Eco-Virological Preliminary Study of Potentially Emerging Pathogens in Hedgehogs (<i>Erinaceus europaeus</i>) Recovered at a Wildlife Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Northern Italy
2020
Mauro Delogu | Claudia Cotti | Davide Lelli | Enrica Sozzi | Tiziana Trogu | Antonio Lavazza | Giacomo Garuti | Maria Rita Castrucci | Gabriele Vaccari | Maria Alessandra De Marco | Ana Moreno
The Western European Hedgehog (<i>Erinaceus europaeus</i>) is one of the four hedgehog species belonging to the genus <i>Erinaceus</i>. Among them, <i>E. amurensis</i> is extant in East Asia’s areas only, whereas <i>E. europaeu</i>s, <i>E. roumanicus</i> and <i>E. concolor</i> are mainly found in Europe. <i>E. europaeus</i> is endemically distributed from western to central and southern Europe, including Italy. Western European hedgehogs’ ecological and feeding habits, along with their high population densities, notable synanthropic attitudes, frequent contacts with sympatric wild and domestic species, including humans, implicate the possible involvement of <i>E. europaeus</i> in the ecology of potentially emerging viruses, such as coronaviruses, influenza A and influenza D viruses, canine distemper virus, pestiviruses and Aujeszky’s disease virus. We examined 24<i> E. europaeus</i> individuals found injured in urban and rural areas of Northern Italy. Of the 24 fecal samples collected and tested for the above-mentioned pathogens by both PCR-based and virus isolation methods, 14 were found PCR-positive for betacoronaviruses belonging to lineage C and related to the known <i>Erinaceus</i> coronaviruses (EriCoVs), as determined by partial sequencing of the virus genome. Our findings suggest that hedgehogs could be considered natural reservoirs of CoVs, and also act as chronic shedding carriers of these potentially emerging RNA viruses.
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