Assessing the role of dens in the spread, establishment and persistence of sarcoptic mange in an endangered canid

Publication date: Available online 8 January 2019Source: EpidemicsAuthor(s): Diego Montecino-Latorre, Brian L. Cypher, Jaime L. Rudd, Deana L. Clifford, Jonna A.K. Mazet, Janet E. FoleyAbstractSarcoptic mange is a skin disease caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei that can devastate populations of wild species. S. scabiei can survive off-host and remain infective for specific periods. In den-dwelling species, dislodged mites could be protected from the environmental conditions that impair their survival thus supporting pathogen transmission. To assess the potential role of dens in the spread, establishment, and persistence of sarcoptic mange in a population of hosts, we constructed an agent-based model of the endangered San Joaquin kit fox (SJKF; Vulpes macrotis mutica) population in Bakersfield, California, that explicitly considered the denning ecology and behavior of this species. We focused on this SJKF urban population because of their vulnerability and because a sarcoptic mange epizootic is currently ongoing. Further, SJKF is a social species that lives in family groups year-round and contact between individuals from different family groups is rare, but they will occupy the same dens intermittently. If mites remain infective in dens, they could support intra-family disease transmission via direct (den sharing) and indirect (contaminated den) contact, but also inter-family transmission if susceptible individuals from different families occupy contaminated dens. Simulation...

Source: Epidemics - January 30, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research