Spatial genetic structure of European wild boar, with inferences on late-Pleistocene and Holocene demographic history.

European wildlife has been subjected to intensifying levels of anthropogenic impact throughout the Holocene, yet the main genetic partitioning of many species is thought to still reflect the late-Pleistocene glacial refugia. We analyzed 26,342 nuclear SNPs of 464 wild boar (Sus scrofa) across the European continent to infer demographic history and reassess the genetic consequences of natural and anthropogenic forces. We found that population fragmentation, inbreeding and recent hybridization with domestic pigs have caused the spatial genetic structure to be heterogeneous at the local scale.

Epidemiological analyses of African swine fever in the European Union: (September 2020 to August 2021).

This report provides a descriptive analysis of the African swine fever (ASF) Genotype II epidemic in the affected Member States in the EU and two neighbouring countries for the period from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021. ASF continued to spread in wild boar in the EU, it entered Germany in September 2020, while Belgium became free from ASF in October 2020. No ASF outbreaks in domestic pigs nor cases in wild boar have been reported in Greece since February 2020.

Spatially explicit modeling of animal tuberculosis at the wildlife-livestock interface in Ciudad Real province, Spain.

Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) are the most important wildlife reservoirs for animal tuberculosis (TB) caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC), in Mediterranean Spain. These species are considered to play an important role in the transmission and persistence of MTC in cattle in some regions; however the factors contributing to the risk of transmission at the wildlife-livestock interface and the areas at highest risk for such transmission are largely unknown. This study sought to identify geographic areas where wildlife-livestock interactions are most likely to occur and to characterize the environmental and management factors at this interface contributing to persistence, incidence, and occurrence of TB on cattle farms, in one of the provinces with higher TB prevalence in Spain, Ciudad Real.

Rough virulent strain of Brucella ovis induces pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in reproductive tissues in experimentally infected rams.

The ovine brucellosis caused by Brucella ovis has tropism for reproductive tissues but until now the mechanism of bacterial persistence is not understood. Cytokine expression profiles were studied for 8 months in rams after being experimentally infected with the rough virulent strain of B. ovis (R-B.