title: Polar bear encephalitis: establishment of a comprehensive next-generation pathogen analysis pipeline for captive and free-living wildlife.
abstract: This report describes three possibly related incidences of encephalitis, two of them lethal, in captive polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Standard diagnostic methods failed to identify pathogens in any of these cases. A comprehensive, three-stage diagnostic 'pipeline' employing both standard serological methods and new DNA microarray and next generation sequencing-based diagnostics was developed, in part as a consequence of this initial failure. This pipeline approach illustrates the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of these tools in determining pathogen caused deaths in non-model organisms such as wildlife species and why the use of a limited number of diagnostic tools may fail to uncover important wildlife pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Szentiks
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsangaras
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abendroth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scheuch
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, 1700 4th St., San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Stenglein
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 2, 30559 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wohlsein
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Genomics in Biodiversity Research (BeGenDiv), Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Heeger
authors.affiliation: Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Rhein-Ruhr-Wupper (CVUA-RRW), Deutscher Ring 100, 47798 Krefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Höveler
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Novel Sequencing Technology, Functional and Medical Genomics, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert-Roessle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Novel Sequencing Technology, Functional and Medical Genomics, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert-Roessle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Freie Universität Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 18, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Damiani
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Virology, Freie Universität Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 18, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nikolin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert-von-Ostertag-Straße 15, Building 12, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grobbel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kalthoff
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Höper
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: G Á
authors.initials: GÁ
authors.lastname: Czirják
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, 1700 4th St., San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Derisi
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Genomics in Biodiversity Research (BeGenDiv), Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Mazzoni
authors.affiliation: Berlin Zoological Garden, Budapester Str. 32, 10787 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schüle
authors.affiliation: Berlin-Brandenburg State Laboratory, Invalidenstr. 60, 10557 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aue
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: East
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hofer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Freie Universität Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 18, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: no.34@fu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Osterrieder
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: greenwood@izw-berlin.de.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Greenwood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D000836:Animals, Zoo; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D001503:Ursidae
keywords: diagnostic tests; encephalitis; polar bear; wildlife diseases