Browsing by Author "Hoyt, Joseph R."
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- Activity of bacteria isolated from bats against Pseudogymnoascus destructans in ChinaLi, Zhongle; Li, Aoqiang; Hoyt, Joseph R.; Dai, Wentao; Leng, Haixia; Li, Yanfei; Li, Wei; Liu, Sen; Jin, Longru; Sun, Keping; Feng, Jiang (2021-02)White-nose syndrome, a disease that is caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has threatened several North America bat species with extinction. Recent studies have shown that East Asian bats are infected with P. destructans but show greatly reduced infections. While several factors have been found to contribute to these reduced infections, the role of specific microbes in limiting P. destructans growth remains unexplored. We isolated three bacterial strains with the ability to inhibit P. destructans, namely, Pseudomonas yamanorum GZD14026, Pseudomonas brenneri XRD11711 and Pseudomonas fragi GZD14479, from bats in China. Pseudomonas yamanorum, with the highest inhibition score, was selected to extract antifungal active substance. Combining mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy analyses, we identified the active compound inhibiting P. destructans as phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA), and the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 50.12 mu g ml(-1). Whole genome sequencing also revealed the existence of PCA biosynthesis gene clusters. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis identified volatile organic compounds. The results indicated that 10 ppm octanoic acid, 100 ppm 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (isoprenol) and 100 ppm 3-methyl-3-buten-1-ol (BHA) inhibited the growth of P. destructans. These results support that bacteria may play a role in limiting the growth of P. destructans on bats.
- Bacteria Isolated from Bats Inhibit the Growth of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the Causative Agent of White-Nose SyndromeHoyt, Joseph R.; Cheng, Tina L.; Langwig, Kate E.; Hee, Mallory M.; Frick, Winifred F.; Kilpatrick, A. Marm (PLOS, 2015-04-08)Emerging infectious diseases are a key threat to wildlife. Several fungal skin pathogens have recently emerged and caused widespread mortality in several vertebrate groups, including amphibians, bats, rattlesnakes and humans. White-nose syndrome, caused by the fungal skin pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, threatens several hibernating bat species with extinction and there are few effective treatment strategies. The skin microbiome is increasingly understood to play a large role in determining disease outcome. We isolated bacteria from the skin of four bat species, and co-cultured these isolates with P. destructans to identify bacteria that might inhibit or kill P. destructans.We then conducted two reciprocal challenge experiments in vitro with six bacterial isolates (all in the genus Pseudomonas) to quantify the effect of these bacteria on the growth of P. destructans. All six Pseudomonas isolates significantly inhibited growth of P. destructans compared to noninhibitory control bacteria, and two isolates performed significantly better than others in suppressing P. destructans growth for at least 35 days. In both challenge experiments, the extent of suppression of P. destructans growth was dependent on the initial concentration of P. destructans and the initial concentration of the bacterial isolate. These results show that bacteria found naturally occurring on bats can inhibit the growth of P. destructans in vitro and should be studied further as a possible probiotic to protect bats from white-nose syndrome. In addition, the presence of these bacteria may influence disease outcomes among individuals, populations, and species.
- Changing Relationship Between Temperature and Pathogen Growth on Bats with White-nose SyndromeFife, Josh (Virginia Tech, 2024-04-22)Emerging infectious diseases (EID) pose significant threats to biodiversity. Human influence over the environment has increased opportunities for the introduction of novel pathogens to naïve hosts, potentially leading to host extinction. Understanding mechanisms of host persistence is critical for effectively conserving species affected by EIDs. Our study investigated the disease dynamics of white-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) across a spatiotemporal gradient. We explored the relationship between bat roosting temperatures and Pd growth rates across three phases of pathogen invasion comprising years since WNS has been present at sites: invasion (0-3), established (4-8), and endemic (9+ years). Data used by this study comes from a combination of field-based data collection in New York where WNS has been present the longest and data from a long-running project which includes from other locations in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the United States. Our results reveal a weakening interaction between temperature and fungal growth rates time with WNS progresses. We additionally observed a decrease in early hibernation fungal loads and variation in infection prevalence over time, suggesting the onset of a coevolutionary relationship between bats and Pd. This study highlights the importance of investigating changing disease dynamics when understanding the reasonings for host persistence.
- Continued preference for suboptimal habitat reduces bat survival with white-nose syndromeHopkins, Skylar R.; Hoyt, Joseph R.; White, J. Paul; Kaarakka, Heather M.; Redell, Jennifer A.; DePue, John E.; Scullon, William H.; Kilpatrick, A. Marm; Langwig, Kate E. (Springer Nature, 2021)Habitat alteration can influence suitability, creating ecological traps where habitat preference and fitness are mismatched. Despite their importance, ecological traps are notoriously difficult to identify and their impact on host–pathogen dynamics remains largely unexplored. Here we assess individual bat survival and habitat preferences in the midwestern United States before, during, and after the invasion of the fungal pathogen that causes white-nose syndrome. Despite strong selection pressures, most hosts continued to select habitats where disease severity was highest and survival was lowest, causing continued population declines. However, some individuals used refugia where survival was higher. Over time, a higher proportion of the total population used refugia than before pathogen arrival. Our results demonstrate that host preferences for habitats with high disease-induced mortality can create ecological traps that threaten populations, even in the presence of accessible refugia.
- Environmental reservoir dynamics predict global infection patterns and population impacts for the fungal disease white-nose syndromeHoyt, Joseph R.; Langwig, Kate E.; Sun, Keping; Parise, Katy L.; Li, Aoqiang; Wang, Yujuan; Huang, Xiaobin; Worledge, Lisa; Miller, Helen; White, J. Paul; Kaarakka, Heather M.; Redell, Jennifer A.; Görföl, Tamás; Boldogh, Sándor András; Fukui, Dai; Sakuyama, Muneki; Yachimori, Syuuji; Sato, Akiyoshi; Dalannast, Munkhnast; Jargalsaikhan, Ariunbold; Batbayar, Nyambayar; Yovel, Yossi; Amichai, Eran; Natradze, Ioseb; Frick, Winifred E.; Foster, Jeffrey T.; Feng, Jiang; Kilpatrick, A. Marm (National Academy of Sciences, 2020-03-16)Disease outbreaks and pathogen introductions can have significant effects on host populations, and the ability of pathogens to persist in the environment can exacerbate disease impacts by fueling sustained transmission, seasonal epidemics, and repeated spillover events. While theory suggests that the presence of an environmental reservoir increases the risk of host declines and threat of extinction, the influence of reservoir dynamics on transmission and population impacts remains poorly described. Here we show that the extent of the environmental reservoir explains broad patterns of host infection and the severity of disease impacts of a virulent pathogen. We examined reservoir and host infection dynamics and the resulting impacts of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungal pathogen that causes white-nose syndrome, in 39 species of bats at 101 sites across the globe. Lower levels of pathogen in the environment consistently corresponded to delayed infection of hosts, fewer and less severe infections, and reduced population impacts. In contrast, an extensive and persistent environmental reservoir led to early and widespread infections and severe population declines. These results suggest that continental differences in the persistence or decay of P. destructans in the environment altered infection patterns in bats and influencedwhether host populations were stable or experienced severe declines from this disease. Quantifying the impact of the environmental reservoir on disease dynamics can provide specific targets for reducing pathogen levels in the environment to prevent or control future epidemics.
- Estimating host species and spatial variation in infection with the fungal pathogen that causes snake fungal diseaseConley, Dane Alexander (Virginia Tech, 2023-12-14)Emerging wildlife diseases represent a serious threat to conservation efforts. Impacts of emerging multi-host pathogens can vary greatly among species as well as geographically, and understanding which populations will be at greatest risk is essential for conserving biodiversity. Snake fungal disease (SFD), caused by the fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, is responsible for lethal infections in snakes and has contributed to the decline of multiple North American snake populations. However, which species are most affected by this disease and how infections vary regionally remains unknown. Here we sampled 44 different species across 14 sites throughout the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. We found a strong effect of latitude on both pathogen prevalence and severity, with more severe infections at more northern latitudes. We also found high variability in pathogen prevalence and infection severity among species. There was a strong positive relationship between pathogen prevalence and disease severity, suggesting that SFD is not just highly prevalent in some populations but also highly virulent. More broadly, our results support that SFD likely has continued impacts on snake populations with some species experiencing greater disease than others attributed to spatial and host variation.
- Field trial of a probiotic bacteria to protect bats from white-nose syndromeHoyt, Joseph R.; Langwig, Kate E.; White, J. Paul; Kaarakka, Heather M.; Redell, Jennifer A.; Parise, Katy L.; Frick, Winifred F.; Foster, Jeffrey T.; Kilpatrick, A. Marm (Nature Research, 2019-06-24)Tools for reducing wildlife disease impacts are needed to conserve biodiversity. White-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has caused widespread declines in North American bat populations and threatens several species with extinction. Few tools exist for managers to reduce WNS impacts. We tested the efficacy of a probiotic bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, to reduce impacts of WNS in two simultaneous experiments with caged and free-flying Myotis lucifugus bats at a mine in Wisconsin, USA. In the cage experiment there was no difference in survival between control and P. fluorescens-treated bats. However, body mass, not infection intensity, predicted mortality, suggesting that within-cage disturbance influenced the cage experiment. In the free-flying experiment, where bats were able to avoid conspecific disturbance, infection intensity predicted the date of emergence from the mine. In this experiment treatment with P. fluorescens increased apparent overwinter survival five-fold compared to the control group (from 8.4% to 46.2%) by delaying emergence of bats from the site by approximately 32 days. These results suggest that treatment of bats with P. fluorescens may substantially reduce WNS mortality, and, if used in combination with other interventions, could stop population declines.
- Field trial of a probiotic bacteria to protect bats from white-nose syndromeHoyt, Joseph R.; Langwig, Kate E.; White, J. Paul; Kaarakka, Heather M.; Redell, Jennifer A.; Parise, Katy L.; Frick, Winifred F.; Foster, Jeffrey T.; Kilpatrick, A. Marm (Nature Research, 2019-06-24)Tools for reducing wildlife disease impacts are needed to conserve biodiversity. White-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has caused widespread declines in North American bat populations and threatens several species with extinction. Few tools exist for managers to reduce WNS impacts. We tested the efficacy of a probiotic bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, to reduce impacts of WNS in two simultaneous experiments with caged and free-flying Myotis lucifugus bats at a mine in Wisconsin, USA. In the cage experiment there was no difference in survival between control and P. fluorescens-treated bats. However, body mass, not infection intensity, predicted mortality, suggesting that within-cage disturbance influenced the cage experiment. In the free-flying experiment, where bats were able to avoid conspecific disturbance, infection intensity predicted the date of emergence from the mine. In this experiment treatment with P. fluorescens increased apparent overwinter survival five-fold compared to the control group (from 8.4% to 46.2%) by delaying emergence of bats from the site by approximately 32 days. These results suggest that treatment of bats with P. fluorescens may substantially reduce WNS mortality, and, if used in combination with other interventions, could stop population declines.
- Host traits and environment interact to determine persistence of bat populations impacted by white-nose syndromeGrimaudo, Alexander T.; Hoyt, Joseph R.; Yamada, Steffany A.; Herzog, Carl J.; Bennett, Alyssa B.; Langwig, Kate E. (Wiley, 2021-12-21)Emerging infectious diseases have resulted in severe population declines across diverse taxa. In some instances, despite attributes associated with high extinction risk, disease emergence and host declines are followed by host stabilisation for unknown reasons. While host, pathogen, and the environment are recognised as important factors that interact to determine host–pathogen coexistence, they are often considered independently. Here, we use a translocation experiment to disentangle the role of host traits and environmental conditions in driving the persistence of remnant bat populations a decade after they declined 70–99% due to white-nose syndrome and subsequently stabilised. While survival was significantly higher than during the initial epidemic within all sites, protection from severe disease only existed within a narrow environmental space, suggesting host traits conducive to surviving disease are highly environmentally dependent. Ultimately, population persistence following pathogen invasion is the product of host–pathogen interactions that vary across a patchwork of environments.
- Host-pathogen interactions and conservation implications of snake fungal disease over broad geographical scalesBlanvillain, Gaelle Jh (Virginia Tech, 2024-06-27)Emerging infectious diseases represent a threat to biodiversity, posing significant challenges to wildlife conservation globally. Infectious diseases can cause population declines, local extirpations and, in rare cases, complete species extinction. Among emerging pathogens, pathogenic fungi have been responsible for drastic declines in several high-profile vertebrate taxa, such as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis causing chytridiomycosis in many species of amphibians worldwide. Recently, an emerging infectious disease, 'snake fungal disease' (SFD), caused by the fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, is affecting the health of snake populations in North America by causing skin infections which can be fatal. Given the potential impact of this disease on snake biodiversity worldwide, compounded by the pressure of anthropogenic stressors that already jeopardize the viability of many snake populations, there is a clear need for ecological research in this understudied system. This dissertation is comprised of 4 data chapters focusing on the disease dynamics of snake fungal disease in Europe, and the factors resulting in differential infection. In chapter 2, I develop a large field-based data collection in 10 countries in Europe to investigate the presence of disease hotspots and the variation of disease prevalence across host species, and to examine the pathogen genotypes that are present on the landscape. I found isolated areas of disease hotspots, and models including an interactive effect of host species and which pathogen clade are present on the landscape were best at explaining disease prevalence. In chapter 3, I perform a virulence challenge assay using 120 corn snakes (Pantherophis guttatus) and 7 strains of O. ophidiicola (3 collected from Europe, 4 from the USA). This experiment reveals that pathogen genotypes associated with higher disease prevalence in Europe also have higher pathogen virulence, and that different strains from the USA show variation in virulence. These results also match both physiological host responses measured in the lab and landscape patterns of disease. In chapter 4, I explore two mitigation-driven snake translocation projects in Europe that were complicated due to O. ophidiicola outbreaks. One snake species, N. tessellata, appears highly susceptible to SFD, indicating that under stressful conditions, O. ophidiicola can cause mortality regardless of pathogen genotype, and that this snake species may be important in pathogen maintenance. Finally in chapter 5, I report the presence of a different fungal pathogen in Spain, Parannannizziopsis sp., never reported in wild snakes in Europe before. Broadly, my dissertation demonstrates coevolutionary relationships between hosts and pathogens and has important implications to snake conservation over large scales.
- Impact of censusing and research on wildlife populationsKilpatrick, A. Marm; Hoyt, Joseph R.; King, R. Andrew; Kaarakka, Heather M.; Redell, Jennifer A.; White, J. Paul; Langwig, Kate E. (2020-11)Population monitoring and research are essential for conserving wildlife, but these activities may directly impact the populations under study. These activities are often restricted to minimize disturbance, and impacts must be weighed against knowledge gained. However, few studies have quantified the effects of research or census-related visitation frequency on populations, and low visitation rates have been hypothesized to have little effect. Hibernating bats have been hypothesized to be especially sensitive to visitation because they have limited energetic stores to survive winter, and disturbance may partly deplete these stores. We examined the effect of site visitation frequency on population growth rates of three species of hibernating bats, little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) and tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus), both before and after detection of the disease white-nose syndrome. We found no evidence that more frequent visits decreased population growth rates for any of these species. Estimated coefficients were either the opposite sign as hypothesized (population growth rates increased with visitation frequency) or were very small (difference in population growth rates 0.067% [SE 2.5%]-1.8% [SE 9.8%]) relative to spatial and temporal variation (5.9-32%). In contrast, white-nose syndrome impacts on population growth rates were easily detected and well-characterized statistically (effect sizes 4.4-8.0; severe population declines occurred in the second and third years after pathogen detection) indicating that we had sufficient power to detect effects. These results indicate that visitation frequency (forM. sodalis:annual vs. semi-annual counts; forM. lucifugusandP. subflavus:1-3 three research visits per year) had undetectable impacts on bat population growth rates both with and without the additional stress of an emerging infectious disease. Knowledge gained from censuses and research may outweigh disturbance due to human visitation if it can be used to understand and conserve the species.
- Mobility and infectiousness in the spatial spread of an emerging fungal pathogenLangwig, Kate E.; White, J. Paul; Parise, Katy L.; Kaarakka, Heather M.; Redell, Jennifer A.; DePue, John E.; Scullon, William H.; Foster, Jeffrey T.; Kilpatrick, A. Marm; Hoyt, Joseph R. (2021-05)Emerging infectious diseases can have devastating effects on host communities, causing population collapse and species extinctions. The timing of novel pathogen arrival into naive species communities can have consequential effects that shape the trajectory of epidemics through populations. Pathogen introductions are often presumed to occur when hosts are highly mobile. However, spread patterns can be influenced by a multitude of other factors including host body condition and infectiousness. White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a seasonal emerging infectious disease of bats, which is caused by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Within-site transmission of P. destructans primarily occurs over winter; however, the influence of bat mobility and infectiousness on the seasonal timing of pathogen spread to new populations is unknown. We combined data on host population dynamics and pathogen transmission from 22 bat communities to investigate the timing of pathogen arrival and the consequences of varying pathogen arrival times on disease impacts. We found that midwinter arrival of the fungus predominated spread patterns, suggesting that bats were most likely to spread P. destructans when they are highly infectious, but have reduced mobility. In communities where P. destructans was detected in early winter, one species suffered higher fungal burdens and experienced more severe declines than at sites where the pathogen was detected later in the winter, suggesting that the timing of pathogen introduction had consequential effects for some bat communities. We also found evidence of source-sink population dynamics over winter, suggesting some movement among sites occurs during hibernation, even though bats at northern latitudes were thought to be fairly immobile during this period. Winter emergence behaviour symptomatic of white-nose syndrome may further exacerbate these winter bat movements to uninfected areas. Our results suggest that low infectiousness during host migration may have reduced the rate of expansion of this deadly pathogen, and that elevated infectiousness during winter plays a key role in seasonal transmission. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of both accurate estimation of the timing of pathogen spread and the consequences of varying arrival times to prevent and mitigate the effects of infectious diseases.
- Reducing environmentally mediated transmission to moderate impacts of an emerging wildlife diseaseHoyt, Joseph R.; Parise, Katy L.; DePue, John E.; Kaarakka, Heather M.; Redell, Jennifer A.; Scullon, William H.; O'Reskie, Rich; Foster, Jeffrey T.; Kilpatrick, A. Marm; Langwig, Kate E.; White, J. Paul (Wiley, 2023-05)Emerging infectious diseases have caused population declines and biodiversity loss. The ability of pathogens to survive in the environment, independent of their host, can exacerbate disease impacts and increase the likelihood of species extinction. Control of pathogens with environmental stages remains a significant challenge for conservation and effective management strategies are urgently needed.We examined the effectiveness of managing environmental exposure to reduce the impacts of an emerging infectious disease of bats, white-nose syndrome (WNS). We used a chemical disinfectant, chlorine dioxide (ClO2), to experimentally reduce Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungal pathogen causing WNS, in the environment. We combined laboratory experiments with 3 years of field trials at four abandoned mines to determine whether ClO2 could effectively remove P. destructans from the environment, reduce host infection and limit population impacts.ClO2 was effective at killing P. destructans in vitro across multiple concentrations. In field settings, higher concentrations of ClO2 treatment were needed to sufficiently reduce viable P. destructans conidia in the environment.The reduction in the environmental reservoir at treatment sites resulted in lower fungal loads on bats compared to untreated control populations. Survival following treatment was also higher in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), and trended higher for tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus).Synthesis and applications. Our results highlight that targeted management of sources for environmental transmission can be an effective control strategy for wildlife disease. We found that successfully reducing pathogen in the environment decreased disease severity and increased survival, but required higher treatment exposure than was effective in laboratory experiments, and the effects varied among species. More broadly, our findings have implications for other emerging wildlife diseases with free-living pathogen stages by highlighting how the degree of environmental contamination can have cascading impacts on hosts, presenting an opportunity for intervention.
- White-nose syndrome restructures bat skin microbiomesAnge-Stark, Meghan; Parise, Katy L.; Cheng, Tina L.; Hoyt, Joseph R.; Langwig, Kate E.; Frick, Winifred F.; Kilpatrick, A. Marm; Gillece, John; MacManes, Matthew D.; Foster, Jeffrey T. (American Society for Microbiology, 2023-10-27)The skin microbiome is an essential line of host defense against pathogens, yet our understanding of microbial communities and how they change when hosts become infected is limited. We investigated skin microbial composition in three North American bat species (Myotis lucifugus, Eptesicus fuscus, and Perimyotis subflavus) that have been impacted by the infectious disease, white-nose syndrome, caused by an invasive fungal pathogen, Pseudogymnoascus destructans. We compared bacterial and fungal composition from 154 skin swab samples and 70 environmental samples using a targeted 16S rRNA and internal transcribed spacer amplicon approach. We found that for M. lucifugus, a species that experiences high mortality from white-nose syndrome, bacterial microbiome diversity was dramatically lower when P. destructans was present. Key bacterial families—including those potentially involved in pathogen defense—significantly differed in abundance in bats infected with P. destructans compared to uninfected bats. However, skin bacterial diversity was not lower in E. fuscus or P. subflavus when P. destructans was present despite populations of the latter species declining sharply from white-nose syndrome. The fungal species present on bats substantially overlapped with the fungal taxa present in the environment at the site where the bat was sampled, but fungal community composition was unaffected by the presence of P. destructans for any of the three bat species. This species-specific alteration in bat skin bacterial microbiomes after pathogen invasion may suggest a mechanism for the severity of white-nose syndrome in M. lucifugus but not for other bat species impacted by the disease. IMPORTANCE Inherent complexities in the composition of microbiomes can often preclude investigations of microbe-associated diseases. Instead of single organisms being associated with disease, community characteristics may be more relevant. Longitudinal microbiome studies of the same individual bats as pathogens arrive and infect a population are the ideal experiment but remain logistically challenging; therefore, investigations like our approach that are able to correlate invasive pathogens to alterations within a microbiome may be the next best alternative. The results of this study potentially suggest that microbiome-host interactions may determine the likelihood of infection. However, the contrasting relationship between Pd and the bacterial microbiomes of Myotis lucifugus and Perimyotis subflavus indicate that we are just beginning to understand how the bat microbiome interacts with a fungal invader such as Pd.
- Widespread exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife communitiesGoldberg, Amanda R.; Langwig, Kate E.; Brown, Katherine L.; Marano, Jeffrey M.; Rai, Pallavi; King, Kelsie M.; Sharp, Amanda K.; Ceci, Alessandro; Kailing, Christopher D.; Kailing, Macy J.; Briggs, Russell; Urbano, Matthew G.; Roby, Clinton; Brown, Anne M.; Weger-Lucarelli, James; Finkielstein, Carla V.; Hoyt, Joseph R. (Springer, 2024-07-29)Pervasive SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans have led to multiple transmission events to animals. While SARS-CoV-2 has a potential broad wildlife host range, most documented infections have been in captive animals and a single wildlife species, the white-tailed deer. The full extent of SARS-CoV-2 exposure among wildlife communities and the factors that influence wildlife transmission risk remain unknown. We sampled 23 species of wildlife for SARS-CoV-2 and examined the effects of urbanization and human use on seropositivity. Here, we document positive detections of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in six species, including the deer mouse, Virginia opossum, raccoon, groundhog, Eastern cottontail, and Eastern red bat between May 2022–September 2023 across Virginia and Washington, D.C., USA. In addition, we found that sites with high human activity had three times higher seroprevalence than low human-use areas. We obtained SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences from nine individuals of six species which were assigned to seven Pango lineages of the Omicron variant. The close match to variants circulating in humans at the time suggests at least seven recent human-to-animal transmission events. Our data support that exposure to SARS-CoV-2 has been widespread in wildlife communities and suggests that areas with high human activity may serve as points of contact for cross-species transmission.