Zoonotic Intestinal Trematodes in Stray Cats (<i>Felis catus</i>) from Riverside Areas of the Republic of Korea

Abstract

The present study was performed to survey the infection status of zoonotic intestinal trematode (ZIT) in stray cats from 5 major riverside areas in the Republic of Korea. Total 400 stray cats were captured with live-traps in riverside areas of Seomjingang (‘gang’ means river) (203 cats) from June to October 2010, and of Yeongsangang (41), Nakdonggang (57), Geumgang (38), and Hangang (61 cats) from June to October 2011, respectively. Small intestines resected from cats were opened with a pair of scissors in a beaker with 0.85% saline and examined with naked eyes and under a stereomicroscope. More than 16 ZIT species were detected in 188 (92.6%) cats from Seomjingang areas, and the number of worms recovered was 111 per cat infected. In cats from riverside areas of Yeongsangang, Nakdonggang, Geumgang, and Hangang, more than 9, 8, 3, and 5 ZIT species were recovered, and the worm burdens were 13, 42, 11, and 56 specimens per infected cat, respectively. As the members of family Heterophyidae, more than 10 species, i.e., Metagonimus spp., Pygidiopsis summa, Heterophyes nocens, Stellantchasmus falcatus, Heterophyopsis continua, Acanthotrema felis, Centrocestus armatus, Procerovum varium, Cryptocotyle concava, and Stictodora lari, were recovered. More than 5 species of echinostomes, i.e., Echinostoma hortense, Echinochasmus japonicus, Echinochasmus sp., Echinoparyphium sp., and unidentified larval echinostomes, were collected. Plagiorchis spp. were detected in cats from areas of Seomjin-gang and Yeongsangang. From the above results, it has been confirmed that stray cats in 5 major riverside areas of Korea are highly infected with various species of ZITs.

Infections of Two Isthmiophora Species (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) in Wild Mammals from Republic of Korea with Their Morphological Descriptions

“…I. hortensis was found in 5 of 438 (1.1%) cats in Busan, and 6 of 400 (1.5%) cats near 5 major river basins. The numbers of infection were 1-485 and 1-59, respectively [21,25]. Although the number of animals examined in the present study was not large, the infection rate and number of infections in mustelid hosts were relatively high ( Table 1).…”

“…It is our understanding that the host list includes 11 animals belong to 6 families as follows: Canidae (Canis lupus and N. procyonoides), Felidae (F. catus), Ochotonidae (Ochotona dauurica), Muridae (A. agrarius, R. norvegicus, R. rattus, fortisM. pellceus, M. musculus), Mustelidae (M. itatsi), Procyonidae (P. lotor) and Suidae (S. scrofa) in Korea, China, Japan, Vietnam and the Russian Far East [12,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]29]. However, only one species of mustelid, the Japanese weasel M. itatsi, has been reported as a host of I. hortensis [13].…”

“…Freshwater snails of the family Lymnaeidae Rafinesque, 1815 are known to serve as first intermediate hosts [2][3][4], while freshwater fishes and frogs have been reported as second intermediate hosts [3,[5][6][7][8][9][10]. Addition-ally, a wide range of small mammals are known as respective definitive hosts, such as the rat (reported in Japan by Asada, 1926) [21], black-striped field mouse Apodemus agrarius (Pallas), Manchurian reed vole Microtus fortis pelliceus Thomas, domestic mouse Mus musculus L., brown rat Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout), black rat R. rattus L., Daurian pika Ochotona dauurica (Pallas), domestc dog Canis lupus familiaris L., domestic cat Felis catus L., Japanese weasel Mustela itatsi Temminck (= Lutreola itatsi itatsi) and raccoon Procyon lotor L. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Recently, Sohn et al reported two additional species, namely, the raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides (Gray) and wild boar Sus scrofa L., to the list of known definitive hosts of I. hortensis [23].…”

Intestinal Flukes Recovered from a Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, in the Republic of Korea

“…In Korea, Cryptocotyle concava and Cryptocotyle sp. were reported several times from the small intestines of ducks [7] and feral cats [8][9][10]. However, no reports have been made on C. lingua, and this is a new fauna record in Korea.…”

Infections with Centrocestus armatus Metacercariae in Fishes from Water Systems of Major Rivers in Republic of Korea

“…Various species of freshwater fish, including Zacco platypus and Z. temminckii , were reported as the second intermediate hosts in Japan and Korea [ 5 – 13 ]. As the natural definitive hosts of this fluke, the large egret, Egretta alba modesta , and stray cat, Felis catus , were recorded in Korea [ 14 – 17 ].…”