{"id":24363,"date":"2025-06-13T13:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T11:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/?p=24363"},"modified":"2025-06-13T13:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T11:37:18","slug":"old-badger-dies-due-to-streptococcus-canis-bacteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/2025\/06\/old-badger-dies-due-to-streptococcus-canis-bacteria\/","title":{"rendered":"Old badger dies due to Streptococcus canis bacteria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the province North Brabant, an old female badger (<em>Meles meles<\/em>) was found dead in March 2025, in a garden close to a badger sett (an underground tunnel system where badgers live). The badger was thin and dehydrated. The animal was sent in and examined by the DWHC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The badger died from peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) caused by the bacterium <em>Streptococcus canis (S. canis)<\/em>. In addition, she had intestinal inflammation, mild heart problems, and fluid in the lungs (pulmonary oedema). Worms were also found in the lungs, which caused a mild pneumonia. Microscopic examination revealed a lungworm as well as inflammatory cells due to the inhalation of sand (see figure). Furthermore, this badger had skin inflammation on her abdomen caused by parasites such as fleas and possibly lice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/393\/2025\/06\/S.-canis-das2-1024x512.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/393\/2025\/06\/S.-canis-das2-1024x512.png 1024w, https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/393\/2025\/06\/S.-canis-das2-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/393\/2025\/06\/S.-canis-das2-768x384.png 768w, https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/393\/2025\/06\/S.-canis-das2-1536x768.png 1536w, https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/393\/2025\/06\/S.-canis-das2-2048x1024.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Histology of the lungs, showing the presence of a lungworm<\/em> <em>(arrow) and inflammatory cells caused by the inhalation of sand (circle).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The bacterium <em>Streptococcus canis<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>S. canis<\/em> is most commonly found in dogs and cats, however it has also been found in a wide range of other animal species, including cattle, foxes, otters, and badgers. The bacterium mainly causes infections in animals with poor health or reduced immunity. <em>S. canis<\/em> can enter the body through wounds, the skin, or mucous membranes. Once inside the body, <em>S. canis<\/em> causes inflammation at the entry site, such as skin infections, but can also spread via the bloodstream to other organs. This can lead to, for example, pneumonia and blood poisoning (sepsis). The body\u2019s inflammatory response to the invading bacterium causes general symptoms such as fever and lethargy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>S. canis<\/em> is a zoonosis, which means it can be transmitted from animal to human. Infection with this bacterium in human is very rare and has not yet been reported in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong><br>Pagnossin, D., Smith, A., Oravcov\u00e1, K., &amp; Weir, W. (2022). Streptococcus canis, the underdog of the genus.&nbsp;<em>Veterinary Microbiology<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>273<\/em>, 109524.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the province North Brabant, an old female badger (Meles meles) was found dead in March 2025, in a garden close to a badger sett (an underground tunnel system where badgers live). The badger was thin and dehydrated. The animal was sent in and examined by the DWHC. The badger died from peritonitis (inflammation of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23295,"featured_media":24362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[323],"tags":[],"diersoorten":[342],"class_list":["post-24363","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","diersoorten-badger-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24363"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24366,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24363\/revisions\/24366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24363"},{"taxonomy":"diersoorten","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwhc.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/diersoorten?post=24363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}