Broncho-pulmonary helminths of chamois(Rupicapra rupicapra parva)captured in north-west Spain: assessment from first stage larvae in faeces and lungs

Abstract

The bronchopulmonary helminths of 66 chamois (49 males and 17 females), captured in various parts of the Cantabrian moun tain range (N. W. Spain) in the autumn of 1983, and in the summer and the autumn of 1984, were studied. The animals were adult and aged between 2 and 16 years.The lungs, trachea and faeces from the last section of the intes tine were taken from each animal individually. The trachea and pulmonary larval nodules were dissected. First stage larvae (L-I) were obtained from finely cut up pulmonary tissue and from faeces by migration.The number of larvae I per gram varied between 0.08 and 2,662 (x = 151.5 ± 59.5 s. e.) in the faecal samples, and between 0.03 and 1,733 (x = 65.2 ± 32.4 s. e.) in the pulmonary ones. There was a low correlation between the two sets of data.When taking into account age and sex, no statistically signifi cant differences were observed in relation to the number of larvae/gram found either in faeces or in pulmonary tissue, while there were statistically significant differences when considering the periods of sampling and reserve of origin, in relation to the larvae found in faeces and lungs, respectively.Infections by three nematodes (Neostrongylus, Muellerius and Protostrongylus) were more common than those produced by two or one, in the lungs as well as in the faeces. The most common genus was Neostrongylus, followed by Muellerius, and no Cystocaulus or Dictyocaulus larvae were found. R ésumé : Les helminthes bronchopulmonaires des chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra parva) abattus au nord-ouest de l'Espagne : estimations selon les numérations des larves du premier stade dans les fèces et les poumons.

Bronchopulmonary nematode infection of Capra pyrenaica in the Sierra Nevada massif, Spain

“…The bronchopulmonary nematode profile in Iberian ibex revealed in the present study differed greatly from that reported in domestic and other wild animals from Spain (Díez-Bañ os et al, 1990, 1994Panadero et al, 2001). These differences may be related to differences in host susceptibility (Berrag and Urquhart, 1996;Armour, 1980).…”

“…Controversially, no correlations or negative correlations have been described between parasite load and the factors mentioned above (e.g. Díez-Bañ os et al, 1990;Berrag and Urquhart, 1996;Nocture et al, 1998).…”

“…Lungworm infections are widespread among goats (Raynaud, 1977;Himmonas et al, 1980) and wild animals (Díez-Bañ os et al, 1990;Š tefančíková , 1999;Š tefančíková et al, 1999;Panadero et al, 2001;Hoby et al, 2006;Ramajo Martín et al, 2007) in Europe. Notwithstanding, to our knowledge, only one study reported bronchopulmonary infections in Iberian ibex with larval protostrongylids and Dictyocaulus spp.…”

Evaluation of the Baermann–Wetzel method for detecting lungworm larvae in wild ruminants from faecal samples

“…period of sampling) as described for the chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra ) by Diez-Baños et al . (1990), or simply because of the lower concentration of L1 in the faeces than in the pulmonary system due to the location of the fertile adult nematodes.…”

“…Similar results have already been described for the chamois by Diez-Baños et al . (1990), who also compared pulmonary versus faecal samples and described an association of the aforementioned nematode genera, thus indicating a possible relation between animals presenting co-infection and high LPG. Hence, parasitic infection with high prevalence and LPG values shows an important agreement between LPG values from both kind of samples.…”