Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.
Parasitol Res. 2012 Feb;110(2):913-23. doi: 10.1007/s00436-011-2577-z. Epub 2011 Aug 14.
Avian malaria is caused by intracellular mosquito-transmitted protist parasites in the order Haemosporida, genus Plasmodium. Although Plasmodium species have been diagnosed as causing death in several threatened species in New Zealand, little is known about their ecology and epidemiology. In this study, we examined the presence, microscopic characterization and sequence homology of Plasmodium spp. isolates collected from a small number of New Zealand introduced, native and endemic bird species. We identified 14 Plasmodium spp. isolates from 90 blood or tissue samples. The host range included four species of passerines (two endemic, one native, one introduced), one species of endemic pigeon and two species of endemic kiwi. The isolates were associated into at least four distinct clusters including Plasmodium (Huffia) elongatum, a subgroup of Plasmodium elongatum, Plasmodium relictum and Plasmodium (Noyvella) spp. The infected birds presented a low level of peripheral parasitemia consistent with chronic infection (11/15 blood smears examined). In addition, we report death due to overwhelming parasitemia in a blackbird, a great spotted kiwi and a hihi. These deaths were attributed to infections with either Plasmodium spp. lineage LINN1 or P. relictum lineage GRW4. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first published report of Plasmodium spp. infection in great spotted and brown kiwi, kereru and kokako. Currently, we are only able to speculate on the origin of these 14 isolates but consideration must be made as to the impact they may have on threatened endemic species, particularly due to the examples of mortality.
禽疟是由疟原虫属 Haemosporida 目中的蚊媒原生动物寄生虫引起的。尽管已经诊断出几种疟原虫物种会导致新西兰几种受威胁物种死亡，但对其生态学和流行病学知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们检查了从少量新西兰引入、本地和特有鸟类物种中收集的疟原虫属分离物的存在、微观特征和序列同源性。我们从 90 份血液或组织样本中鉴定出 14 种疟原虫属分离物。宿主范围包括四种雀形目鸟类（两种特有，一种本地，一种引入）、一种特有鸽子和两种特有几维鸟。这些分离物被分为至少四个不同的群，包括疟原虫（Huffia） elongatum、 elongatum 疟原虫的一个亚群、疟原虫 relictum 和疟原虫（Noyvella）属。受感染的鸟类呈现出低水平的外周寄生虫血症，与慢性感染一致（检查了 15 张血涂片中的 11 张）。此外，我们报告了由于过度寄生虫血症导致一只黑鸟、一只大斑点几维鸟和一只希希死亡。这些死亡归因于感染了 Plasmodium spp. LINN1 谱系或 P. relictum 谱系 GRW4。据作者所知，这是首次报道 Plasmodium spp. 在大斑点几维鸟、棕色几维鸟、kereru 和 kokako 中的感染。目前，我们只能推测这 14 个分离物的起源，但必须考虑到它们可能对受威胁的特有物种产生的影响，特别是由于死亡的例子。
