Examination on the Occurrence of Selected Zoonotic Pathogens regarding the Current Situation of the Finnish Reindeer Husbandry

Introduction Reindeer husbandry represents an important economic factor and a valuable cultural heritage. About 185 000 semidomesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) live in the northern regions of Finland. Transmission of infectious agents to man may occur through direct contacts to free-ranging animals including cervids, by contamination of the environment through faecal shedding or by consumption of venison. In contrast, to domestic animals, however, the epidemiological situation in free-ranging animals and in their habitat is difficult to assess. There is a lack of information regarding the human health risk due to faecal shedding of pathogens by reindeer. Bacteria, such as Campylobacter spp, Enterococcus spp, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella spp, Yersinia (Y.) spp and the parasites Cryptosporidium spp are among the most important agents in causing zoonosis like enteric and other diseases and were isolated before from healthy and dieseased domestic ruminants (De Rycke et al., 1986; Munoz et al., 1996; Busato et al., 1998 and 1999). The objectives of this study, that was performed as part of the EU-project RENMAN, were to figure out the occurrence and prevalence of important zoonotic pathogens in reindeer.