Ezequiel Hidalgo Hermoso¹

1. Departamento de Conservación e Investigación, Fundación Buin Zoo.

Ponente: Ezequiel Hidalgo Hermoso, conservacion@buinzoo.cl

Wildlife pathogens surveillance is essential for the early identification of disease occurrence and emerging threats that pose a health risk to animal and human populations. Collateral benefits are the improvement of regional preparedness, estimating the impact of these pathogens on ecosystems and identifying areas that should be prioritized for funding. However, Chile lacks of Governmental funding for wildlife disease monitoring programs and published scientific information about the susceptibility of native wildlife to infectious pathogens is rather limited. Here we present the findings of 11 years of surveillance on the Southern pudu (Pudu puda) using laboratory diagnosis, clinical records and pathologic findings for detect the presence and impact of various pathogens in Chile and such as answer the question: are infectious diseases underdiagnosed in pudu in Chile? Samples of wild (150) and captive pudu (55) from Chile were tested using molecular detection (blood/stool/tissues) and serology for adenovirus, herpesvirus, pestivirus, rotavirus, hepatitis E, circovirus, Sars-Cov 2, Brucella abortus, Leptospira interrogans, Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis, Chlamydia abortus, Coxiella burnetii, Bartonella, Hemoplasms, Anaplasms, Piroplams, Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii. We found evidence of exposure or infection to 15 infectious agents including the first report of CaHV-2, Mycoplasma ovis-like, Anaplasma sp. and Babesia sp. in wild ungulates in Chile, and the first report of Chlamydia abortus in Chilean wildlife. Clinical and pathological findings suggest that viral pathogens could be causing infectious abortions and malignant catarrhal fever in pudu. Our results suggest that infectious diseases are an emerging and neglected threat for wild and captive pudus in Chile, and this species has the potential to host various zoonotic agents. More epidemiologic and pathology studies are urgently needed to understand the role of infectious diseases in the cases of dog attacks and runovers in free-ranging populations of pudu in Chile.