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Detection of CDV and Toxoplasma in Red Foxes Was Linked to Farming Habitats

Red fox in Spain
Research · Disease, parasites & microbiology

A 2026 study of 239 legally hunted red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from northwestern Spain detected four pathogens with the potential to circulate across wildlife, livestock and human interfaces. Canine distemper virus (CDV) was detected most often, in 18 foxes (7.5%), followed by Toxoplasma gondii in 17 (7.1%), Neospora caninum in 11 (4.6%) and canine adenovirus type 1 in four (1.7%). CDV and canine adenovirus are viruses of canids, while T. gondii and N. caninum are single-celled parasites with life cycles that can involve several animal hosts.

Researchers analysed brain tissue from the foxes using PCR and examined whether pathogen positivity was associated with sex, age and habitat. A positive PCR result shows that pathogen genetic material was present in the tissue; it does not by itself show that the fox had clinical disease. CDV and T. gondii positivity were clearly associated with farming habitats, while the study also assessed the number of pathogens detected in individual foxes.

The authors interpret the findings as support for using red foxes as sentinel species in integrated disease surveillance—that is, as animals whose pathogen findings can provide information about what is circulating in the wider environment. The association of CDV and T. gondii with farming habitats makes agricultural areas particularly relevant for monitoring pathogen circulation where wildlife and livestock overlap.

Sources and image credit

  1. Pérez-Maroto, D., Pérez-Pozuelo, M., Fidalgo, L. E., López-Beceiro, A. M., Barroso, P., Montes-Bernardo, M., Royo, L. J., Varzandi, A. R., Trisciuoglio, A., García-Álvarez, N., Ferroglio, E., Gortázar, C., & Balseiro, A. (2026). Molecular detection of shared pathogens in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from farming habitats in northwestern Spain. One Health, 23, 101519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2026.101519Primary research article first published online 15 July 2026. PCR analysis of brain tissue from 239 legally hunted red foxes detected canine distemper virus in 18 foxes (7.53%), Toxoplasma gondii in 17 (7.11%), Neospora caninum in 11 (4.60%) and canine adenovirus type 1 in four (1.67%). CDV and T. gondii positivity were significantly associated with farming habitats.

Image: Juan Lacruz — red fox (Vulpes vulpes) photographed in Spain on 23 May 2014; Wikimedia Commons. Representative Spanish species image; not one of the foxes sampled in the northwestern Spain pathogen study. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

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