Aelurostrongylus abstrusus in wild felids of South Africa

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• 作者：Angela Di Cesare ; Francesca Laiacona ; Raffaella Iorio…
• 关键词：Aelurostrongylus abstrusus ; Lungworms ; Lion ; Caracal ; Serval ; South Africa
• 刊名：Parasitology Research
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：October 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：115
• 期：10
• 页码：3731-3735
• 全文大小：342 KB
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Biomedicine
  Medical Microbiology
  Microbiology
  Immunology
  
• 出版者：Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
• ISSN：1432-1955
• 卷排序：115

文摘

The increasing interest on respiratory nematodes of domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) has recently stimulated several studies on their epidemiology and geographic distribution. At the same time, there are still important gaps in our knowledge of the infections caused by respiratory nematodes in wild felids. The present study investigated the occurrence of pulmonary parasites in wild hosts housed in sanctuaries and protected areas of South Africa. Faecal samples collected from seven species of wild felids living in three study sites were copromicroscopically and genetically examined. Of twenty-one samples six, i.e. three from caracals (Caracal caracal), two from lions (Panthera leo) and one from a serval (Leptailurus serval), scored positive for the metastrongyloid Aelurostrongylus abstrusus at copromicroscopic and/or molecular tests. No other lungworms were recorded. The occurrence of the cosmopolitan cat lungworm A. abstrusus in wild hosts has been so far questioned. Importantly, the present findings represent an unequivocal evidence of the capability of A. abstrusus to infect some species of wild felids. Further studies are warranted to understand the epidemiological patterns of lungworms in wild and domestic felids, and to better investigate the impact of these parasitoses on health and welfare of wild animals.