Viral Threats in Amazon Peccaries: A Health Mystery

Peccaries, including collared peccaries (CP) and white-lipped peccaries (WLP), are vital for food and income in Amazonian rural communities. Since the 1980s, researchers have noticed that WLP populations in the Amazon region sometimes disappear without a clear explanation. This is a big deal because it affects both the species' survival and the food security of local people. Some experts think that these disappearances might be linked to disease outbreaks that happen when the peccary population gets too big. In a recent study, scientists wanted to find out if certain viruses that can make pigs sick were also affecting CP and WLP populations. They looked for classical swine fever virus (CSFV), Aujeszky's disease virus (ADV), swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV), and porcine circoviruses (PCV) in two areas of the northeastern Peruvian Amazon. One area, the Yavarí-Mirín River basin, saw extreme population changes in WLPs between 2008 and 2020. The other area, the Pucacuro National Reserve, didn't see any WLP disappearances between 2012 and 2014. Since WLPs are hard to find when their population drops, scientists also looked at CP populations because they might also get sick from the same viruses. They found that both CP and WLP had antibodies for CSFV and ADV in both areas. These viruses can cause diseases that might lead to population collapses, especially in large WLP groups where overcrowding could speed up the spread of the viruses. The study didn't prove that these viruses caused the WLP population collapses, but it showed that they could play a role. More research is needed to understand this better and to look at more areas to get a bigger picture of infectious diseases in peccaries.