Health Survey of Muskoxen (Ovibos. Nunavut, Canada

Transcription

1 Health Survey of Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus wardi) from Victoria Island, Nunavut, Canada Photo: Boyan Tracz J. Wu 1, S. Checkley 1, M.Dumond 2, G. Veroçai 1, M. Tryland 3, and S. Kutz 1 1 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary 2 Department of Environment, Government of Nunavut 3 Norwegian School of Veterinary Science

2 Muskoxen One of two large Arctic herbivores Hunted for subsistence and sport Source of traditional country food, leather and qiviut (wool) Important implications culturally and economically Lucassie Ikkidluak

3 Muskox Range Subsistence hunting and 2 commercial harvests Federally inspected harvests Current muskox range Historical muskox range Commercial harvests Kutz et al Trends in Parasitology 17(6):

4 Hunting is not easy, by: Mabel Nigiyok, Sustainable food supply Economic growth and stability Healthy wildlife population Cultural sustainability Safe food supply Food security: access, availability, and utilization

5 Importance of Muskoxen A healthy muskox population is important to sustain hunting and harvesting Little is known about the health and disease status of muskoxen on Victoria Island, Nunavut Photo: Sylvia Checkley

6 Objectives 1) To determine what pathogens are infecting muskoxen on Victoria Island 2) To gain a greater understanding of food safety of muskoxen, public health, and muskox population conservation and food security Photo: Sylvia Checkley

7 Methods

8 Community harvests (2009/2010) Commercial harvest (2010)

9 Sample Collection Lungs Lymph nodes Abomasum and intestine Kidney Blood Feces Heart Metatarsal skin Photos: dailypictures.info, ticoshuttles.como,, liveauctioneers.com Also tongue, jaw, and diaphragm

10 Selection of Pathogens to Test Based on best available knowledge of: zoonotic pathogens potential population limiting diseases in muskoxen Best current test options were selected Difficulties in test selection with wildlife 12 tests 18 pathogens detected

11 Pathogens Zoonotic Bacteria Chlamydophila abortus Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Gastrointestinal Parasites Giardia spp. Cryptosporidium spp Tissue Parasites Toxoplasma gondii Non zoonotic Bacteria Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis Gastrointestinal Parasites Helminths (worms) Tissue Parasites Neospora caninum Besnoitia spp. Viruses Alphaherpesvirus Pestivirus Lung Parasites

12 Test Methods Serology Bacterial culture Polymerase chain reaction Histopathology Immunofluorescence Fecal flotation Baermann technique

13 Results: Zoonotic Pathogens Chlamydophila abortus Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Commercial harvest: All negative (n= 67) No samples available from community harvests

14 Intestinal Parasites Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. All negative Commercial harvest n = 158, community harvests n = 19 and n = 25 Pethealthlibrary.purinacare.com

15 Tissue Parasites Toxoplasma gondii Commercial harvest: 2% (1/49) Titre 1:200 No samples available from community harvests Pathobio.sdu.edu

16 Brucella spp. Samples tested by the CFIA No positive samples from commercial harvest ever detected One muskox previously tested positive Caribou brucellosis

17 Results: Non-zoonotic pathogens Neospora caninum Commercial harvest: 6.1% (3/49) Titres 1:25, 1:100, 1:3200 No samples available from community harvests Besnoitia spp. ca.uky.edu All negative Commercial: n = 153, community 1 and 2: n = 23 each Photo: S. Kutz

18 Bacteria Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis Commercial harvest: All negative (n= 67) No samples available from community harvests

19 Gastrointestinal Parasites Helminths Community harvests: (1) n = 19, (2) n = 7 Commercial harvest: n = 157 Pathogen Proportion Positive Fecals (%) Commercial Community 1 Community 2 Nematodirine Eimeria spp Marshallagia spp Teladorsagia spp /Ostertagia spp. Moniezia spp

20 Viruses Alphaherpesvirus Commercial harvest: All negative (0/44) No samples available from community harvests Pestivirus Commercial harvest: 1/44 (2.3%) In cattle: bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVD) In muskoxen: BVD like virus No samples available from community harvests IBR.photochecklabs.com BVDentrotoxhomepage.usask.ca

21 Lung Parasites Varestrongylus sp. (Verocai, unpub) Commercial harvest: 3.8% (6/159) Community hunts: not detected (n=19, n=25) (Kutz et al., 2007) Umingmakstrongylus pallikuukensis Commercial harvest: 0/159 Community hunts: 100% (19/19, 25/25) (Kutz et al., 2001, 2004)

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23 Discussion Food safety and animal health Overall evidence of low exposure to pathogens Geographical difference in the lungworm U. pallikuukensis Potential implication for spread of other pathogens Photo: Sylvia Checkley

24 Ongoing Work Long term food security and food safety: Unclear without further sampling Ongoing sampling of muskoxen on Victoria Island and the mainland needed More samples, test evaluation Population survey required Photo: B. Tracz

25 Ongoing Work Development of ongoing surveillance program to monitor Animal health Human health Food safety Species conservation Photo: Gui Verocai Photo: S. Checkley

26 Acknowledgements Special thanks to: Nunavut Harvesters Association (Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program) Community harvesters M. Giroux, Kitkmeot Foods J. Bolt, Government of Nunavut J. Dubey, United States Department of Agriculture (Toxoplasma and Neospora testing) University of Calgary lab members: C. Hague, D. Brown, J. Invik, P. Kelly

27 Questions