Emerging zoonoses in wildlife: understanding the ecology, transmission and impacts of Brucella and Erysipelothrix for conservation and food security

北极正在经历前所未有的气候变化，给北方社区的福祉带来了多重相互关联的挑战。其中之一是人畜共患疾病的出现，即那些既影响动物又影响人的疾病。最近在因纽特努南加特出现了两种重要的细菌性人畜共患病：丹毒思特里克病（一种导致麝牛广泛死亡的新原因）和布鲁氏菌（在驯鹿和麝牛中流行度增加）。这些疾病加在一起，对人类赖以生存的野生动物物种的可持续性构成严重威胁。此外，它们对处理或消费乡村食品的人构成公共健康风险。我们的目标是将因纽特人智商（IQ）和西方知识结合起来，更好地了解这些新出现的人畜共患病以及它们如何受到气候变化的影响，然后利用这些知识保护人类健康并为野生动物管理提供信息。我们的主要目标是1)了解为什么这些疾病在北美驯鹿和麝牛中增加；2)了解并预测它们对人类和动物造成的风险；3)制定缓解战略，保护人类健康，为子孙后代保护野生动物。我们将采用多管齐下的方法，以我们团队在努纳武特和西北地区长期开展的以社区为基础的野生动物健康监测项目为基础。该项目将IQ与基于猎人的采样和科学发现结合起来，监测驯鹿和麝牛的健康状况，并为该项目提供结构和协作基础。培训、能力加强和知识交流是我们项目的组成部分。我们将收集和调动智商，以更好地了解这些疾病，其结果将为当前气候变化情景的研究问题、方法和预测模型提供信息，并确定可以针对哪些重要脆弱性更好地减轻风险。我们将扩大抽样工作，结合实验室、生物信息学和基于智商的数学方法，了解历史传播模式、出现的潜在原因、暴露的气候和其他环境风险因素，以及布鲁氏菌和Erysipelothrix对驯鹿和麝牛种群以及依赖它们的因纽特人社区的影响。此外，我们将探索社区对布鲁氏菌快速社区诊断检测的需求和兴趣，以改善食品安全和增强对农村食品的信心，并将开发和试点这种测试的原型。研究的每一步都将通过因纽特人、英国和加拿大的学术研究人员之间的合作完成，并涉及每个社区的技能培训和就业。我们对人类/野生动物界面新兴病原体的研究解决了北极生态系统及其对因纽特社区的影响这一主题，并将1)提高社区一级检测和应对野生动物新兴传染病的能力；2)通过知识交流和缓解战略加强粮食保障和安全；3)生成数据，以促进当地社区赖以生存、就业和经济机会的麝香和驯鹿种群的可持续性；4)促进土著知识的翻译和传播，并将其纳入研究和管理。

The Arctic is experiencing unprecedented climate change, resulting in multiple interconnected challenges for the wellbeing of northern communities. Among these is emergence of zoonotic diseases - those that affect both animals and people. Two important bacterial zoonoses have recently emerged in Inuit Nunangat: Erysipelothrix, a novel cause of widespread mortality for muskoxen, and Brucella, which has increased in prevalence in caribou and muskoxen. Together, these diseases pose serious risks to the sustainability of these wildlife species upon which communities depend. Moreover, they are a public health risk for those handling or consuming country foods. We aim to bring together Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) and western knowledge to gain a better understanding of these emerging zoonoses and how they are impacted by climate change, and then use this knowledge to protect human health and inform wildlife management. Our main objectives are to 1) understand why these diseases have increased in caribou and muskoxen; 2) understand and predict what risk they pose to people and animals; and 3) develop mitigation strategies to protect human health and conserve wildlife for generations to come. We will use a multi-pronged approach, building on our team's long-standing Community-Based Wildlife Health Surveillance program in Nunavut and NWT. This program brings IQ together with hunter-based sampling and scientific discovery to monitor caribou and muskox health and provides a structural and collaborative foundation for the project. Training, capacity strengthening and knowledge exchange forms an integral part of our program. We will collect and mobilize IQ to better understand these diseases, with results informing research questions, methods, and predictive models for current climate change scenarios, as well as to identify important vulnerabilities that could be targeted for better risk mitigation. We will expand sampling efforts and use a combination of laboratory, bioinformatics and mathematical approaches that are informed by IQ to understand historical transmission patterns, potential reasons for emergence, climate and other environmental risk factors for exposure, and the impact of Brucella and Erysipelothrix on caribou and muskox populations and the Inuit communities who rely on them. Additionally, we will explore community needs and interests for rapid, in-community diagnostic testing for Brucella for improved food safety and increased confidence in country foods, and will develop and pilot a prototype of such a test. Every step of the research will be done through collaboration among Inuit, and UK and Canadian academic researchers, and involves skills training and employment within each community. Our research on emerging pathogens at the human/wildlife interface addresses the theme of Arctic ecosystems and their impact on Inuit communities and will 1) increase capacity at the community level to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases in wildlife; 2) increase food security and safety through knowledge exchange and mitigative strategies; 3) generate data to promote the sustainability of muskox and caribou populations, on which local communities rely for subsistence, employment and economic opportunities; and 4) contribute to the translation and dissemination of Indigenous knowledge and its integration into research and management.