SummaryTuberculosis (TB), a chronic disease caused by infection with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, is endemic in wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) in south-central Spain. Understanding the temporal dynamics of this chronic infection requires long time series data collection over large areas. The aim of this paper was to identify the determinants of TB prevalence and severity in both species in Ciudad Real province, Spain, from 2000 to 2012. Study variables included management, population dynamics, and a range of geographical and climatological factors. The prevalence of TB in wild boar increased from 50% to 63% since the study commenced. This may be due to an increased hunting bag (a proxy for population abundance), which was correlated with TB infection rates. Low rainfall (a stochastic factor) was associated with higher individual risk of TB presence and progression, resulting in an increased proportion of severe cases of wild boar TB in dry years. This was probably a result of increased food restriction leading to a higher susceptibility to TB. In contrast, red deer TB showed an apparent stable trend, which may be a consequence of the species' higher and stable population size. Hunting management, characterized by fencing, was associated with a higher risk of TB in both wild boar and red deer, suggesting that intensive hunting management may have contributed to exacerbated TB figures. This difference was more marked in red deer than in wild boar, probably because fencing imposes less restriction on movement, population mixing and TB spread to wild boar than to deer. Our findings on TB dynamics are fundamental for assessing the impact of future disease-control actions (e.g. field vaccination). Moreover, such control plans must operate in the long term and cover large areas.

Coxiella burnetii is a multi‐host bacterium that causes Q fever in humans, a zoonosis that is emerging worldwide. The ecology of C. burnetii in wildlife is still poorly understood and the influence of host, environmental and pathogen factors is almost unknown. This study gathers current published information on different aspects of C. burnetii infection in wildlife, even in species with high reservoir potential and a high rate of interaction with livestock and humans, in order to partially fill the existing gap and highlight future needs. Exposure and/or infection by C. burnetii has, to date, been reported in 109 wild mammal species. The limited sample size of most of the existing studies could suggest an undervalued prevalence of C. burnetii infection. Knowledge on the clinical outcome of C. burnetii infection in wildlife is also very limited, but currently includes reproductive failure in waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), roan antelope (Hippotragus niger), dama gazelle (Nanger dama) and water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and placentitis in the Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi), Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus). The currently available serological tests need to be optimised and validated for each wildlife species. Finally, there is a huge gap in the research on C. burnetii control in wildlife, despite of the increasing evidence that wildlife is a source of C. burnetii for both livestock and humans.

This is the first report of MRSA carrying mecC in faecal samples of wild small mammals in Spain. These resistant isolates carried genes of the IEC system, unusual in S. aureus from animals. Wild small mammals could be a reservoir of the mecC gene with important implications for public health.

Little information is currently available on the epidemiology of parasitic and commensal protist species in captive non-human primates (NHP) and their zoonotic potential. This study investigates the occurrence, molecular diversity, and potential transmission dynamics of parasitic and commensal protist species in a zoological garden in southern Spain. The prevalence and genotypes of the main enteric protist species were investigated in faecal samples from NHP (n = 51), zookeepers (n = 19) and free-living rats (n = 64) by molecular (PCR and sequencing) methods between 2018 and 2019. The presence of Leishmania spp. was also investigated in tissues from sympatric rats using PCR. Blastocystis sp. (45.1%), Entamoeba dispar (27.5%), Giardia duodenalis (21.6%), Balantioides coli (3.9%), and Enterocytozoon bieneusi (2.0%) (but not Troglodytella spp.) were detected in NHP. Giardia duodenalis (10.5%) and Blastocystis sp. (10.5%) were identified in zookeepers, while Cryptosporidium spp. (45.3%), G. duodenalis (14.1%), and Blastocystis sp. (6.25%) (but not Leishmania spp.) were detected in rats. Blastocystis ST1, ST3, and ST8 and G. duodenalis sub-assemblage AII were identified in NHP, and Blastocystis ST1 in zookeepers. Giardia duodenalis isolates failed to be genotyped in human samples. In rats, four Cryptosporidium (C. muris, C. ratti, and rat genotypes IV and V), one G. duodenalis (assemblage G), and three Blastocystis (ST4) genetic variants were detected. Our results indicate high exposure of NHP to zoonotic protist species. Zoonotic transmission of Blastocysts ST1 was highly suspected between captive NHP and zookeepers.

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