Survey of Baylisascaris spp. in captive striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in some European areas

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• 作者：D. d’Ovidio ; N. Pantchev ; E. Noviello ; L. Del Prete…
• 关键词：Striped skunks ; Intestinal parasites ; Zoonosis ; Baylisascaris columnaris ; FLOTAC ; PCR
• 刊名：Parasitology Research
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：116
• 期：2
• 页码：483-486
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Immunology;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：1432-1955
• 卷排序：116

文摘

Skunks are popular carnivore species kept both in zoological institutions and in households where they are hand raised as exotic pets. These small carnivores are considered the main definitive hosts of the roundworm Baylisascaris columnaris. The purpose of this survey was to investigate the occurrence of Baylisascaris spp. in striped skunks kept as pets or in private zoo collections in some European areas. Copromicroscopic data from two laboratories, one in Italy and one in Germany, were used. A total of 60 animals were selected. Samples came from Germany (n = 30), Italy (n = 23), United Kingdom (n = 5), Austria (n = 1), and the Netherlands (n = 1). Twenty-eight animals were certainly kept as pets in private households in Italy and the UK. Fifteen out of 60 animals (25%) were positive for Baylisascaris spp. Molecular identification of adult parasites was performed in ten of those animals, revealing B. columnaris in all cases. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first survey of Baylisascaris spp. in captive skunks in Europe.