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Malaga's college of veterinary surgeons and the University of Malaga are currently working together on a One Health research project on the risks of the overpopulation of wild boars in urban areas of the province and the possible transmission of diseases to humans (zoonosis), SUR has learned from the head of the college, Juan Antonio de Luque.
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Chus Heredia / Jesús Hinojosa
The project will be supported by the research unit for zoonoses and emerging diseases (ENZOEM) of the University of Córdoba - a synergy between the two educational centres. The results of the studies on 15 frozen corpses of wild boars, that have recently been captured in urban areas, could be ready by spring, said de Luque.
Vets are insistent that the public is well aware of the importance of not feeding these wild pigs and, above all, of the risks involved. These include the transmission of diseases to the pig stock (a spread of plague would immobilise the sector and deal it a heavy blow), to other animals and, above all, to humans - through diseases known as zoonoses.
"These animals are potential transmitters of zoonotic diseases (salmonellosis, biovar 2 brucellosis, hepatitis E); transmitters of diseases common to domestic livestock (porcine pleuropneumonia, porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS), enzootic pneumonia, lymphadenitis); to hunting dogs (Aujeszky's disease), and to wildlife (tuberculosis due to mycobacterium avium complex, trichinellosis, etc)," the college body said in a statement.
The wild boar and pig problem is not exclusive to Malaga. Authorities are also concerned in areas such as Barcelona and its metropolitan area. A study by the Vall d'hebron hospital and the University of Barcelona identified the animals as a source of hepatitis E. This is a type of inflammation of the liver, which is usually mild and self-limiting, but not without risks. "If a wild boar defecates in a children's playground, for example, a child then playing with the soil could become infected," De Luque told SUR, stressing that we cannot get used to the fact that the specimen is part of the urban fauna.
Zoonoses have always existed, but have undoubtedly acquired greater global relevance and collective awareness in the wake of Covid-19.
Another study from a few years ago, partially funded by Barcelona's city council and the Ministry of Science and Innovation, published in the scientific journal 'Science of the Total Environment', analysed faeces from 130 wild boars and found multiple diseases and bacteria. Some of that bacteria was discovered to be multi-resistant strains to antibiotics. To give just one example: up to 61% of the animals were carriers of Campylobacter, within the family of which the lanienae type was the most prevalent (46%), followed by coli (16%) and hyointestinalis (1%).
As stated by De Luque, other elements that favour the spread of diseases, in this case among animals, are the animals watering places in overgrown areas close to the city and the colonies of feral cats, whose food the wild boars consume when they come down to the city.
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