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‘One world, one health’
March 2016
EDIT CONNECT
SHARING OPTIONS:
DURHAM, N.C.—When Peter Larsen, senior research scientist at Duke
University, heard a presentation by Duke Lemur Center veterinarian Cathy Williams, who was performing physical exams on lemurs in the rainforests
surrounding a mine site in eastern Madagascar to help monitor the impacts of such activities on lemur health, he wanted to help her by using genomic
technology. What developed was a minimally invasive method that could potentially determine whether unknown vectors were carrying disease from species to
species, even from animals to humans.
The Duke Lemur Center was engaging in a collaboration with a nickel mining
company (Ambatovy Minerals S.A.) in Madagascar to preserve the lemur population, according to Anne Yoder, director of the Duke Lemur Center and co-author of
“Blood Transcriptomes Reveal Novel Parasitic Zoonoses Circulating in Madagascar’s Lemurs,” which appeared in Biology Letters, Jan. 27, 2016.
According to the article, “Zoonotic diseases are a looming threat to global populations, and nearly 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases
can spread among wildlife, domestic animals and humans. A ‘one world, one health’ perspective offers us an ideal framework for understanding and
potentially mitigating the spread of zoonoses, and the island of Madagascar serves as a natural laboratory for conducting these studies. Rapid habitat
degradation and climate change on the island are contributing to more frequent contact among humans, livestock and wildlife, increasing the potential for
pathogen spillover events.”
Larsen, the lead author of the study, designed a test to find pathogens in any
organism without having information up front. The researchers used a technique called whole-transcriptome sequencing to screen for blood-borne diseases in
wild lemurs, distant primate cousins to humans. The animals were found to carry several strains or species of parasites similar to those that cause Lyme
disease and other infections in humans.
This is the first time these parasites have been reported in lemurs or in
Madagascar, the only place on earth where lemurs live in the wild outside of zoos and sanctuaries, according to the researchers. Larsen believes that they
probably came to Madagascar, which is geographically isolated, by way of imported cattle.
The researchers believe
that their approach could lead to earlier, more accurate detection of future outbreaks of zoonotic diseases that move between animals and people. Many
emerging infectious diseases that affect humans, including recent outbreaks of SARS, Ebola and bird flu, are zoonotic. In other words, they can spread among
wildlife, domestic animals and humans. According to Yoder, “We can detect pathogens we might not expect and be better prepared to deal with them in any
species.”
As Larsen explained, “Leveraging powerful genomic technologies for discovery, we can design
an inexpensive method to screen various species all over the world. There may be a complex association of pathogens in domesticated species and humans, with
pathogens moving from host to host.”
While standard diagnostic tests look for known pathogens, new or
unexpected diseases can go undetected. Using phylogenetics, researchers can postulate pathogens that come from elsewhere in any organism without prior
knowledge.
Larsen’s team analyzed 150 blood samples from six lemurs in two species, and found more than just
lemur RNA in the animals’ blood. Using computer algorithms that compared the genetic material to sequences already catalogued in existing databases,
they discovered several new types of parasites that had never been reported in lemurs. Changing ecological issues can spread disease from one species to
another or one place to another, so the team wants to know whether the same pathogens are circulating in domesticated species and people.
The next step, according to Larsen, is to assemble a team at Duke and North Carolina State University to “get a better understanding of what is being impacted.” Wildlife experts and veterinarians are in
place, and the team is identifying clinicians “to do things differently with human samples.”
Larsen
concluded, “Tick-borne pathogens are still being discovered. Our method will accelerate discovery and therapeutics. Taking a ‘one world, one
health’ approach, we can screen, confirm what was reported, develop rapid diagnostics that screen for a larger variety of pathogens and improve the
health of a variety of populations.”
Code: E031621 Back |
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