Application of molecular methods to the study of infectious diseases in the mink industry

貂皮贸易是加拿大最古老的产业之一，在加拿大资源型经济中占有相当大的比例。它还提供了许多就业机会，是农村地区人民就业的重要来源。高质量和足够数量的毛皮产品是确保毛皮贸易成功的必要条件。为了实现这一目标，水貂养殖需要在相当有限的空间内饲养大量健康的动物。然而，在这些条件下，引入传染性病原体导致快速传播和持久性的最佳环境。这可能导致大量个体同时感染，对动物健康和生产力造成严重后果。然而，高死亡率、动物和毛皮尺寸减小、窝仔数减少和繁殖活动减少可能导致经济损失。已知有几种微生物会对水貂养殖场造成严重问题，其中最重要的是阿留申水貂病病毒。已知其他病毒会引起散发性流行病，例如分别引起神经系统和胃肠道系统严重疾病的犬瘟热病毒和肠炎病毒。该研究项目的目的之一是在养殖和野生动物中对这些已知会对加拿大水貂养殖业产生负面影响的地方性病毒病原体进行监测，并监测由不太流行的病原体引起的潜在危险的散发性流行病的出现。通过研究这些病毒的基因组，我们将能够确定它们如何在农场和野生水库内部和之间出现，进化和传播。水貂养殖场中经常观察到的另一种重要疾病是足垫坏死，其病原体仍然未知。该研究项目的另一个目的将致力于使用基于分子的病原体鉴定来确定这种疾病的原因，这将是预防疾病的第一步。更好地了解这些养殖和野生动物病原体将有助于努力限制这些动物的传染病，并将导致该行业在加拿大的动物健康，生产和随之而来的经济增长方面的明显改善。

The mink fur trade is one of the oldest Canadian industries and it represents a considerable proportion of Canada's resource-based economy. It also provides many jobs and is an important source of employment for people in rural areas. A high quality and sufficient quantity of fur products are required to ensure success in the fur trade. To achieve this, mink farming necessitates a large number of healthy animals in a fairly restricted space. However, in these conditions, introduction of an infectious agent results in optimal circumstances for rapid spread and persistence. This can result in a large number of individuals being simultaneously infected, with serious consequences for animal health and productivity. Consequent high mortality, decrease in animal and pelt size, smaller litter size and reduced breeding activities can result in economic damage. Several microbes are known to cause significant problems for mink farms and the most important of these is the Aleutian mink disease virus. Other viruses are known to cause sporadic epidemics, such as the distemper and enteritis viruses that cause severe disease of the nervous and gastrointestinal systems, respectively. One purpose of this research project is to perform surveillance, in both farmed and wild animals, for these endemic viral pathogens that are known to negatively affect the mink farming industry in Canada, and to monitor for the emergence of potentially dangerous sporadic epidemics caused by less prevalent agents. By studying the genomes of these viruses we will be able to identify how they emerge, evolve and spread within and between farms and the wild reservoir. Another important disease frequently observed in mink farms is footpad necrosis, for which the causative agent remains unknown. Another purpose of this research project will be dedicated to identifying the cause of this disease using molecular-based pathogen identification, which will be the first step towards disease prevention. Better understanding of these farmed and wild animal pathogens will contribute to efforts to limit the infectious disease in these animals and will result in obvious improvements for this industry in terms of animal health, production and consequent economic growth in Canada.