Angelou Athanasios, Latrofa Maria Stefania, Annoscia Giada, Symeonidou Isaia, Theodoridis Alexandros, Polizopoulou Zoe S, Otranto Domenico, Papadopoulos Elias
Laboratory of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, PO Box: 393, University Campus, GR 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari, Italy.
Parasitol Res. 2020 Oct;119(10):3391-3400. doi: 10.1007/s00436-020-06784-3. Epub 2020 Jun 30.
Filarioids of the genus Cercopithifilaria (Spirurida, Onchocercidae) are parasites of wild and domestic animals in tropical and subtropical regions being transmitted by ixodid ticks. Though this filarioid species have been studied in canine and tick populations in Europe, data on their species diversity and geographical distribution in Greece is scant. Thus, the aims of this study were to investigate the presence of Cercopithifilaria spp. in dogs and ticks across Greece and to assess the possible risk factors. A total of 500 skin biopsies were collected from dogs, while 508 ticks were collected from 180 infested animals and examined. Sediments from skin biopsies were microscopically screened for detection of dermal microfilaria (mfs). Skin samples (n = 115) and tick specimens (n = 153) were molecularly subjected by PCR. Overall, 70 samples (14%) scored positive for mfs. Specifically, 68 samples (13.6%) were positive for Cercopithifilaria bainae and two (0.4%) were co-infected with C. bainae and Cercopithifilaria sp. II. Molecular analyses revealed that all sequences obtained belong to C. bainae. Haplotype I was the most frequent (92.6%), followed by haplotype XVIII (3%) and haplotypes II and IX (1.5%). Three new haplotypes of C. bainae, named XIX, XX, and XXI, were also identified. Among the risk factors examined, habitat, dog use, body weight, tick infestation history, and the use of acaricides were associated with the presence of C. bainae. The estimated prevalence of Cercopithifilaria spp. demonstrates that these filarioids are common in dogs and ticks in Greece. Finally, the identification of 7 haplotypes for C. bainae confirms their genetic variability.
长尾猴丝虫属（圆线虫目，盘尾丝虫科）的丝状线虫是热带和亚热带地区野生动物和家畜的寄生虫，由硬蜱传播。尽管在欧洲的犬类和蜱虫种群中对这种丝状线虫物种进行了研究，但关于它们在希腊的物种多样性和地理分布的数据却很少。因此，本研究的目的是调查希腊各地犬类和蜱虫中长尾猴丝虫属物种的存在情况，并评估可能的风险因素。共从犬类身上采集了500份皮肤活检样本，同时从180只受蜱虫感染的动物身上采集了508只蜱虫并进行检查。对皮肤活检样本的沉淀物进行显微镜筛查，以检测皮肤微丝蚴（mfs）。对115份皮肤样本和153份蜱虫标本进行了PCR分子检测。总体而言，70份样本（14%）的mfs检测呈阳性。具体来说，68份样本（13.6%）的拜氏长尾猴丝虫检测呈阳性，两份样本（0.4%）同时感染了拜氏长尾猴丝虫和丝虫属物种II。分子分析表明，获得的所有序列均属于拜氏长尾猴丝虫。单倍型I最为常见（92.6%），其次是单倍型XVIII（3%）以及单倍型II和IX（1.5%）。还鉴定出了拜氏长尾猴丝虫的三种新单倍型，分别命名为XIX、XX和XXI。在所检查的风险因素中，栖息地、犬类用途、体重、蜱虫感染史以及杀螨剂的使用与拜氏长尾猴丝虫的存在有关。长尾猴丝虫属物种的估计流行率表明，这些丝状线虫在希腊的犬类和蜱虫中很常见。最后，拜氏长尾猴丝虫7种单倍型的鉴定证实了它们的遗传变异性。
