Disease Monitoring

At Common Ground, we embrace One Health and believe that in order for humans and domestic animals to be healthy, our ecosystems and wildlife must be healthy!

What is One Health?

One Health is an interdisciplinary framework that recognizes that human health is connected to the health of the environment and the animals (domestic and wild) around us. Wildlife in less healthy ecosystems tend to be less healthy themselves and carry more pathogens, thus posing larger risks for passing these pathogens to domestic animals and humans. Urban landscapes often have high levels of pollution which can weaken wildlife and human immune systems. Additionally, wildlife are in very close contact with pets and humans, making it more likely for pathogens to spill from wildlife to domestic animals and people.

Pathogens of Concern

Parasites

Tapeworms, heartworms, ticks, oh my! Many of the parasites carried by wild animals can be transferred to domestic animals and humans. However, these creatures are understudied and we often don't know what parasites are in the wildlife around us. Without knowing what exists in our area, it's impossible to understand the implications for human and domestic animal health.

Bacteria/Protists

Many bacterial diseases are caused by bacteria commonly found within or associated with wild animals such as Leptospirosis, Salmonella, and E. coli. Additionally, rampant use of antibiotics in agriculture and veterinary and medical practices has led to many bacterial species developing resistance mechanisms. A growing concern is antibiotic resistant bacteria within wildlife populations.

Viruses

Just like you and me, wild animals can get viruses. Some of these virsuses have important implications for wildlife populations, while others have important implications for domestic animal health, such as canine distemper and parvo viruses which can be carried by raccoons and coyotes among other common urban species.

Passive Monitoring

We use opportunistically obtained carcasses from roadkill, rehabilitation centers, and conflict removals to understand the health of the animals around us. Many of these individuals are tested for rodenticide and heavy metal exposure and all undergo a thorough necropsy (autopsy for animals) to understand their overall health. Additionally, each animal is assessed for ectoparasites (ticks, fleas, etc.) and endoparasites (internal parasites like tapeworms). We hope to begin monitoring for additional diseases such as tularemia (bacteria), toxoplasmosis (protist), and distemper (virus) that have potential human and domestic health implications.

In addition to monitoring health in carcasses we use non-invasive genetic methods to detect the presence of parasites from field-collected wildlife scat.

Co-Founders Sam & Yasmine go over notes before starting on necropsies of 3 salvaged coyote carcasses.

Sam collects coyote scat at a cemetery in Seattle.

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