Pathogenic Microbes in Tuscan Wild Boar

A total of 193 wild boars (111 females and 82 males; 87 adult, 30 sub-adult and 76 young animals) were sampled as part of a project focused on the isolation of pathogenic micro-organisms in hunted Tuscan wild boar, to study their role as a reservoir for human and animal diseases. The animals’ ages were determined based on tooth eruption and lower-jaw tooth wear [25 ]. Sampling took place during the autumn–winter hunting season from 2018 to 2019, following the regional hunting legislation [26 ] in 4 Tuscan provinces (Pisa, Livorno, Siena and Grosseto). Sampling was integrated with the routine procedure of delivery of shot animals (by the evening of the hunting day at the latest) to the central collection point, where evisceration and skinning operations were performed.