Endoparasites of Wild Birds From Campus Area and Zoobotanical Park, at the Federal University of Acre, Rio Branco - Acre

Abstract

This study was developed at the Campus (C) and the Zoo-botanical Park (PZ) at the Federal University of Acre, with the purpose of identifying endoparasites in the avifauna of those locations. The birds were captured using 10 mist nets. The nets were set from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.. The faecal samples collected were stored in Merthiolate, Iodine and Formaldehyde (MIF). Willies and direct methods were used for the diagnostic of endoparasites. Two hundred and eighty-seven birds were captured, with 34 recaptures, which resulted in 253 different specimens – 158 on the campus and 95 at the PZ. The birds caught were from 58 different species, belonging to 25 families and 12 orders. Fecal samples from 193 birds belonging to 49 species from 11 orders and 18 families were obtained and analyzed. The following endoparasites were identified: Eimeria sp., Entamoeba coli, Entamoeba histolytica, Iodamoeba bütschlii, Isospora sp., Enterobius vermicularis, Heterakis gallinarum, Ascaridia galli, Strongyloides avium, Capillaria spp., Ancylostoma spp., Raillietina sp., Choanotaenia sp., Microphallus sp., and Echinostoma revolutum. Eimeria sp. was the most frequent parasite found in most bird species. The results showed a high level of endoparasitic infection in the aviary community in the two study areas.

Enteroparasites and risk factors for infection in native and exotic domiciled birds in the North Pioneer region of Paraná State, Brazil

“…is a nematode considered to be non-pathogenic, but its importance is mainly due to its transmission of the protozoan Histomonas meleagridis, which causes avian blackhead (Urquhart et al, 1990;Vasconcelos, 2000). It has already been reported in two out of four black-bellied tropicbirds (Saltator similis) analyzed by Marietto-Gonçalves et al (2009) in Botucatu, São Paulo state, in psittaciformes in Pernambuco by Freitas et al (2002) and in several species of wild birds in Acre by Brito et al (2017).…”

“…Out of the total samples analyzed, 3.39% (2/59) exhibited mixed infections. The prevalence of endoparasites in wild and exotic birds, both free-living and captive, has already been studied in the states of Acre (Brito et al, 2017), Paraná (Snak et al, 2014), São Paulo (Marietto-Gonçalves et al, 2009), Pernambuco (Freitas et al, 2002) and Rio de Janeiro (Costa et al, 2010) and ranged from 19.6 to 82.66%. Currently, new species of Isospora have been described in the order Passeriformes among the Cardinalidae, Emberizidae, Fringillidae and Turdidae families, and the bird species most frequently infected by this coccidian is Saltator similis from the Thraupidae family (Barreto et al, 2020).…”

“…Affected birds may experience diarrhea, encephalitis, and concomitant infection with other diseases, making the infection even more severe (Allen and Fetterer, 2002). Brito et al (2017) identified the genus Eimeria as being the most prevalent in free-living wild birds in the state of Acre.…”

“…Parasitic diseases can occur due to ingesting contaminated food and water with excrement or ingesting biological or mechanical vectors (Brito et al, 2017;Akram et al, 2018). Despite these observations, higher positivity among birds raised in a situation of inadequate hygiene (Table 3) was not observed, likely due to the small sample size.…”