An epizootic of Chlamydia psittaci equine reproductive loss associated with suspected spillover from native Australian parrots

Cheryl Jenkins; Martina Jelocnik; Melinda L Micallef; Francesca Galea; Alyce Taylor-Brown; Daniel R Bogema; Michael Liu; Brendon O'Rourke; Catherine Chicken; Joan Carrick; Adam Polkinghorne

doi:10.1038/s41426-018-0089-y

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An epizootic of Chlamydia psittaci equine reproductive loss associated with suspected spillover from native Australian parrots

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An epizootic of Chlamydia psittaci equine reproductive loss associated with suspected spillover from native Australian parrots

Cheryl Jenkins, Martina Jelocnik, Melinda L Micallef, Francesca Galea, Alyce Taylor-Brown, Daniel R Bogema, Michael Liu, Brendon O'Rourke, Catherine Chicken, Joan Carrick, …

Emerging Microbes and Infections, Vol.7, pp.1-13

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41426-018-0089-y

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Abstract

Chlamydia psittaci is an avian pathogen capable of spill-over infections to humans. A parrot C. psittaci strain was recently detected in an equine reproductive loss case associated with a subsequent cluster of human C. psittaci infections. In this study, we screened for C. psittaci in cases of equine reproductive loss reported in regional New South Wales, Australia during the 2016 foaling season. C. psittaci specific-PCR screening of foetal and placental tissue samples from cases of equine abortion (n= 161) and foals with compromised health status (n= 38) revealed C. psittaci positivity of 21.1% and 23.7%, respectively. There was a statistically significant geographical clustering of cases ~170 km inland from the mid-coast of NSW (P < 0.001). Genomic analysis and molecular typing of C. psittaci positive samples from this study and the previous Australian equine index case revealed that the equine strains from different studs in regional NSW were clonal, while the phylogenetic analysis revealed that the C. psittaci strains from both Australian equine disease clusters belong to the parrot-associated 6BC clade, again indicative of spill-over of C. psittaci infections from native Australian parrots. The results of this work suggest that C. psittaci may be a more significant agent of equine reproductive loss than thought. A range of studies are now required to evaluate (a) the exact role that C. psittaci plays in equine reproductive loss; (b) the range of potential avian reservoirs and factors influencing infection spill-over; and (c) the risk that these equine infections pose to human health.

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Title: An epizootic of Chlamydia psittaci equine reproductive loss associated with suspected spillover from native Australian parrots
Authors: Cheryl Jenkins (Author) - New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
Martina Jelocnik (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Melinda L Micallef (Author) - New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
Francesca Galea (Author) - New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
Alyce Taylor-Brown (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Daniel R Bogema (Author) - New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
Michael Liu (Author) - University of Technology Sydney
Brendon O'Rourke (Author) - New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
Catherine Chicken (Author) - Scone Equine Hospital
Joan Carrick (Author) - Equine Specialist Consulting
Adam Polkinghorne (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Publication details: Emerging Microbes and Infections, Vol.7, pp.1-13
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Date published: 2018
DOI: 10.1038/s41426-018-0089-y
ISSN: 2222-1751
Copyright note: Copyright © The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450636602621
Output Type: Journal article

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Web Of Science research areas: Immunology; Infectious Diseases; Microbiology

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