Exposure of yellow-legged gulls to Toxoplasma gondii along the Western Mediterranean coasts : Tales from a sentinel
Gamble, Amandine (University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3)
Ramos, Raül (Universitat de Barcelona)
Parra-Torres, Yaiza (Universitat de Barcelona)
Mercier, Aurélien (CHU Limoges)
Galal, Lokman (Université de Limoges)
Pearce-Duvet, Jessica (University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3)
Villena, Isabelle (Centre National de Référence de la Toxoplasmose)
Montalvo Porro, Tomas (Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau)
González-Solís, Jacob (Universitat de Barcelona)
Hammouda, Abdessalem (Université de Gabès)
Oro, Daniel (Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes. Laboratori d'Ecologia Teòrica i Computacional - CSIC)
Selmi, Slahedddine (Université de Gabès)
Boulinier, Thierry (University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Fecha:	2019
Resumen:	Efficiently tracking and anticipating the dynamics of infectious agents in wild populations requires the gathering of large numbers of samples, if possible at several locations and points in time, which can be a challenge for some species. Testing for the presence of specific maternal antibodies in egg yolks sampled on the colonies could represent an efficient way to quantify the exposure of breeding females to infectious agents, particularly when using an abundant and widespread species, such as the yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis). We used such an approach to explore spatio-temporal patterns of exposure to Toxoplasma gondii, a pathogenic protozoan responsible of toxoplasmosis in humans and other warm-blooded vertebrates. First, we tested the validity of this approach by exploring the repeatability of the detection of specific antibodies at the egg level using two different immunoassays and at the clutch level using an occupancy model. Then, samples gathered in 15 colonies from France, Spain and Tunisia were analysed using an immunoassay detecting antibodies specifically directed against T. gondii. Prevalence of specific antibodies in eggs was overall high while varying significantly among colonies. These results revealed that T. gondii circulated at a large spatial scale in the western Mediterranean yellow-legged gull population, highlighting its potential role in the maintenance community of this parasite. Additionally, this study illustrates how species commensal to human populations like large gulls can be used as wildlife sentinels for the tracking of infectious agents at the human-wildlife interface, notably by sampling eggs.
Ayudas:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad JCI-2012-11848
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Materia:	Eco-epidemiology ; Immunoassay ; Mediterranean region ; Sampling strategy ; Stable isotope analysis ; Toxoplasma gondii
Publicado en:	International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, Vol. 8 (april 2019) , p. 221-228, ISSN 2213-2244

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.01.002
PMID: 30891402

8 p, 1.3 MB

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