Seasonal breeding drives the incidence of a chronic bacterial infection in a free-living herbivore population

A. K. Pathak, B. Boag, M. Poss, E. T. Harvill, I. M. Cattadori

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Understanding seasonal changes in age-related incidence of infections can be revealing for disentangling how host heterogeneities affect transmission and how to control the spread of infections between social groups. Seasonal forcing has been well documented in human childhood diseases but the mechanisms responsible for age-related transmission in free-living and socially structured animal populations are still poorly known. Here we studied the seasonal dynamics of Bordetella bronchiseptica in a free-living rabbit population over 5 years and discuss the possible mechanisms of infection. This bacterium has been isolated in livestock and wildlife where it causes respiratory infections that rapidly spread between individuals and persist as subclinical infections. Sera were collected from rabbits sampled monthly and examined using an ELISA. Findings revealed that B. bronchiseptica circulates in the rabbit population with annual prevalence ranging between 88% and 97%. Both seroprevalence and antibody optical density index exhibited 1-year cycles, indicating that disease outbreaks were seasonal and suggesting that long-lasting antibody protection was transient. Intra-annual dynamics showed a strong seasonal signature associated with the recruitment of naive offspring during the breeding period. Infection appeared to be mainly driven by mother-to-litter contacts rather than by interactions with other members of the community. By age 2 months, 65% of the kittens were seropositive.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1210-1219
Number of pages10
JournalEpidemiology and Infection
Volume139
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Epidemiology
  • Infectious Diseases

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Seasonal breeding drives the incidence of a chronic bacterial infection in a free-living herbivore population'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this