Outbreak of contagious ecthyma in free-ranging Iberian ibex in the Montgrí Massif Natural Park, Catalonia Northeast Spain

Contagious ecthyma (CE) affects farmed small ruminants and to a broad range of wild and domestic mammals including the Iberian ibex.
On 9 December 2019, an adult male ibex was found dead with severe CE-like lesion in the Montgrí Natural Park, Catalonia northeastern Spain. A field survey revealed a contagious ecthyma outbreak with a mean prevalence of 68.97% ranging from 53.35 to 84.59 at 95% confidence interval. In despite of the death of an adult male, and in line with CE outbreaks in wild ungulates, yearly counts for population monitoring corroborated the apparently negligible disease impact on the ibex population of the natural park.

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