Gazzonis Alessia Libera, Villa Luca, Lubian Emanuele, Ressegotti Sara, Grilli Guido, Raimondi Stefano, Zanzani Sergio Aurelio, Manfredi Maria Teresa
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, 26900 Lodi, Italy.
CRFS LIPU "La Fagiana", 20013 Pontevecchio di Magenta, Italy.
Microorganisms. 2021 Apr 1;9(4):736. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9040736.
and (Apicomplexa, Sarcocystidae) are protozoan parasites infecting a wide range of intermediate hosts worldwide, including birds. Raptors acquire the infections through the ingestion of both infected preys and oocysts in the environment suggesting they might be used as indicators of the spread of these pathogens. Here, we report an epidemiological survey with the aim of determining the prevalence of and infections in wild birds of prey, hospitalized in two Wildlife Recovery Centres (WRCs) in Northern Italy. Genomic DNA extracted from brain tissue samples was submitted to Real Time PCR targeting B1 and Nc5 genes. genotyping was then performed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis, targeting three polymorphic genes (GRA6, BTUB, and altSAG2). DNA was found in 35 (62.5%) out of 56 examined samples; concerning genotyping, it was possible to amplify at least one gene for 26 animals, and obtained sequences belonged to Type II. DNA was only detected in two (3.6%) common kestrels (), adding a new species to the list of suitable intermediate hosts for this pathogen. Data obtained in the present study thus confirmed the spread of both in wild bird of prey, endorsing the role of WRCs in the epidemiological surveillance of wildlife.
疟原虫（顶复门，肉孢子虫科）是原生动物寄生虫，在全球范围内感染包括鸟类在内的多种中间宿主。猛禽通过摄食受感染的猎物和环境中的卵囊而感染，这表明它们可能被用作这些病原体传播的指标。在此，我们报告一项流行病学调查，旨在确定意大利北部两个野生动物康复中心（WRC）收治的野生猛禽中疟原虫和新孢子虫感染的患病率。从脑组织样本中提取的基因组DNA被用于针对疟原虫B1和新孢子虫Nc5基因的实时PCR检测。然后通过多位点序列分型（MLST）分析对疟原虫进行基因分型，该分析针对三个多态性基因（GRA6、BTUB和altSAG2）。在56份检测样本中，有35份（62.5%）检测到疟原虫DNA；关于基因分型，26只动物中至少有一个基因能够扩增，获得的序列属于II型。仅在两只（3.6%）普通红隼中检测到新孢子虫DNA，这为该病原体的合适中间宿主名单增添了一个新物种。本研究获得的数据因此证实了疟原虫和新孢子虫在野生猛禽中的传播，支持了野生动物康复中心在野生动物流行病学监测中的作用。
