Hornok Sándor, Pitó Andor, Szekeres Sándor, Takács Nóra, Bárdos Krisztina, Keve Gergő, Wang Yuanzhi, Ózsvári László
Department of Parasitology and Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.
HUN-REN-UVMB Climate Change: New Blood-Sucking Parasites and Vector-Borne Pathogens Research Group, Budapest, Hungary.
Parasitol Res. 2025 Jul 2;124(7):76. doi: 10.1007/s00436-025-08522-z.
Wild living birds that are infected with protozoan parasites may pose a risk of transmitting these to domestic fowl. While avian trichomonads are relatively often studied in this context, infection with acanthamoebae was only reported in a few terrestrial bird species. Taken together, the epidemiological role of wetland-associated bird species has been infrequently examined simultaneously for the presence of both groups of the above protozoan parasites. This study was initiated in the southern part of Central Europe, Hungary, to assess the role of waterfowl as carriers of trichomonads and acanthamoebae, involving 189 birds of 21 species from five avian orders sampled across three seasons (autumn, winter, spring). From these birds, cloacal swabs were collected and analyzed with molecular methods. Tetratrichomonas gallinarum (represented by three genetic variants) was detected in two synanthropic bird species, the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and the Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), as well as a new Tetratrichomonas sp. in Ruffs (Calidris pugnax) and a Simplicimonas sp. in a Mallard. In addition, five Acanthamoeba spp., representing genogroups T4, T2, and T13, were demonstrated from Mute Swans and a Mallard exclusively in the autumn. Identical genotypes of trichomonads were only found in the same host species, even in multiple cases, while all five detected Acanthamoeba variants were represented by a single genotype per host, all of which occurred at the same location. These molecular data suggest that synanthropic waterfowl may harbor a broad spectrum of hind gut trichomonads and acanthamoebae, some of which may contaminate the environment and can be potentially acquired by domestic poultry and other vertebrates living nearby. Findings of the present study support that natural water surfaces and swimming may also entail infection with non-thermophilic opportunistic amoebae, and waterfowl should be added to the potential sources of such cases. This is particularly relevant to places where pastures are flooded with lake water.
感染原生动物寄生虫的野生鸟类可能会将这些寄生虫传播给家禽。虽然禽毛滴虫在这种情况下相对经常被研究，但棘阿米巴感染仅在少数陆地鸟类物种中被报道。总体而言，湿地相关鸟类物种作为上述两类原生动物寄生虫携带者的流行病学作用很少同时进行研究。本研究在中欧南部的匈牙利开展，旨在评估水禽作为毛滴虫和棘阿米巴携带者的作用，涉及在三个季节（秋季、冬季、春季）对来自五个鸟类目、21个物种的189只鸟类进行采样。从这些鸟类中采集泄殖腔拭子，并采用分子方法进行分析。在两种伴人鸟类物种绿头鸭（Anas platyrhynchos）和疣鼻天鹅（Cygnus olor）中检测到鸡四毛滴虫（由三种基因变体代表），在流苏鹬（Calidris pugnax）中检测到一种新的四毛滴虫属物种，在一只绿头鸭中检测到一种简单单胞菌属物种。此外，仅在秋季从疣鼻天鹅和一只绿头鸭中检测到代表基因群T4、T2和T13的五种棘阿米巴属物种。即使在多个案例中，相同宿主物种中仅发现相同基因型的毛滴虫，而所有检测到的五种棘阿米巴变体在每个宿主中均由单一基因型代表，所有这些都发生在同一地点。这些分子数据表明，伴人水禽可能携带多种后肠毛滴虫和棘阿米巴，其中一些可能污染环境，并可能被附近的家禽和其他脊椎动物感染。本研究结果支持天然水面和游泳也可能导致非嗜热机会性阿米巴感染，水禽应被视为此类病例的潜在来源之一。这在湖水淹没牧场的地方尤为重要。
