van Beest Floris M, Petersen Heidi H, Krogh Anne K H, Frederiksen Monica Lønborg, Schmidt Niels M, Hansson Sophia V
Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej, 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark.
Center for Diagnostics, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2023 May 11;21:143-152. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2023.05.002. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Parasites can exert a substantial influence on the ecology of wildlife populations by altering host condition. Our objectives were to estimate single and multiparasite-condition relationships for fallow deer () and red deer () in Denmark and to assess potential health effects along the parasite burden gradient. Fallow deer hosted on average two endoparasite taxa per individual (min = 0, max = 5) while red deer carried on average five parasite taxa per individual (min = 2, max = 9). Body condition of both deer species was negatively related to presence of ssp. eggs while body condition of red deer was positively related to antibodies of the protozoan . For the remaining parasite taxa (n = 12), we either found weak or no apparent association between infection and deer body condition or low prevalence levels restricted formal testing. Importantly, we detected a strong negative relationship between body condition and the sum of endoparasite taxa carried by individual hosts, a pattern that was evident in both deer species. We did not detect systemic inflammatory reactions, yet serology revealed reduced total protein and iron concentrations with increased parasite load in both deer species, likely due to maldigestion of forage or malabsorption of nutrients. Despite moderate sample sizes, our study highlights the importance of considering multiparasitism when assessing body condition impacts in deer populations. Moreover, we show how serum chemistry assays are a valuable diagnostic tool to detect subtle and sub-clinical health impacts of parasitism, even at low-level infestation.
寄生虫可通过改变宿主状况对野生动物种群的生态产生重大影响。我们的目标是估计丹麦黇鹿（）和马鹿（）的单一寄生虫与宿主状况关系以及多种寄生虫与宿主状况关系，并评估沿寄生虫负荷梯度的潜在健康影响。黇鹿个体平均感染两种体内寄生虫类群（最小值 = 0，最大值 = 5），而马鹿个体平均携带五种寄生虫类群（最小值 = 2，最大值 = 9）。两种鹿的身体状况均与亚种卵的存在呈负相关，而马鹿的身体状况与原生动物的抗体呈正相关。对于其余的寄生虫类群（n = 12），我们要么发现感染与鹿的身体状况之间存在微弱关联或无明显关联，要么由于感染率低而无法进行正式测试。重要的是，我们检测到个体宿主的身体状况与体内寄生虫类群总数之间存在强烈的负相关关系，这一模式在两种鹿中均很明显。我们未检测到全身性炎症反应，但血清学显示，两种鹿体内随着寄生虫负荷增加，总蛋白和铁浓度均降低，这可能是由于草料消化不良或营养吸收不良所致。尽管样本量适中，但我们的研究强调了在评估鹿群身体状况影响时考虑多重寄生虫感染的重要性。此外，我们展示了血清化学分析是一种有价值的诊断工具，即使在低水平感染时也能检测到寄生虫感染的细微和亚临床健康影响。
