Bobcats and humans living in urban environments together are sharing diseases and parasites, according to new research.
After collecting bobcat fecal samples from Colorado cities (Boulder and
Denver), its rural areas and California's Ventura County, researchers
analysed them for disease-causing parasites. In particular they were
testing for two diarrhoea-causing parasites (Giardia duodenalis and
Cryptosporidium
spp.) and the mind-altering parasite Toxoplasma gondii, implicated in
raised aggression and schizophrenia. They found that city bobcats were
more likely to carry these parasites.
But before you start
worrying about wild animals bringing disease to cities, researchers
think it's actually the other way round - we gave them these parasites
first. They believe bobcats first picked them up from human water
supplies. Now we have a situation where parasites can travel from bobcat
to human and vice versa as quickly as a virus can spread through a
household.
"The growing interaction of humans and wildlife
means that we now share our diseases with each other at an
ever-increasing rate," said Sam Scheiner (National Science Foundation's
Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program). "This study
demonstrates that we and our wild animal neighbors are closely
interconnected in ways that affect the health of us all."
Photo credit: Norbert Rosing.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.nsf.gov/
Bobcats and humans living in urban environments together are sharing diseases and parasites, according to new research.
After collecting bobcat fecal samples from Colorado cities (Boulder and Denver), its rural areas and California's Ventura County, researchers analysed them for disease-causing parasites. In particular they were testing for two diarrhoea-causing parasites (Giardia duodenalis and
After collecting bobcat fecal samples from Colorado cities (Boulder and Denver), its rural areas and California's Ventura County, researchers analysed them for disease-causing parasites. In particular they were testing for two diarrhoea-causing parasites (Giardia duodenalis and
Cryptosporidium
spp.) and the mind-altering parasite Toxoplasma gondii, implicated in
raised aggression and schizophrenia. They found that city bobcats were
more likely to carry these parasites.
But before you start worrying about wild animals bringing disease to cities, researchers think it's actually the other way round - we gave them these parasites first. They believe bobcats first picked them up from human water supplies. Now we have a situation where parasites can travel from bobcat to human and vice versa as quickly as a virus can spread through a household.
"The growing interaction of humans and wildlife means that we now share our diseases with each other at an ever-increasing rate," said Sam Scheiner (National Science Foundation's Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program). "This study demonstrates that we and our wild animal neighbors are closely interconnected in ways that affect the health of us all."
Photo credit: Norbert Rosing.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.nsf.gov/
But before you start worrying about wild animals bringing disease to cities, researchers think it's actually the other way round - we gave them these parasites first. They believe bobcats first picked them up from human water supplies. Now we have a situation where parasites can travel from bobcat to human and vice versa as quickly as a virus can spread through a household.
"The growing interaction of humans and wildlife means that we now share our diseases with each other at an ever-increasing rate," said Sam Scheiner (National Science Foundation's Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program). "This study demonstrates that we and our wild animal neighbors are closely interconnected in ways that affect the health of us all."
Photo credit: Norbert Rosing.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.nsf.gov/
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