Viral epidemiological surveillance in the otters (Lontra longicaudis) of the Peñas Blancas River basin, Costa Rica
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22458/urj.v18i1.6302Keywords:
Influenza A virus, Morbillivirus, Coronavirus, viral surveillance, neotropical otterAbstract
Introduction: Otters (Lontra longicaudis) occur in both forested upper areas and disturbed middle and lower sections of the Peñas Blancas River basin in Costa Rica, with potential for zoonotic pathogen transmission to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Despite its ecological relevance as a top predator in freshwater ecosystems, information on viral infections affecting this otter remains scarce. Objective: To assess the presence of Influenzavirus A, Morbillivirus, and Coronavirus in this species and place. Methods: We collected 58 fecal samples from river rocks, confirmed them as L. longicaudis by endpoint PCR, and tested viral presence with RT-PCR. Conclusion: Although no viruses were detected, human-wildlife interactions warrant continued surveillance to prevent future outbreaks.
References
Aguilar-Vargas, F., Solorzano-Scott, T., Baldi, M., Barquero-Calvo, E., Jiménez-Rocha, A., Jiménez, C., Piche-Ovares, M., Dolz, G., León, B., Corrales-Aguilar, E., Santoro, M., & Alfaro-Alarcón, A. (2022). Passive epidemiological surveillance in wildlife in Costa Rica identifies pathogens of zoonotic and conservation importance. PLOS One, 17(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262063
Avendaño, R., Barrueta, F., Soto-Fournier, S., Chavarría, M., Monge, O., Gutiérrez-Espeleta, G. A., & Chaves, A. (2016). Canine distemper virus in wild felids of Costa Rica. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 52(2), 373–377. https://doi.org/10.7589/2015-02-041
Barrientos, F. R. (2003). Caracterización de los sistemas productivos y de las prácticas culturales en la subcuenca del río Peñas Blancas, cuenca del río San Carlos. Pensamiento Actual, 4(5). https://archivo.revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/pensamiento-actual/article/view/8305
Berrocal, A., & López, A. (2003). Pulmonary sarcocystosis in a puppy with canine distemper in Costa Rica. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, 15(3), 292–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/104063870301500314
Briones-Salas, M., Peralta-Pérez, M. A., & Arellanes, E. (2013). Análisis temporal de los hábitos alimentarios de la nutria neotropical (Lontra longicaudis) en el río Zimatán en la costa de Oaxaca, México. Therya, 4(2), 311–326. https://doi.org/10.12933/therya-13-138
Capuano, A. M., Miller, M., Stallknecht, D. E., Moriarty, M., Plancarte, M., Dodd, E., Batac, F., & Boyce, W. M. (2017). Serologic detection of subtype-specific antibodies to influenza A viruses in southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis). Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 53(4), 906–910. https://doi.org/10.7589/2017-01-011
Cleaveland, S., Laurenson, M. K., & Taylor, L. H. (2001). Diseases of humans and their domestic mammals: pathogen characteristics, host range and the risk of emergence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 356(1411), 991–999. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2001.0889
de Mello, M., Martinelli, T. M., de Amorim, V. R. G., Silva, L. E., Silva, F. H. P., Xavier, A. A. C., Cubas, Z. S., de Almeida, R. F., de Moraes, W., & Headley, S. A. (2022). Canine distemper virus and canine adenovirus type-2 infections in neotropical otters (Lontra longicaudis) from southern Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Microbiology, 53(1), 369–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00636-7
Fouchier, R. A., Bestebroer, T. M., Herfst, S., Van Der Kemp, L., Rimmelzwaan, G. F., & Osterhaus, A. D. (2000). Detection of influenza A viruses from different species by PCR amplification of conserved sequences in the matrix gene. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 38(11), 4096–4101. https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.38.11.4096-4101.2000
Guizado-Batista, A., Porres-Camacho, A., Vargas-Villalobos, S., Cortez-Martínez, M., Umaña-Castro, R., Sancho-Blanco, C., Solano-Campos, F., Quesada-Alvarado, F., Spínola-Parallada, M., Madrigal-Mora, A., Jiménez-Serrano, A., Vargas-Calvo, J., Villalobos-Sequeira, J., Stoos, K. B., & Blanco-Peña, K. (2024). Antimicrobial-resistant genes in feces from otters (Lontra longicaudis) within the Peñas Blancas river basin, Costa Rica. Heliyon, 10(24), e40927. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40927
Guizado-Batista, A., Vargas-Villalobos, S., Parallada, M. S., Salas-González, D., Porres-Camacho, A., Cortez-Martínez, M., Quesada-Alvarado, F., Umaña-Castro, R., Sancho-Blanco, C., Solano-Campos, F., Madrigal-Mora, A., Villalobos-Sequeira, J., Medrano-Lozano, J., & Blanco-Peña, K. (2025). Pesticide contamination and antimicrobial resistance: two threats to the neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) in the Peñas Blancas river basin, Costa Rica. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, 117, 104743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2025.104743
Lanszki, Z., Lanszki, J., Tóth, G. E., Zeghbib, S., Jakab, F., & Kemenesi, G. (2022). Retrospective detection and complete genomic sequencing of canine morbillivirus in eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) using nanopore technology. Viruses, 14(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/v14071433
León, B., Chaves, G., Koster, L. G., Jenkins-Moore, M., Carrillo, C., & Méndez, D. (2011). Aislamiento e identificación del virus pandémico influenza H1N1/2009 S-OIV en cerdos de explotaciones comerciales y de traspatio en Costa Rica. Ciencias Veterinarias, 29(2). https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/veterinaria/article/view/6040
Li, Z.-N., Ip, H. S., Trost, J. F., White, C. L., Murray, M. J., Carney, P. J., Sun, X.-J., Stevens, J., Levine, M. Z., & Katz, J. M. (2014). Serologic evidence of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus infection in northern sea otters. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 20(5). https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2005.131890
Moreira-Soto, A., Taylor-Castillo, L., Vargas-Vargas, N., Rodríguez-Herrera, B., Jiménez, C., & Corrales-Aguilar, E. (2015). Neotropical bats from Costa Rica harbour diverse coronaviruses. Zoonoses and Public Health, 62(7), 501–505. https://doi.org/10.1111/zph.12181
Navarro, J., Spínola, M., Madrigal, A., & Fonseca, A. (2017). Selección de hábitat de Lontra longicaudis (Carnivora, Mustelidae) bajo la influencia de la represa hidroeléctrica del río Peñas Blancas y sus tributarios, Alajuela, Costa Rica. Uniciencia, 31(1), 73-84 https://doi.org/10.15359/ru.31-1.8
Padilla-Blanco, M., Aguiló-Gisbert, J., Rubio, V., Lizana, V., Chillida-Martínez, E., Cardells, J., Maiques, E., & Rubio-Guerri, C. (2022). The Finding of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in a wild eurasian river otter (Lutra lutra) highlights the need for viral surveillance in wild mustelids. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.826991
Reidarson, T. H., McBain, J., House, C., King, D. P., Stott, J. L., Krafft, A., Taubenberger, J. K., Heyning, J., & Lipscomb, T. P. (1998). Morbillivirus infection in stranded common dolphins from the Pacific Ocean. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 34(4), 771–776. https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-34.4.771
Rojas, J., Morales, J. A., Argüello, M., Acevedo, S. E., Yabsley, M. J., & Urbina, A. (2021). Histopathological findings of infections caused by canine distemper virus, Trypanosoma cruzi, and other parasites in two free-ranging white-nosed coatis Nasua narica (Carnivora: Procyonidae) from Costa Rica. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 13(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5907.13.1.17521-17528
Stout, A. E., Guo, Q., Millet, J. K., de Matos, R., & Whittaker, G. R. (2021). Coronaviruses associated with the superfamily Musteloidea. mBio, 12(1), e02873-20. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02873-20
Thomas, N., White, C. L., Jeremiah, S., Schuler, K., Lynch, D., Nielsen, O., Dubey, J. P., & Knowles, S. (2020). Canine distemper virus in the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) population in Washington state, USA. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 56(4), 873–883. https://doi.org/10.7589/JWD-D-19-00008
United States Department of Agriculture. (2021). Confirmation of COVID-19 in Otters at an Aquarium in Georgia. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/stakeholder-info/sa_by_date/sa-2021/sa-04/covid-georgia-otters
Valqui, J. (2010). Primer estudio genético de la nutria marina (Lontra felina) en la costa peruana. Revista ECIPerú, 7(1), 69-76. https://doi.org/10.33017/RevECIPeru2010.0023
Vijgen, L., Moës, E., Keyaerts, E., Li, S., & Van Ranst, M. (2008). A pancoronavirus RT-PCR assay for detection of all known coronaviruses. SARS- and Other Coronaviruses: Laboratory Protocols Methods in Molecular Biology (pp 3–12). Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-181-9_1
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Note: This abstract contains an incorrect copyright due to technical issues. Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal
All journal contents are freely available through a CC BY 4.0 license.
CC BY 4.0 is a Creative Commons: you can copy, modify, distribute, and perform, even for commercial reasons, without asking permission, if you give appropriate credit.
Contents can be reproduced if the source and copyright are acknowledged according to the Open Access license CC BY 4.0. Self-storage in preprint servers and repositories is allowed for all versions. We encourage authors to publish raw data and data logs in public repositories and to include the links with all drafts so that reviewers and readers can consult them at any time.
The journal is financed by public funds via Universidad Estatal a Distancia and editorial independence and ethical compliance are guaranteed by the Board of Editors, UNED. We do not publish paid ads or receive funds from companies.
