We showed that dogs interacted more frequently with chilla foxes (57 interactions) than with culpeo foxes (15 interactions), and the first interaction type occurred almost exclusively at the periurban site, where dogs and chillas were more frequently detected than in the other sites. We found higher number of dog-fox interactions (60 interactions) at a periurban site adjacent to two coastal towns (Tongoy and Guanaqueros), compared to other two more undisturbed sites (12 interactions) increasingly distanced from urbanized areas. Our findings suggested that closeness to urbanized zones predicts the frequency of indirect interactions between dogs and foxes. We assessed local-scale variables that may predict the number of interactions between dogs and foxes, and compared the time interval between dog-culpeo and dog-chilla interactions. In this study, we used camera traps to describe the activity patterns and habitat use of dogs, chilla ( Lycalopex griseus) and culpeo ( Lycalopex culpaeus) foxes and identify the local-scale factors that may affect the frequency of dog-fox interactions through an anthropization gradient of the Coquimbo region, Chile. However, spatio-temporal patterns of indirect interactions as promoters of pathogen transfer between domestic and wild canids are largely unknown. 4Programa de Investigación Aplicada en Fauna Silvestre, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chileĭomestic dogs ( Canis familiaris) often cohabite at interfaces shared by humans and wildlife, interacting with wild canids as predators, prey, competitors and reservoirs of several multi-host pathogens, such as canid-borne micro and macro parasites that could impact on wildlife, livestock and public health.
1Instituto de Medicina Preventiva Veterinaria, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.Hernández 1 *, Jonatan Manqui 1, Carlos Mejías 2,3 and Gerardo Acosta-Jamett 1,4 *
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