Sgroi Giovanni, Manoj Ranju Ravindran Santhakumar, Napoli Ettore, D'Alessio Nicola, Lucibelli Maria Gabriella, de Martinis Claudio, De Carlo Esterina, Khademi Peyman, Sazmand Alireza, Veneziano Vincenzo
Animal Health Department, Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of southern Italy, 2 Via della Salute, 80055 Portici, Naples, Italy.
Population Medicine and Diagnostics Department, Cornell University, 616 Thurston Avenue, 14853 Ithaca, NY, USA.
Parasite Epidemiol Control. 2024 Dec 31;28:e00406. doi: 10.1016/j.parepi.2024.e00406. eCollection 2025 Feb.
The beech marten () is a small-size mustelid endangered according to the IUCN Red List. Despite the plethora of parasites potentially affecting its population decline, subcutaneous filarioids are occasionally reported in martens and their competent arthropod vectors are to date unknown. Therefore, from January 2023 to August 2024, this study investigated the presence of subcutaneous filarioids and ectoparasites of road-killed beech martens ( = 7) from southwestern Italy. One marten (14.3 %, 95 % CI: 2.6-51.3) was massively infected with subcutaneous filarioids, i.e., 18 specimens (11 males and 7 females) in the dorso-posterior region, where mild redness and sloughing of skin were found. All the filarioids were identified as via morphology and Sanger sequencing of the subunit I (1) gene that revealed a single sequence type (GenBank accession number PQ034642) having 100 % nucleotide identity with those available in the literature. The phylogenetic analysis displayed a bootstrap value of 100 % between the 1 sequences of of this study and those of beech martens from Italy and European minks from Spain. Haemolymph, gut, and salivary glands of the ticks collected from the infected marten scored negative for larvae and DNA by dissection and PCR, respectively. This study reported for the first time subcutaneous filariosis in southwestern Italy, previously outlined only in northern and southeastern areas, indicating the circulation of this poorly investigated filarioid. Knowledge of the competent vectors involved in the biological cycle of requires further experimental studies.
黄腹鼬（Mustela martes）是一种小型鼬科动物，根据国际自然保护联盟（IUCN）红色名录被列为濒危物种。尽管有大量寄生虫可能影响其种群数量下降，但皮下丝状虫偶尔会在黄腹鼬中被报道，而其有效的节肢动物传播媒介至今仍不为人知。因此，从2023年1月至2024年8月，本研究调查了意大利西南部道路上死亡的黄腹鼬（n = 7）皮下丝状虫和体外寄生虫的存在情况。一只黄腹鼬（14.3%，95%置信区间：2.6 - 51.3）被皮下丝状虫大量感染，即在背后部区域有18个标本（11只雄性和7只雌性），在该区域发现皮肤轻度发红和脱落。所有丝状虫通过形态学和亚基I（1）基因的桑格测序被鉴定为，结果显示单一序列类型（GenBank登录号PQ034642）与文献中可用的序列具有100%的核苷酸同一性。系统发育分析显示，本研究中的序列与来自意大利的黄腹鼬和来自西班牙的欧洲水貂的序列之间的自展值为100%。从受感染的黄腹鼬身上采集的蜱的血淋巴、肠道和唾液腺，分别通过解剖和PCR检测幼虫和DNA均为阴性。本研究首次报道了意大利西南部的皮下丝虫病，此前仅在北部和东南部地区有概述，表明这种研究较少的丝状虫在传播。了解参与生物循环的有效传播媒介需要进一步的实验研究。
