While humanity continues under the yoke of the covid, there are other diseases that continue to advance in apparent silence.
This is evidenced by a huemul with abscesses that a few weeks ago was found lifeless in Chilean Patagonia, or the death of millions of bats in North America due to white nose syndrome, the work of a fungus that, according to one hypothesis, would have been transported from Europe for cave-loving tourists.
Or the Siberian tigers beaten by canine distemper, which has led experts to propose the vaccination of these big cats to save them from extinction.
The truth is that, just as the covid has reminded us that the devastation of nature increases the risk of epidemics and pandemics, humans are also facilitating, directly and indirectly, the spread of diseases within wildlife.
In this way, wild animals not only face an adverse cocktail such as the destruction of their habitat, climate change or pollution, but also the infections that are emerging today as a growing and unusual threat.
“At an international level, it has been quantified that, although there has been a greater effort to detect diseases in the last 40 years, there is a greater number of diseases reported in wildlife, whether they are emerging or generating sporadic outbreaks, and that seem to be occurring more continuously, "explains Diego Montecino, wildlife epidemiologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in the United States.
"Although there are more eyes looking, there is greater detection of new diseases in populations where pathogens were not previously registered," he adds.
In simple terms, emerging infectious diseases in wild creatures can be triggered by contagion from domestic animals present in close proximity, by human intervention carrying hosts and pathogens, and by other sources without direct involvement of humans or domestic species.
The loss of habitat, for example, causes the displacement of natural populations, increasing contact between wild, domestic and human animals, thus resulting in the transfer of pathogens between these groups.
Regarding climate change, extreme events such as cyclones, droughts and fires are projected to increase the movement and mortality of species.
Not forgetting the thawing of areas like the Arctic, which is exposing previously frozen pathogens.
Stress and poor living conditions are added that create a favorable scenario for diseases.
This problem is escalating to such a level that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently published a global report on the urgency of addressing the health of wildlife on the planet.
This is detailed by Marcela Uhart, director of the Latin American Program of the One Health Institute, University of California Davis, and one of the experts who prepared the international report of the IUCN.
"Wildlife is increasingly affected by the advance of human activities, and one of the most important risks is the lack of specific programs dedicated to monitoring the health of wildlife, which is associated with a lack of response when the events are detected, both in the case of scabies in Chile and Argentina, as well as some documented events in huemules in southern Chile ”, he warns.
On the one hand, Uhart refers to sarcoptic mange, caused by the
Sarcoptes scabiei
mite
.
Known are the cases in domestic animals such as dogs, but wildlife has not been rid of this ectoparasite.
In fact, there has been a global trend that would increase, affecting various species such as wombats in Australia, red foxes in Europe, and European ungulates such as the Cantabrian chamois, ibex and the Hispanic goat.
In the case of South America, a recent study suggested that in the last 15 years, reports of wild mammals in Chile with abnormal hair loss, a symptom compatible with scabies, have increased.
The main victims would be foxes (
Lycalopex griseus
and
L. culpaeus
) and South American camelids such as the guanaco (
Lama guanicoe
) and the vicuña (
Vicugna vicugna
).
“This study had a multiple-evidence approach, where both citizen science records, surveys of CONAF rangers [the national office for the administration of protected areas] and sick animals received in rescue and rehabilitation centers were compiled.
This apparently emerging problem is quite underestimated at the national level, so we intend to continue addressing different aspects of this issue in greater depth from now on from this initial diagnosis made, "says Constanza Napolitano, academic at the University of Los Lagos in Chile, and researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity.
The findings of this investigation generated alarm, since in neighboring Argentina there is an iconic case in the San Guillermo National Park, where scabies caused damage, precisely, in camelids.
The disease was detected in 2014 but there was no early intervention, which resulted in high mortality.
Only until 2016 did the guanaco population decrease by 95%, and the vicuña population by between 55% and 98%.
In subsequent years the collapse continued, with few survivors currently left.
Although there is no certainty about the origin of scabies in these Chilean mammals, some suspicions fall on dogs, although it has not been proven.
In the case of the guanacos and vicuñas of Argentina, one hypothesis suggests that the disease would have arrived with the introduction of domestic llamas (
Lama glama
) for a livestock development program.
Another emblematic case involves the endemic deer of the southern American cone that lives only in Chile and Argentina: the huemul (
Hippocamelus bisulcus
).
Factors such as loss of habitat keep this elusive animal in danger of extinction.
But that is not all.
The doctor in conservation from the University of Cambridge and professor at the University of Chile Cristóbal Briceño details that this deer “is very sensitive to human impact and its populations are increasingly reduced and fragmented.
The human impact is not only ecological.
Also during the last time it has been shown how domestic and introduced species that coexist with the huemul can make it sick ”.
Indeed, the huemul has contracted pathogens and infections such as caseous lymphadenitis, sheep scabies, bovine diarrhea and parapoxvirus, which would have been transmitted by animals introduced into Chile for livestock, such as sheep and cows.
“This is the case of virus of bovine origin that has produced up to 40% mortality in a population of huemul in a national park and probably related to the illegal introduction of cattle.
Also exposure to bovine viral diarrhea in huemules.
In turn, sheep bacteria are producing infectious abscesses in huemules by contaminating their environment with purulent secretions and making them sick.
This problem also seems to be increasing.
In the case of dogs, they not only harass and chase huemules when they meet, they can also transmit parasites that cause a slow disease in the huemules ”, Briceño explains.
And although much is still unknown about the sanitary status of South American fauna, findings emerge that more frequently set off alarms.
This is the case with Darwin's fox (Lycalopex fulvipes), an endangered species that only lives in Chile and that was described by Charles Darwin, hence its name.
Some parasites and a type of louse have been found in this animal that are common in domestic dogs.
There are also other wild carnivores affected, such as the güiña (Leopardus guigna), the smallest wild cat in the Americas, native to Chile and Argentina, which resembles a "miniature leopard."
In this regard, Napolitano adds: “Our research group has studied, for example, different viruses that affect native felines, such as feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency, and parvovirus, through molecular detection and sequencing approaches, directly involving domestic dogs and cats. of free movement as those responsible for contagion.
In this case, irresponsible pet ownership and changes in land use are closely related to the emergence of diseases ”.
Towards the healing of a sick planet
In addition to the suffering of individuals, emerging diseases in wildlife constitute a great threat to global biodiversity.
However, there are multiple deficiencies in terms of knowledge, management and monitoring, as has been found in countries in South America and Africa, where this problem is greatly underestimated.
Even so, the IUCN global report warns of the need for all countries to advance in four fundamental areas, such as diagnosis and research;
the reports;
planning and response;
and strategies for health support and disease prevention.
"These are four deficiencies at the global level, not just in South America," emphasizes Uhart, who questions the scant consideration for the health of wildlife, which translates into obstacles and the absence of effective responses.
“This is not the case for pets and people, where, for example, the samples can be moved more freely, and there are mechanisms for that.
What we highlight in this document is that wildlife has mechanisms equivalent to what is done with production animals and people, ”says the spokesperson for the One Health Institute.
For this reason, the experts underline the need to adopt the “One Health” approach, that is, that considers the inextricable interdependence between the health of humans, non-human animals and ecosystems.
If one of them gets sick, all of them will.
In this spirit, surveillance systems based on public-private collaboration are proposed, with an active role of the States, academia, rescue and rehabilitation centers, and citizens, in order to collect, systematize and standardize information and measures. .
But none of this would serve without profound paradigm changes for a good coexistence with wild animals, expressed in public policies, socioeconomic activities and personal behaviors.
“If we know that there are 80 thousand sheep around the 50 or so huemul that remain in the Cerro Castillo National Park, and they also infect them, it means that the sanitary condition of these sheep is not adequate to live with huemul.
It is essential that the authorities and consumers do something about it, ”says Montecino.
For Briceño, "it is the duty of nations to articulate and work together to solve these problems."
“The health of our natural populations cannot continue to depend on motivated or self-financed groups, but on an articulated work of the governments of our Neotropical Region that integrates all the updated information on animal and human health;
health as one ”, he concludes.
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