Toxoplasma gondii infection in ticks infesting migratory birds: the blackbird (Turdus merula) and the song thrush (Turdus philomelos).
Exp Appl Acarol
; 92(2): 233-240, 2024 Feb.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38321308
ABSTRACT
Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, is the zoonosis widespread all over the world. Birds constitute an important group of T. gondii intermediate hosts often attacked by definitive hosts, e.g. domestic cats. Due to confirmation of an additional way of T. gondii transmission via tick bite, the aim of our study was to state and evaluate the infection prevalence of ticks feeding on blackbirds (Turdus merula) and song thrushes (Turdus philomelos). The real-time PCR amplification of the B1 gene fragment was used for detection of T. gondii infection in 157 Ixodes ricinus ticks removed from captured birds. The results showed the thrushes as hosts intensively attacked by ticks (prevalence 88.5% and 70% for blackbirds and song thrushes, respectively), and T. gondii infected individuals were detected. Among all ticks infected, 7 (5.8%; n = 120) were collected from blackbirds, and 2 (5.4%; n = 37) from song thrushes. The thrushes small body sizes and their tendency to urban ecosystems colonization, suggest that they relatively often become a pray of domestic cats, and combined with our findings, are potentially involved in maintenance the T. gondii population, especially in anthropogenic habitats, where the presence of toxoplasmosis is likely to constitute a serious danger to public health.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Doenças do Gato
/
Toxoplasmose
/
Ixodes
/
Aves Canoras
Tipo de estudo:
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Exp Appl Acarol
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
PARASITOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Polônia