TY - JOUR AU - Gelormini, Giuseppina AU - Gauthier, Dominique AU - Vilei, Edy M. AU - Crampe, Jean-Paul AU - Frey, Joachim AU - Ryser-Degiorgis, Marie-Pierre PY - 2017 DA - 2017/03/04 TI - Infectious keratoconjunctivitis in wild Caprinae: merging field observations and molecular analyses sheds light on factors shaping outbreak dynamics JO - BMC Veterinary Research SP - 67 VL - 13 IS - 1 AB - Infectious keratoconjunctivitis (IKC) is an ocular infectious disease caused by Mycoplasma conjunctivae which affects small domestic and wild mountain ruminants. Domestic sheep maintain the pathogen but the detection of healthy carriers in wildlife has raised the question as to whether M. conjunctivae may also persist in the wild. Furthermore, the factors shaping the dynamics of IKC outbreaks in wildlife have remained largely unknown. The aims of this study were (1) to verify the etiological role of M. conjunctivae in IKC outbreaks recorded between 2002 and 2010 at four study sites in different regions of France (Pyrenees and Alps, samples from 159 Alpine ibex Capra ibex, Alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra and Pyrenean chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica); (2) to establish whether there existed any epidemiological links between the different regions through a cluster analysis of the detected strains (from 80 out of the 159 animals tested); (3) to explore selected pathogen, host and environmental factors potentially influencing the dynamics of IKC in wildlife, by joining results obtained by molecular analyses and by field observations (16,609 animal observations). All of the samples were tested for M. conjunctivae by qPCR, and cluster analysis was based on a highly variable part of the lppS gene. SN - 1746-6148 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-017-0972-0 DO - 10.1186/s12917-017-0972-0 ID - Gelormini2017 ER -