Persistent anthrax as a major driver of wildlife mortality in a tropical rainforest
Persistent anthrax as a major driver of wildlife mortality in a tropical rainforest
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DOI：
10.1038/nature23309
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发表时间：
2017-08-03
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Leendertz, Fabian H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hoffmann, Constanze;Zimmermann, Fee;Leendertz, Fabian H.
炭疽病是一种全球重要的动物疾病和人畜共患病。尽管如此，我们目前对炭疽生态学的了解在很大程度上仅限于干旱生态系统，而这些地区的炭疽爆发最为常见(1-3)。在这里，我们展示了热带雨林中炭疽杆菌蜡状芽孢杆菌生物变种的动态变化对当地野生动物群落造成严重后果。使用三十年来收集的数据和样本，我们表明雨林炭疽是广泛哺乳动物宿主的持久且广泛的死亡原因。我们预测这种病原体将加速当地黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes verus）种群的减少，并可能导致灭绝。我们介绍了一种隐秘病原体的流行病学，并表明它的存在对保护具有重要意义。
Anthrax is a globally important animal disease and zoonosis. Despite this, our current knowledge of anthrax ecology is largely limited to arid ecosystems, where outbreaks are most commonly reported(1-3). Here we show that the dynamics of an anthrax-causing agent, Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis, in a tropical rainforest have severe consequences for local wildlife communities. Using data and samples collected over three decades, we show that rainforest anthrax is a persistent and widespread cause of death for a broad range of mammalian hosts. We predict that this pathogen will accelerate the decline and possibly result in the extirpation of local chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) populations. We present the epidemiology of a cryptic pathogen and show that its presence has important implications for conservation.