Youssefi Mohammad Reza, Rahimi Mohammad Taghi, Halajian Ali, Moosapour Ali Asghar, Nikzad Reza, Nikzad Mohammad, Ramezanpour Shahab, Ebrahimpour Soheil
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran.
Department of Biodiversity (Zoology), University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa.
Iran J Parasitol. 2013 Oct;8(4):645-50.
Recently there is a high tendency among exotic pet owners for keeping hedgehogs. This mammal can transfer some significant zoonotic pathogens to human. Hence, the present study was conducted for the first time to prepare a list of helminth parasites of hedgehogs (Erinaceus concolor) in North of Iran.
Ten (four males and six females) road killed hedgehogs were collected during April to January 2011 in rural areas of Babol city, Mazandaran province, Iran. All of internal organs were scrutinized for helminth burden. The extracted specimens were fixed and preserved in 70% ethanol and then cleared in Lacto-phenol solution. Helminth identification was carried out according to available systematic keys.
All the examined hedgehogs (100%) were infected with parasitic helminth as following: two hedgehogs (20%) were infected with Crenosoma striatum, four hedgehogs (40%) harbored Physaloptera clausa, one (10%) host had Hymenolepis erinacei and three (30%) of them were infected with Nephridiacanthus major.
This is noteworthy that the current survey is the first report of helminth parasites fauna of Eastern European Hedgehog in Iran. Since, this is the first such investigation in our country, more researches are required to perform on unexplored areas of Iran in order to increase our knowledge regarding hedgehog parasitic diseases.
近来，外来宠物饲养者中饲养刺猬的倾向很高。这种哺乳动物可将一些重要的人畜共患病原体传播给人类。因此，本研究首次开展，旨在列出伊朗北部刺猬（中东刺猬）体内的蠕虫寄生虫清单。
2011年4月至1月期间，在伊朗马赞德兰省巴博勒市农村地区收集了10只（4只雄性和6只雌性）因道路交通事故死亡的刺猬。检查所有内脏器官的蠕虫感染情况。提取的标本固定并保存在70%乙醇中，然后在乳酸酚溶液中透明处理。根据现有的分类检索表进行蠕虫鉴定。
所有检查的刺猬（100%）均感染了寄生蠕虫，情况如下：2只刺猬（20%）感染了纹颈异刺线虫，4只刺猬（40%）体内有克氏泡翼线虫，1只刺猬（10%）宿主感染了刺猬膜壳绦虫，3只刺猬（30%）感染了大型肾刺线虫。
值得注意的是，本次调查是伊朗关于东欧刺猬蠕虫寄生虫区系的首次报告。由于这是我国首次进行此类调查，因此需要对伊朗未探索地区开展更多研究，以增加我们对刺猬寄生虫病的了解。
