Survey of Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella spp. in hedgehogs living in proximity to urban areas in the Czech Republic

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62157124%3A16170%2F19%3A43876301" target="_blank" >RIV/62157124:16170/19:43876301 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-06203-8" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-06203-8</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-06203-8" target="_blank" >10.1007/s00436-018-06203-8</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Survey of Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella spp. in hedgehogs living in proximity to urban areas in the Czech Republic

Original language description

Hedgehogs (Mammalia: Erinaceidae) are omnivorous nocturnal animals typically living in anthropogenic areas. They may be suitable as sentinels for a wide range of zoonotic infections. Only a few studies have investigated hedgehogs (and then as representative wildlife species) to establish their role in the life cycle of such tissue parasites with zoonotic potential as Toxoplasma gondii or Trichinella spp. Working with frozen hedgehog cadavers, we tested for these parasites using T. gondii DNA-specific magnetic capture isolation plus polymerase chain reaction and Trichinella spp. digestion assay. All of 50 examined hedgehogs were negative for Trichinella spp. larvae in their muscles, but brain tissue from 5 out of 26 Erinaceus europaeus (19.2%) and 4 out of 24 E. roumanicus (16.6%) tested positive for T. gondii DNA. Frequency of T. gondii for both hedgehog species was equal, as was distribution between males and females and across age categories. Although a few studies have suggested the possibility of Trichinella spp. infection in hedgehogs, the zero prevalence in the tested hedgehogs is not surprising in view of the generally low prevalence of Trichinella spp. in Central Europe. Our results show that hedgehogs are susceptible to infection by T. gondii and can be used as indicator wildlife animal species in anthropogenic ecosystems.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

40301 - Veterinary science

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Parasitology Research

ISSN

0932-0113

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

118

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

4

Pages from-to

711-714

UT code for WoS article

000456975700037

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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