{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T12:28:45Z","timestamp":1788956925797,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,1]],"date-time":"2024-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1719792000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009353","name":"Foundation for North American Wild Sheep","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Grant-In-Aid Project Number \u201c1920-71\u201d"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Grant-In-Aid Project Number \u201c1920-71\u201d"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009353","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Feral populations of aoudad (<jats:italic>Ammotragus lervia<\/jats:italic>) occur in Texas bighorn sheep (<jats:italic>Ovis canadensis<\/jats:italic>) habitat and pose several conceptual ecological threats to bighorn sheep re-establishment efforts. The potential threat of disease transmission from aoudad to bighorn sheep may exacerbate these issues, but the host competency of aoudad and subsequent pathophysiology and transmissibility of pneumonic pathogens involved in the bighorn sheep respiratory disease complex is largely unknown. Because the largest population-limiting diseases of bighorn sheep involve pathogens causing bronchopneumonia, we evaluated the host competency of aoudad for <jats:italic>Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae<\/jats:italic> and leukotoxigenic <jats:italic>Pasteurellaceae<\/jats:italic>. Specifically, we described the shedding dynamics, pathogen carriage, seroconversion, clinical patterns, and pathological effects of experimental infection among wild aoudad held in captivity. We found that aoudad are competent hosts capable of maintaining and intraspecifically transmitting <jats:italic>Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Pasteurellaceae<\/jats:italic> and can shed the bacteria for 53 days after exposure. Aoudad developed limited clinical signs and pathological findings ranged from mild chronic lymphohistiocytic bronchointerstitial pneumonia to severe and acute suppurative pneumonia, similarly, observed in bighorn sheep infected with <jats:italic>Mycoplasma<\/jats:italic> spp. and Pasteurellaceae bacteria, respectively. Furthermore, as expected, clinical signs and lesions were often more severe in aoudad inoculated with a combination of <jats:italic>Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Pasteurellaceae<\/jats:italic> as compared to aoudad inoculated with only <jats:italic>Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae<\/jats:italic>. There may be evidence of interindividual susceptibility, pathogenicity, and\/or transmissibility, indicated by individual aoudad maintaining varying severities of chronic infection who may be carriers continuously shedding pathogens. This is the first study to date to demonstrate that aoudad are a conceptual disease transmission threat to sympatric bighorn sheep populations due to their host competency and intraspecific transmission capabilities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0294853","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,1]],"date-time":"2024-07-01T20:02:14Z","timestamp":1719864134000},"page":"e0294853","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Evaluating the transmission dynamics and host competency of aoudad (Ammotragus lervia) experimentally infected with Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae and leukotoxigenic Pasteurellaceae"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2217-0476","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Logan F.","family":"Thomas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dallas","family":"Clontz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chase M.","family":"Nunez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert O.","family":"Dittmar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Froyl\u00e1n","family":"Hernandez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raquel R.","family":"Rech","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Walter E.","family":"Cook","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0294853.ref001","first-page":"469","article-title":"Scale-dependent changes in species richness caused by invader competition","author":"Y Yang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Ecol Modell"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref002","first-page":"123","article-title":"Invasions cause biodiversity loss and community simplification in vertebrate food webs","author":"N Galiana","year":"2014","journal-title":"Oikos"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref003","first-page":"90","article-title":"Parasite spillback: A neglected concept in invasion ecology?","author":"DW Kelly","year":"2009","journal-title":"Ecology"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref004","first-page":"10","article-title":"Biotic invasions: Causes, epidemiology, global consequences, and control-contact","author":"RN Mack","year":"2000","journal-title":"Ecol Appl"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref005","first-page":"468","article-title":"Biological invasions as global environmental change","volume":"84","author":"PM Vitousek","year":"1996","journal-title":"Am Sci"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref006","article-title":"The influence of exotic Artiodactyls on white-tailed deer production and survival","author":"D Harmel","year":"1987","journal-title":"Perform report-Federal Aid Proj No W-109-R-10 Texas Park Wildl Dep Austin, Texas, USA"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref007","first-page":"96","volume-title":"Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council\u2013Special Report Distribution, Abundance, Management and Conservation of the Sheep of the World and closely related Mountain Ungulates","author":"Gray","year":"1985"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.5735\/086.054.0501","article-title":"Strangers Coming from the Sahara: An Update of the Worldwide Distribution, Potential Impacts and Conservation Opportunities of Alien Aoudad","volume":"54","author":"E Mori","year":"2017","journal-title":"Ann Zool Fennici"},{"key":"pone.0294853.ref009","unstructured":"Hernandez F, Gray S. 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