MORTALITY REVIEW FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN SNOW LEOPARD () ZOO POPULATION FROM JANUARY 1999 TO DECEMBER 2019.

The objective of this 20-yr retrospective study was to review and summarize causes of mortality in the North American (NA) snow leopard population to inform and enhance animal health and husbandry practices. Pathology reports were requested from all NA zoological institutions housing snow leopards that died between 01 January 1999 and 31 December 2019. Data were reviewed and cause of death (COD) and concurrent diseases were summarized and compared by age group, organ system, and disease process.

Development of a PCR assay to detect papillomavirus infection in the snow leopard.

Background: Papillomaviruses (PVs) are a group of small, non-encapsulated, species-specific DNA viruses that have been detected in a variety of mammalian and avian species including humans, canines and felines. PVs cause lesions in the skin and mucous membranes of the host and after persistent infection, a subset of PVs can cause tumors such as cervical malignancies and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in humans. PVs from several species have been isolated and their genomes have been sequenced, thereby increasing our understanding of the mechanism of viral oncogenesis and allowing for the development of molecular assays for the detection of PV infection.

Ancient papillomavirus-host co-speciation in Felidae.

Background: Estimating evolutionary rates for slowly evolving viruses such as papillomaviruses (PVs) is not possible using fossil calibrations directly or sequences sampled over a time-scale of decades. An ability to correlate their divergence with a host species, however, can provide a means to estimate evolutionary rates for these viruses accurately. To determine whether such an approach is feasible, we sequenced complete feline PV genomes, previously available only for the domestic cat (Felis domesticus, FdPV1), from four additional, globally distributed feline species: Lynx rufus PV type 1, Puma concolor PV type 1, Panthera leo persica PV type 1, and Uncia uncia PV type 1.