Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinaria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
Vet Parasitol. 2012 Feb 10;183(3-4):377-81. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.07.024. Epub 2011 Jul 23.
Toxoplasma gondii infections are prevalent in many avian species and can cause mortality in some bird hosts. Although T. gondii has been isolated from various species of birds, the role of many different species of wild birds in the epidemiology of T. gondii remains unknown. Neospora caninum, a closely related parasite to T. gondii, has been recently confirmed to infect domestic chickens and wild birds such as house sparrows (Passer domesticus). The present study reports the presence of T. gondii and N. caninum DNA by PCR in brain tissues of 14 species of wild birds from Spain. From a total of 200 samples analyzed, 12 samples (6%) were positive for T. gondii [5 Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius), 5 magpies (Pica pica), 1 black kite (Milvus migrans) and 1 Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus)], while 3 samples (1.5%) were positive for N. caninum [2 magpies and 1 common buzzard (Buteo buteo)]. This is the first report of detection of T. gondii in magpies, griffon vulture and black kite and of N. caninum in common buzzard and magpies, extending the list of natural intermediate hosts for T. gondii and N. caninum infections to these species.
刚地弓形虫感染在许多禽类中普遍存在，并可导致一些鸟类宿主死亡。虽然已经从各种鸟类中分离出刚地弓形虫，但许多不同种类的野生鸟类在刚地弓形虫流行病学中的作用仍然未知。与刚地弓形虫密切相关的寄生虫新孢子虫最近已被证实可感染家鸡和野鸟，如家麻雀（Passer domesticus）。本研究报告了通过 PCR 在来自西班牙的 14 种野生鸟类的脑组织中检测到刚地弓形虫和新孢子虫 DNA。在总共分析的 200 个样本中，有 12 个样本（6%）对刚地弓形虫呈阳性[5 只欧亚喜鹊（Garrulus glandarius）、5 只喜鹊（Pica pica）、1 只黑鸢（Milvus migrans）和 1 只秃鹫（Gyps fulvus）]，而 3 个样本（1.5%）对新孢子虫呈阳性[2 只喜鹊和 1 只普通鹰（Buteo buteo）]。这是首次在喜鹊、秃鹫和黑鸢中检测到刚地弓形虫，以及在普通鹰和喜鹊中检测到新孢子虫，这将刚地弓形虫和新孢子虫感染的天然中间宿主的种类扩展到这些物种。
