Markakis Grigorios, Palinauskas Vaidas, Aželytė Justė, Symeonidou Isaia, Sutkaitytė Viltė, Gelasakis Athanasios I, Komnenou Anastasia, Papadopoulos Elias
School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Nature Research Centre, Akademijos2, 09412, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Parasitol Res. 2025 Jan 7;124(1):2. doi: 10.1007/s00436-024-08445-1.
Haemosporidians, a group of vector-borne parasites that parasitize the blood cells and internal organs of various animal species, are reported to cause severe pathology in raptors. Species belonging to the genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon are the ones of greatest wildlife importance. The common buzzard (Buteo buteo) and the Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) are the most numerous raptor species in Europe. Reliable data is lacking for many raptor species in Greece. The aim of this study was to assess, for the first time, the prevalence and geographical distribution of haemosporidian infection (mainly Leucocytozoon and Plasmodium) in these two avian species in Greece, in correlation with the risk factors of age and sex. In total, 62 common buzzards and 26 Eurasian sparrowhawks were included in this study, all being admitted for treatment at a Greek Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Blood samples were collected and microscopical analysis was performed after staining blood smears with Giemsa. DNA was extracted from each sample and a fraction of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was amplified by a nested PCR protocol. All positive samples were subjected to sequencing. Total prevalence of haemosporidian infection by morphological and molecular examination was 59% and 73.9%, respectively. Binary logistic regression was carried out. The most prevalent infection was by Leucocytozoon spp. Most of the samples had mixed infections. The isolated genetic lineages of Leucocytozoon spp. were BUBT2, BUBT3, MILVUS01, ACNI1, BUBO01 and MILANS04. The detected genetic lineages of Plasmodium spp. were TURDUS1, BT7 and DONANA02. A new genetic lineage, BUTBUT17, was also identified.
血孢子虫是一类通过媒介传播的寄生虫，寄生于各种动物物种的血细胞和内脏器官，据报道会在猛禽中引发严重病变。疟原虫属、血变原虫属和白细胞虫属的物种是对野生动物最为重要的种类。普通鵟（Buteo buteo）和欧亚雀鹰（Accipiter nisus）是欧洲数量最多的猛禽物种。希腊许多猛禽物种缺乏可靠数据。本研究的目的是首次评估希腊这两种鸟类中血孢子虫感染（主要是白细胞虫属和疟原虫属）的患病率和地理分布，并与年龄和性别的风险因素相关联。本研究共纳入62只普通鵟和26只欧亚雀鹰，它们均被送往希腊野生动物康复中心接受治疗。采集血样，用吉姆萨对血涂片染色后进行显微镜分析。从每个样本中提取DNA，并通过巢式PCR方案扩增线粒体细胞色素b基因的一部分。所有阳性样本均进行测序。通过形态学和分子检测，血孢子虫感染的总患病率分别为59%和73.9%。进行了二元逻辑回归分析。最常见的感染是由白细胞虫属引起的。大多数样本为混合感染。分离出的白细胞虫属遗传谱系为BUBT2、BUBT3、MILVUS01、ACNI1、BUBO01和MILANS04。检测到的疟原虫属遗传谱系为TURDUS1、BT7和DONANA02。还鉴定出一个新的遗传谱系BUTBUT17。
