Wild carnivores as source of zoonotic helminths in north-eastern Italy

Abstract

SummaryTwo hundreds and sixty red foxes, eighteen badgers and eight stone martens from north-eastern Italy were examined for zoonotic parasites by SCT, with particular attention to Trichinella sp. and Echinococcus multilocularis. No adult worms of E. multilocularis were observed in the intestine of red foxes or mustelids. Out of 223 fox faecal samples analysed by a commercial CA-ELISA, 5.8 % was positive to Echinococcus coproantigens. Trichinella sp. was detected by digestion of muscle in 1.2 % of examined foxes (2/172), but not in mustelids (0/11). Toxocara canis, responsible for human toxocarosis, resulted to be common in fox population (48.5 %). This parasite was found both in young (53.3 % of cubs and 61.9 % of sub-adults) and in adult animals (42.7 %). Other zoonotic parasites as Uncinaria stenocephala (52.3 %) and Trichuris vulpis (0.4 %) were detected in fox populations.

Escherichia coli contamination and health aspects of soil and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) subsurface drip irrigated with on-site treated domestic wastewater

“…In addition, hare faeces were frequently observed close to the tomato plants at the Italian field site and such wild hares have been shown to carry Campylobacter species, an important pathogen causing gastrointestinal infections in humans (Wahlströ m et al, 2003). Zoonotic helminths have been reported in cats, foxes and dogs (Di Cerbo et al, 2008;Habluetzel et al, 2003) and helminth eggs found in soil may therefore originate from such animals and not only from faecal contaminated irrigation water.…”

Gastrointestinal parasites of cats in Denmark assessed by necropsy and concentration McMaster technique

“…The sedimentation and counting technique (SCT) is a necropsy technique originally developed for detection of Echinococcus multilocularis which is only a few millimetres long (Eckert et al, 2001). However, the technique has also been demonstrated to be suitable for the recovery of other helminths (Di Cerbo et al, 2008;Ziadinov et al, 2010;Al-Sabi et al, 2013a). While necropsy will always be the golden standard for determination of prevalence rates, it can only be used for dead animals and may lead to a bias towards certain age groups or diseased individuals.…”

Parasitic infections of the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778) in south -western Slovakia

“…There are many probable reasons for fluctuations in the hare population in Europe; however, deterioration of animal health strongly influenced by anthropization of landscape seems to be the key factor. Hares suffer considerably from predation, particularly by foxes (Newey et al, 2007;Romig et al, 2007;Di Cerbo et al, 2008;Miterpáková et al, 2009), and the decline was accompanied by a growth in predators in recent years. The population density may also be influenced by different diseases, some of them occurring only locally.…”