Francisella tularensis in Wild Lagomorphs in Southern Spain’s Mediterranean Ecosystems

Description

Sabrina Castro-Scholten and co-authors hunted a dangerous bacterium in wild rabbits and hares across southern Spain, and found none, in a 2024 study. The bacterium causes tularemia, a disease of animals and people, and lagomorphs are a major reservoir. Northern Spain sees yearly outbreaks, but the south had gone unmonitored. The team tested spleens from seven hundred seventy-four rabbits and one hundred seventy-eight hares gathered on one hundred thirty-five hunting grounds over five seasons.

Not one of the nine hundred fifty-two samples carried the bacterium's DNA. The authors read the blank as absence, or very low circulation, in these Mediterranean ecosystems. That implies a limited risk of the pathogen spilling from wild lagomorphs to other species, people included, in the region. They frame the survey as a baseline: future change will show against this zero.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC11640660