Mahdis Aghazadeh (1), Jocelyn Elson-Riggins (1), Slaven Reljić (2), Marco De Ambrogi (1), Đuro Huber (2), Dario Majnarić (3), Carlos Hermosilla (1)
(1) The Royal Veterinary College, The University of London, UK
(2) Veterinarski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
(3) Hrvatske šume, Delnice
E-mail: jriggins@rvc.ac.uk
Jocelyn Elson-Riggins (The Royal Veterinary College, The University of London, UK)
The European brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a species present in limited areas of Europe and several small populations are considered endangered. This species can be affected by a range of parasites. The presence and prevalence of the gastrointestinal parasites of wild European brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Croatia were investigated. Ninety four wild bear faecal samples were collected from the ground in different areas of Primorje-Gorski Kotar county, Karlovac county and Senj-Lika county and examined for the presence of gastrointestinal parasites. At least six genera including the nematodes Baylisascaris spp., Ancylostoma spp. and Syngamus spp., and the protozoan enteropathogens Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. were found. However, neither cestode- nor trematode/acanthocephala-eggs were found.
Our preliminary results emphasize the presence of Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp., Baylisascaris transfuga, and Ancylostoma spp. amongst wild bears in Croatia and highlight the potential risk for transmission of these zoonotic infections, not only for humans, but also for domestic animals in this geographic region. This is the first report of Giardia in bears from Croatia.
The genus Baylisascaris is an emerging parasite of wild animals which can cause severe larva migrans syndrome in aberrant hosts, which include 100 species of birds, mammals and also humans. Baylisascaris transfuga is the species reported from bears, and with the exception of a few laboratory trials, little is known about the capacity of this species to infect other animals. Furthermore, the identification of this species has traditionally been based on light microscopy, using either morphology of the adults at necropsy or detection of the eggs in faeces, which are methods limited by the experience and the efforts of the observer. The current work was aimed at developing a specific PCR to detect the parasite directly from faecal samples of naturally infected brown bears in the field, without the need for previous flotation. Using eggs and adults of B. transfuga collected in Croatia, we developed a PCR test to detect a portion of the second internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA. We then applied it to bear faecal samples spiked with a known number of B. transfuga eggs. We show here for the first time that this method allows the detection of a minimum of two B. transfuga eggs in 25 mg of faecal material, thus it demonstrates a high diagnostic capacity that could be applied to evaluate the prevalence of the parasite in faecal samples from wild populations of brown bears.
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Pojavljivanje Baylisascaris transfuga i drugih želučano-crijevnih nametnika, te prvi nalaz Giardia spp. u populaciji europskog smeđeg medvjeda (Ursus arctos) u Hrvatskoj
Mahdis Aghazadeh, Jocelyn Elson-Riggins, Slaven Reljić, Marco De Ambrogi, Đuro Huber, Dario Majnarić, Carlos Hermosilla
E-mail: jriggins@rvc.ac.uk
Europski smeđi medvjed (Ursus arctos) je vrsta ograničeno prisutna u Europi, a nekoliko malih populacija se smatra ugroženima. Vrsta može biti zahvaćena nizom nametnika. Istražili smo prisutnost i učestalost želučano-crijevnih nametnika u slobodne populacije medvjeda u Hrvatskoj. Prikupljena su i pregledana 94 uzorka izmeta medvjeda s različitih područja Primorsko-goranske, Karlovačke i Ličko-senjske županije. Ustanovljena su tri roda nematoda: Baylisascaris spp., Ancylostoma spp. i Syngamus spp. te tri roda enteropatogenih protozoa: Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp. i Giardia spp. Nisu nađena jaja cestoda, trematoda niti akantocefala. Naši rezultati upozoravaju na prisutnost Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp., Baylisascaris transfuga i Ancylostoma spp. u slobodnih medvjeda u Hrvatskoj i potencijalnu opasnost njihova prenošenja na ljude i domaće životinje. Ovo je prvi nalaz infekcije rodom Giardia sp. u medvjeda u Hrvatskoj.
Rod Baylisascaris je parazit divljih životinja koji može izazvati teški sindrom migrirajuće ličinke (larva migrans) u netipičnim nosiocima, odnosno u približno 100 vrsta ptica i sisavaca uključujući i ljude. Vrsta Baylisascaris transfuga opisana je u medvjeda, a osim laboratorijskih pokusa, malo je poznato o njezinoj sposobnosti da zarazi druge nositelje. Ta se vrsta tradicionalno mogla identificirati mikroskopskom pretragom ili na osnovi makroskopske građe odraslih nametnika nađenih pri razudbi ili jajašaca iz izmeta. Te metode su vremenski vrlo zahtjevne, a za njihovu izvedbu traži se iskustvo laboratorijskog osoblja. U ovom je radu opisana specifična lančana reakcija polimerazom za dokaz parazita izravno u uzorku materijala prirodno invadiranih medvjeda bez potrebe za prethodnu flotaciju. Upotrebom jajašaca i adulta vrste B. transfuga prikupljenih u Hrvatskoj prvo smo razvili PCR za dokaz „internal transcribed spacer“ (ITS-2) područja ribosomske DNA, a potom je primijenili za pretragu uzoraka medvjeđeg izmeta obogaćenog poznatim brojem jajašaca vrste B. transfuga. Razvijena metoda omogućava dokazivanje minimalno dva Baylisascaris jajašca u 25 mg fekalnog materijala, a to otvara velike dijagnostičke mogućnosti za procjenu učestalosti nametnika u populaciji slobodnih medvjeda.
