Polar bear encephalitis: establishment of a comprehensive next-generation pathogen analysis pipeline for captive and free-living wildlife

C A Szentiks; K Tsangaras; B Abendroth; M Scheuch; M D Stenglein; P Wohlsein; F Heeger; R Höveler; W Chen; W Sun; A Damiani; V Nikolin; A D Gruber; M Grobbel; D Kalthoff; D Höper; G Á Czirják; J Derisi; C J Mazzoni; A Schüle; A Aue; M L East; H Hofer; M Beer; N Osterrieder; A D Greenwood

doi:10.1016/j.jcpa.2013.12.005

Polar bear encephalitis: establishment of a comprehensive next-generation pathogen analysis pipeline for captive and free-living wildlife

J Comp Pathol. 2014 May;150(4):474-88. doi: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2013.12.005. Epub 2013 Dec 19.

Authors

C A Szentiks¹, K Tsangaras¹, B Abendroth², M Scheuch², M D Stenglein³, P Wohlsein⁴, F Heeger⁵, R Höveler⁶, W Chen⁷, W Sun⁷, A Damiani⁸, V Nikolin⁹, A D Gruber¹⁰, M Grobbel¹, D Kalthoff², D Höper², G Á Czirják¹, J Derisi³, C J Mazzoni⁵, A Schüle¹¹, A Aue¹², M L East¹, H Hofer¹, M Beer², N Osterrieder¹³, A D Greenwood¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
² Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.
³ Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, 1700 4th St., San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 2, 30559 Hannover, Germany.
⁵ Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Genomics in Biodiversity Research (BeGenDiv), Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
⁶ Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Rhein-Ruhr-Wupper (CVUA-RRW), Deutscher Ring 100, 47798 Krefeld, Germany.
⁷ Laboratory for Novel Sequencing Technology, Functional and Medical Genomics, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert-Roessle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Institute of Virology, Freie Universität Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 18, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
⁹ Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Virology, Freie Universität Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 18, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
¹⁰ Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert-von-Ostertag-Straße 15, Building 12, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
¹¹ Berlin Zoological Garden, Budapester Str. 32, 10787 Berlin, Germany.
¹² Berlin-Brandenburg State Laboratory, Invalidenstr. 60, 10557 Berlin, Germany.
¹³ Institute of Virology, Freie Universität Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 18, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁴ Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 24534459
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2013.12.005

Abstract

This report describes three possibly related incidences of encephalitis, two of them lethal, in captive polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Standard diagnostic methods failed to identify pathogens in any of these cases. A comprehensive, three-stage diagnostic 'pipeline' employing both standard serological methods and new DNA microarray and next generation sequencing-based diagnostics was developed, in part as a consequence of this initial failure. This pipeline approach illustrates the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of these tools in determining pathogen caused deaths in non-model organisms such as wildlife species and why the use of a limited number of diagnostic tools may fail to uncover important wildlife pathogens.

Keywords: diagnostic tests; encephalitis; polar bear; wildlife diseases.

MeSH terms

Animals
Animals, Wild*
Animals, Zoo*
Encephalitis / diagnosis
Encephalitis / veterinary*
Ursidae*