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. 2023 Jun 1;19(1):74.
doi: 10.1186/s12917-023-03627-y.

A serological survey of pathogens associated with the respiratory and digestive system in the Polish European bison (Bison bonasus) population in 2017-2022

Anna Didkowska  1 , Daniel Klich  2 , Magdalena Nowak  3 , Marlena Wojciechowska  2 , Kinga Prolejko  3 , Ewelina Kwiecień  4 , Magdalena Rzewuska  4 , Wanda Olech  2 , Krzysztof Anusz  3
Affiliations

A serological survey of pathogens associated with the respiratory and digestive system in the Polish European bison (Bison bonasus) population in 2017-2022

Anna Didkowska et al. BMC Vet Res. .

Abstract

Background: The European bison (Bison bonasus) is a near threatened species and requires health monitoring. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of antibodies to pathogens known to cause respiratory and digestive illness in ruminants.

Results: In the studied 328 European bison, the highest seroprevalence was observed for Bovine herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1) (50.27%), Bovine Coronavirus (BCoV) (26.36%), and Bluetongue Virus (BTV) (12.83%). For Mycoplasma bovis strains and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV), positive results were rare. Interestingly, a higher prevalence of BTV antibodies was noted in the northeastern populations and older animals.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the Polish European bison population appears to have considerable contact with BoHV-1; however, this does not appear to be of great significance, as clinical symptoms and post-mortem lesions are rarely noted in Polish European bison population. The high seroprevalence of BTV in the north-east of Poland is an ongoing trend, also noted in previous studies. It is possible that European bison may perpetuate the virus in this region. This is the first report of antibodies for BCoV in European bison.

Keywords: Bluetongue Virus (BTV); Bovine coronavirus (BCoV); Bovine herpes virus type 1 (BoHV-1); Bovine viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV); ELISA; European bison; Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR); Mycoplasma bovis; Pestivirus; Serology; Wildlife.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean (± SD) Bluetongue virus (BTV) antibodies occurrence, evaluated using commercial ELISA, in European bison in generalized linear model and pairwise comparison in LSD test (BIE: Bieszczady Mountains, BIA: Białowieska Forest, KNY: Knyszyńska Forest, BOR: Borecka Forest, ENC: animals in enclosures); similar letters (a, b) indicate pairs not different in statistical pairwise comparison. The Białowieska and Knyszyńska forests presented a high seroprevalence, which differed from that of other wild populations and animals in enclosures
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The risk of Bluetongue virus (BTV) antibodies occurrence, evaluated using commercial ELISA, in European bison in: A) all analyzed animals, B) animals in Białowieska and Knyszyńska forests, C) animals in Bieszczady and Borki forest and D) animals in enclosures. Within populations with high prevalence (Białowieska and Knyszyńska forests), a similar increased risk of seropositivity i.e. over 50%, was observed at an age of 10 years. In the low-risk free-ranging populations (Bieszczady and Borecka forest) and in enclosures, no significant elevation in the risk of BTV antibodies occurrence was observed with age
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Location of study sites. The source map was obtained from the Geoportal.gov
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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