Tularemia in a common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) diagnosed by 16S rRNA sequencing

We report a case of tularemia in a common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) diagnosed by determination of the isolate's 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence. Pathological examination of the animal revealed a multifocal acute necrotizing hepatitis, interstitial nephritis, splenitis, and lymphangitis of the mandibular, retropharyngeal, and cervical and mesenteric lymph nodes. Moreover, multiple foci of acute necrosis were found in the epithelium of the jejunum and the interstitium of the lung. Bacteriological investigations revealed a septicemia. The isolated infectious agent was uncommon, not routinely diagnosed in our laboratory and therefore difficult to identify by conventional tools in a reasonable time and effort. thus, we decided to perform a genetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence. Thereby, an infection with Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia, was unambiguously diagnosed. This shows the great advantage 16S rRNA gene sequencing has as a general identification approach for unusual or rare isolates.

Francisella tularensis infection in a stone marten (Martes foina) without classic pathological lesions consistent with tularemia.

The current report describes the isolation and typing of a strain of Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia, from the spleen of a stone marten (Martes foina) showing no classic lesions consistent with the disease. The identification of this bacterium, belonging to the World Health Organization risk 3 category and considered to have a low infectious dose, could be performed only because of an ongoing project screening F. tularensis in the environment sensu lato. The findings described herein should alert diagnostic laboratories of the possible presence of F. tularensis in clinical samples in countries where tularemia is endemic even in cases with no consistent anamnesis and from unsuspected animal species.

Tularemia in the Southeastern Swiss Alps at 1,700 m above sea level.

A 37-year-old man presented with a 4-day history of nonbloody diarrhea, fever, chills, productive cough, vomiting, and more recent sore throat. He worked for the municipality in a village in the Swiss Alps near St. Moritz. Examination showed fever (40 °C), hypotension, tachycardia, tachypnea, decreased oxygen saturation (90 % at room air), and bibasilar crackles and wheezing. Chest radiography and computed tomography scan showed an infiltrate in the left upper lung lobe. He responded to empiric therapy with imipenem for 5 days. After the imipenem was stopped, the bacteriology laboratory reported that 2/2 blood cultures showed growth of Francisella tularensis. He had recurrence of fever and diarrhea. He was treated with ciprofloxacin (500 mg twice daily, oral, for 14 days) and symptoms resolved. Further testing confirmed that the isolate was F. tularensis (subspecies holarctica) belonging to the subclade B.FTNF002-00 (Western European cluster). This case may alert physicians that tularemia may occur in high-altitude regions such as the Swiss Alps.

Dynamics of a Tularemia Outbreak in a Closely Monitored Free-Roaming Population of Wild House Mice.

Infectious disease outbreaks can be devastating because of their sudden occurrence, as well as the complexity of monitoring and controlling them. Outbreaks in wildlife are even more challenging to observe and describe, especially when small animals or secretive species are involved. Modeling such infectious disease events is relevant to investigating their dynamics and is critical for decision makers to accomplish outbreak management. Tularemia, caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, is a potentially lethal zoonosis. Of the few animal outbreaks that have been reported in the literature, only those affecting zoo animals have been closely monitored. Here, we report the first estimation of the basic reproduction number R0 of an outbreak in wildlife caused by F. tularensis using quantitative modeling based on a susceptible-infected-recovered framework. We applied that model to data collected during an extensive investigation of an outbreak of tularemia caused by F. tularensis subsp. holarctica (also designated as type B) in a closely monitored, free-roaming house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) population in Switzerland. Based on our model and assumptions, the best estimated basic reproduction number R0 of the current outbreak is 1.33. Our results suggest that tularemia can cause severe outbreaks in small rodents. We also concluded that the outbreak self-exhausted in approximately three months without administrating antibiotics.

Tularemia /

"November 1964."

Bibliography on tularemia.

Mode of access: Internet.

Étude éco-épidémiologique sur l’infection par Francisella tularensis au Québec

Au Canada, Francisella tularensis, une bactérie zoonotique causant la tularémie, affecte principalement le lièvre d’Amérique, le rat musqué et le castor. Malgré les nombreuses études sur cette maladie, les connaissances sur l’écologie et les réservoirs naturels de la tularémie demeurent limitées. Une étude transversale a été réalisée afin d’estimer la prévalence d’infection par F. tularensis chez le lièvre d’Amérique, le rat musqué et le coyote dans quatre régions du Québec (Canada) et de décrire le risque d’infection d’après des caractéristiques individuelles (âge, sexe et état de chair) et environnementales. D’octobre 2012 à avril 2013, 345 lièvres d’Amérique, 411 rats musqués et 385 coyotes capturés par des trappeurs ont été échantillonnés. Les caractéristiques environnementales autour du site de capture ont été extraites de base de données géographiques. La séroprévalence (test de microagglutination) était de 2.9% chez les coyotes, 0.6% chez les lièvres et 0% chez les rats musqués. Tous les rats musqués et les lièvres étaient négatifs à une PCR en temps réel réalisée à partir d’un pool de foie, rein, rate et poumon; par contre, le type AI a été détecté dans les organes individuels des deux lièvres séropositifs. Des analyses de régression logistique exacte ont démontré que l’âge était un facteur de risque pour la séropositivité du coyote, ainsi que la proportion de forêts et la proportion de l’environnement considéré approprié pour le lièvre autour de la localisation de capture des coyotes. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent la présence du cycle terrestre dans les régions étudiées.

SCWDS Briefs: Volume 22, Number 4 (January 2007)

Table of Contents: SCWDS Celebrates 50 Years More Bovine TB in Minnesota Developments in CWD Surveillance and Research Federal CWD Rule Update Tularemia in Backyard Wildlife Osteochondromas in Two Deer Invasive Exotic Animals in the Southeast New Field Manual Sales

Observations on Some Natural-Focal Zoonoses in Alaska

In Alaska, as in arctic and subarctic Eurasia, important natural-focal zoonoses are rabies, brucellosis, tularemia, trichinosis, alveolar hydatid disease, cystic hydatid disease, and diphyllobothriasis. Most frequently affected are aboriginal peoples in villages within biocenoses that include the natural parasite-host assemblages. Pathogens are transmitted to man from wild animals and from dogs, which are important as synanthropic hosts. The prevalence and rate of transmission of certain pathogens in natural foci are related to the numerical density of small mammals, especially rodents, which may themselves be involved as hosts, and on which the numbers of their predators ultimately depend, such as is evident in the natural cycles of Echinococcus multilocularis and of rabies virus. Some pathogens in northern regions exhibit biological Characteristics that separate them from morphologically indistinguishable strains at lower latitudes (e.g., Trichinella spiralis and E. granulosus). Host-parasite relationships may also differ, as in the Arctic where rabies virus is maintained in populations of foxes, without significant involvement of mammals of other groups. Faunal interchanges during and after the Pleistocene period have influenced the distribution of parasite-host assemblages in Alaska.

SCWDS BRIEFS: Volume 18, Number 3 (October 2002)

• Chronic Wasting Disease Update: Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado; National CWD Management – USDA & USDI National Plan for Assisting States, Federal Agencies, and Tribes in Managing Chronic Wasting Disease in Free-ranging and Captive Cervids • West Nile virus (WNV) reaches the Pacific coast • West Nile Virus in Blue Jays • Idaho Brucellosis Linked to Wildlife: All of the epidemiological and laboratory information clearly indicates that brucellosis-infected elk transmitted the disease to the cattle herd. • Tularemia caused a die-off of captured wild prairie dogs this summer at a Texas commercial exotic animal facility that distributes the animals for sale as pets. • Raptors can acquire avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM) via ingestion of other affected birds. • House Finch Mycoplasmosis: bacterial eye disease of house finches • Raccoon Rabies report • Toxoplasmosis – The newest finding regarding sea otters in California is the importance of toxoplasmosis as a mortality factor. Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that can invade visceral organs and the central nervous system to cause acute, disseminated tissue necrosis and fatal meningoencephalitis in susceptible animals. In recent years, 36% of dead sea otters examined have been infected. Another tissue-invading protozoan, Sarcocystis neurona, also was found in 4% of the otters. • Recovery of remnant populations of the endangered black-footed ferret have been hampered by sylvatic plague, which is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. • Dr. Samantha Gibbs received the Wildlife Disease Association’s Student Research Recognition Award. Dr. Cynthia Tate was selected by the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists to receive the Best Student Presentation Award. Dr. Andrea Varela won second place in the Student Presentation Award for her presentation at the meeting of the American Association Veterinary Parasitologists. Mr. Michael Yabsley received the Wildlife Disease Association Student Scholarship and the S.A. Ewing Vectorborne Parasitology Award from the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Identification of Francisella tularensis cluster in central and western Europe

We conducted a molecular analysis of Francisella tularensis strains isolated in Switzerland and identified a specific subpopulation belonging to a cluster of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica that is widely dispersed in central and western continental Europe. This subpopulation was present before the tularemia epidemics on the Iberian Peninsula.

Long-Lasting Fever and Lymphadenitis: Think about F. tularensis

We report the case of glandular tularemia that developed in a man supposedly infected by a tick bite in Western Switzerland. Francisella tularensis (F. tularensis) was identified. In Europe tularemia most commonly manifests itself as ulcero-glandular or glandular disease; the diagnosis of tularemia may be delayed in glandular form where skin or mucous lesion is absent, particularly in areas which are assumed to have a low incidence of the disease.