caa a22 4500 555311090 20200410031535.0 cr unu---uuuuu 190207e20180619xx s 000 0 eng 1746-6148 10.1186/s12917-018-1494-0 doi (BORIS)oai:boris.unibe.ch:123630 630 ddc 29921290 pmid Causes of mortality and morbidity in free-ranging mustelids in Switzerland: necropsy data from over 50years of general health surveillance [Elektronische Daten] [Ezgi Akdesir, Francesco Origgi, Julia Wimmershoff, Joachim Frey, Caroline Frey, Marie Pierre Ryser] publishedVersion openAccess eu-repo BACKGROUND Although mustelids occur worldwide and include a wide range of species, little is known about the diseases affecting them. Mustelids have regularly been submitted for post mortem investigation in the framework of the program for general wildlife health surveillance in Switzerland, which has been in place for nearly 60years. We performed a retrospective analysis of the necropsy reports on mustelids submitted to the diagnostic service of the University of Bern. The aims of this study were to present an overview of the causes of mortality and morbidity observed in these carnivores, to assess differences among species, to assess changes in disease detection over the study period, and to describe the pathology of selected diseases. RESULTS Five hundred and sixty-six reports from 1958 to 2015 were analyzed. Most animals were stone martens (Martes foina, 46%) and badgers (Meles meles, 44%); the remaining species were polecats (Mustela putorius, 4.7%), pine martens (Martes martes, 2%), stoats (Mustela erminea, 1.4%), weasels (Mustela nivalis, 0.8%) and otters (Lutra lutra, 0.3%). Infectious diseases (n = 262) were frequent and were mostly bacterial or viral; non-infectious conditions (n = 169) were less common and were mostly traumatic or due to metabolic disorders. The most frequent diagnoses included distemper (75% were badgers), amyloidosis (96% were martens), bacterial respiratory infections (all mustelids), biting lice (badgers only) and pulmonary and gastro-intestinal helminths (all species). Less frequent diseases included histoplasmosis (badgers only), aspergillosis, toxoplasmosis, hepatozoonosis, and sarcoptic mange. Lesions due to infection with distemper virus were primarily appreciated in the respiratory tract and central nervous system; they presented species-specific characteristics such as necrosis in the ependyma in badgers and absence of syncytia in stone martens. Amyloidosis in martens was multisystemic in most cases and included both AA and AL amyloidosis; the main macroscopic change was severe splenomegaly. CONCLUSION Infectious diseases were the most frequent causes of morbidity and mortality of mustelids, with marked species-specific differences. Lung and skin were the most commonly affected organs. Contagious diseases such as canine distemper, sarcoptic mange and rabies in mustelids showed a similar temporal pattern as in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), suggesting pathogen spillovers from foxes to mustelids. Akdesir Ezgi joint author Origgi Francesco joint author Wimmershoff Julia joint author Frey Joachim joint author Frey Caroline joint author Ryser Marie Pierre joint author BMC veterinary research 14(1), p. 195 1746-6148 https://boris.unibe.ch/123630/1/2018%20Mustelids%20mortality%20and%20morbidity.pdf text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository 1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article boris PeerReviewed boris peerstatus BORIS 856 40 https://boris.unibe.ch/123630/1/2018%20Mustelids%20mortality%20and%20morbidity.pdf text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository BORIS 700 1- Akdesir Ezgi joint author BORIS 700 1- Origgi Francesco joint author BORIS 700 1- Wimmershoff Julia joint author BORIS 700 1- Frey Joachim joint author BORIS 700 1- Frey Caroline joint author BORIS 700 1- Ryser Marie Pierre joint author BORIS 773 0- BMC veterinary research 14(1), p. 195 1746-6148 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 BORIS BORIS BORIS info:eu-repo/semantics/article openAccess