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
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 www.inuitartzone.com www.knittyblog.com
Muskox Range Subsistence hunting and 2 commercial harvests Federally inspected harvests Current muskox range Historical muskox range Commercial harvests Kutz et al. 2001 Trends in Parasitology 17(6): 276 280
Hunting is not easy, by: Mabel Nigiyok, www.canadianarcticproducers.com Sustainable food supply Economic growth and stability Healthy wildlife population Cultural sustainability Safe food supply Food security: access, availability, and utilization
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
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
Methods
Community harvests (2009/2010) Commercial harvest (2010)
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
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
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
Test Methods Serology Bacterial culture Polymerase chain reaction Histopathology Immunofluorescence Fecal flotation Baermann technique
Results: Zoonotic Pathogens Chlamydophila abortus Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Commercial harvest: All negative (n= 67) No samples available from community harvests
Intestinal Parasites Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. All negative Commercial harvest n = 158, community harvests n = 19 and n = 25 Pethealthlibrary.purinacare.com
Tissue Parasites Toxoplasma gondii Commercial harvest: 2% (1/49) Titre 1:200 No samples available from community harvests Pathobio.sdu.edu
Brucella spp. Samples tested by the CFIA No positive samples from commercial harvest ever detected One muskox previously tested positive Caribou brucellosis
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
Bacteria Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis Commercial harvest: All negative (n= 67) No samples available from community harvests
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 52.2 63.2 14.3 Eimeria spp. 82.8 100 85.7 Marshallagia spp. 76.4 26.2 42.9 Teladorsagia spp. 3.2 0 0 /Ostertagia spp. Moniezia spp. 3.2 5.2 0
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
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)
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
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
Ongoing Work Development of ongoing surveillance program to monitor Animal health Human health Food safety Species conservation Photo: Gui Verocai Photo: S. Checkley
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
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