Ecology and Infection Dynamics of Multi-Host Amdoparvoviral and Protoparvoviral Carnivore Pathogens

• Main Authors: Marta Canuti, Melissa Todd, Paige Monteiro, Kalia Van Osch, Richard Weir, Helen Schwantje, Ann P. Britton, Andrew S. Lang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-02-01
• Series: Pathogens
• Subjects: aleutian mink disease virus; canine parvovirus 2; feline panleukopenia virus; parvovirus; virus epidemiology; virus ecology; virus evolution; wildlife; mustelids
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/9/2/124

<i>Amdoparvovirus</i> and <i>Protoparvovirus</i> are monophyletic viral genera that infect carnivores. We performed surveillance for and sequence analyses of parvoviruses in mustelids in insular British Columbia to investigate parvoviral maintenance and cross-species transmission among wildlife. Overall, 19.1% (49/256) of the tested animals were parvovirus-positive. Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) was more prevalent in mink (41.6%, 32/77) than martens (3.1%, 4/130), feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) was more prevalent in otters (27.3%, 6/22) than mink (5.2%, 4/77) or martens (2.3%, 3/130), and canine parvovirus 2 (CPV-2) was found in one mink, one otter, and zero ermines (N = 27). Viruses were endemic and bottleneck events, founder effects, and genetic drift generated regional lineages. We identified two local closely related AMDV lineages, one CPV-2 lineage, and five FPV lineages. Highly similar viruses were identified in different hosts, demonstrating cross-species transmission. The likelihood for cross-species transmission differed among viruses and some species likely represented dead-end spillover hosts. We suggest that there are principal maintenance hosts (otters for FPV, raccoons for CPV-2/FPV, mink for AMDV) that enable viral persistence and serve as sources for other susceptible species. In this multi-host system, viral and host factors affect viral persistence and distribution, shaping parvoviral ecology and evolution, with implications for insular carnivore conservation.