Exposure of free-ranging maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) to infectious and parasitic disease agents in the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivia

Maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) are neotropic mammals, listed as a CITES Appendix 11 species, with a distribution south of the Amazon forest from Bolivia, through northern Argentina and Paraguay and into eastern Brazil and northern Uruguay. Primary threats to the survival of free-ranging maned wolves include habitat loss, road kills, and shooting by farmers. An additional threat to the conservation of maned wolves is the risk of morbidity and mortality due to infectious and parasitic diseases. Captive maned wolves are susceptible to, and die from, common infectious diseases of domestic dogs (Canis Jamiliaris) including canine distemper virus (CDV), canine parvovirus (CPV), rabies virus, and canine adenovirus (CAV). Results from this study show that free-ranging maned wolves in a remote area of Bolivia have been exposed to multiple infectious and parasitic agents of domestic carnivores, including CAV, CDV, CPV, canine coronavirus, rabies virus, Leptospira interrogans spp., Toxoplasma gondii, and Dirafilaria immitis, and may be at increased risk for disease due to these agents.