Detection ofspp. in foxes' populations in Piedmont and Aosta Valley (NW Italy) coupling geospatially-based techniques.

Abstract

is a genus of bacteria known to cause various rare but potentially dangerous diseases in humans and wildlife. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence ofspp. in red foxes () from Piedmont and Aosta Valley (NW Italy) and to explore the potential association between environmental humidity andinfection using remote sensing data. A total of 114 spleen samples were collected from hunted red foxes and screened forspp. DNA using a qPCR assay targeting thelocus. Samples that tested positive were further analyzed using end-point PCR to detect the, andloci. The overall prevalence ofspp. infection was found to be 7.9% (9/114), with a prevalence of 6.9% (7/101) in foxes from Piedmont and 15.4% (2/13) in foxes from Aosta Valley. Sequencing results identifiedR1 as the most commonly isolated species (5/9, 62.5%), followed by Candidatus "" in two samples (2/9, 28.6%). To investigate the relationship between environmental factors andinfection, data from NASA USGS Landsat missions (TOA collection) from 2011 to 2022 were processed using Google Earth Engine. The Tasseled Cap Wetness Index (TCW), an indicator of landscape moisture, was calculated for each meteorological season. The study found thatspp. infections in foxes were positively associated with higher TCW values (>0.7). Canonical Correspondence Analysis further demonstrated a strong link between pathogen prevalence and municipal-level TCW, suggesting that TCW could be used as a parameter to facilitate disease management and control. This study provides a starting point for a more comprehensive epidemiological assessment ofspp. on a national scale and highlights the potential role of environmental humidity in influencing pathogen distribution.