Genotyping of Cryptosporidium spp. from free-living wild birds from Brazil

Abstract

In wild and domestic birds, cryptosporidiosis is often associated with infections by Cryptosporidium galli, Cryptosporidium baileyi and Cryptosporidium meleagridis. In addition to these species, a number of avian Cryptosporidium species yet to be fully characterized are commonly found among exotic and wild avian isolates. The present study aimed to detect and identify samples of Cryptosporidium spp. from free-living wild birds, in order to contribute to the knowledge of the variability of this parasite in the free-living population of Brazil. Stool samples were collected from 242 birds, with the following proportions of individuals: 50 Emberizidae (20.7%), 112 Psittacidae (46.3%), 44 Cardinalidae (18.2%), 12 Turdidae (5.0%), eight Ramphastidae (3.3%), seven Icteridae (2.9%), three Estrilididae (1.2%), two Contigidae (0.8%), two Thraupidae (0.8%) and two Fringilidae (0.8%). Among the 242 fecal samples from wild birds, 16 (6.6%) were positive for the presence of oocysts of Cryptosporidium. Molecular characterization of the 16 samples of Cryptosporidium, were performed with phylogenetic reconstructions employing 292 positions of 18S rDNA. None of the samples of birds was characterized as C. meleagridis. C. galli was identified in one rufous-bellied thrush (Turdus rufiventris), five green-winged saltators (Saltator similis), one slate-coloured seedeater (Sporophila schistacea), one goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and three saffron finches (Sicalis flaveola). One goldfinch isolate, one buffy-fronted seedeater (Sporophila frontalis), one red-cowled cardinal (Paroaria dominicana) and one other saffron finch (S. flaveola) were identified as C. baileyi. Avian genotype II was found in an isolate from a white-eyed parakeet (Aratinga leucophthalma). Clinical symptoms of cryptosporidiosis in birds have already been described and the number of wild birds which were shedding parasites was high. Therefore, further epidemiological research and disease surveillance of birds in the wild is warranted.

Infecção natural de pombos (Columba livia) por Cryptosporidium spp

“…No Brasil, a investigação do Cryptosporidium spp. na classe das aves tem sido conduzido por vários autores (Cardozo et al, 2005;Huber et al, 2007;Oliveira et al, 2008;Gomes et al, 2009;Nakamura et al, 2009;Silva et al, 2010;Sevá et al, 2011;Holsback et al, 2013;Nakamura et al, 2014;Cunha et al, 2016), porém nenhum estudo até o momento utilizou o hospedeiro pombo.…”

Occurrence of Cryptosporidium spp. in wild animals living in the Cascavel city park, Paraná, Brazil

“…Sevá et al (2011) analyzed feces of 242 wild birds in São Paulo, Brazil and found 6.6% of positive samples for Cryptosporidium sp., a number lower than what was found in this study. The highest positivity frequencies found in our study may be due to the form of collection, which was made in pool of collective places, wherein the ideal, according to Qi et al (2011) would make the individual collection to know actual prevalence.…”

Detection and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. in captive canaries (Serinus canaria) using different diagnostic methods

“…In Brazil, C. avium, C. baileyi, C. meleagridis, C. parvum, the avian genotypes I, II and III and the duck genotype were reported to occur in fecal samples of domestic and wild birds (MEIRELES & FIGUEIREDO, 1992;SANTOS et al, 2005;MEIRELES et al, 2006;HUBER et al, 2007;NAKAMURA et al, 2009NAKAMURA et al, , 2014SEVÁ et al, 2011;NARDI, 2015;CUNHA et al, 2017).…”

“…Most epidemiological studies on avian cryptosporidiosis were performed using convenience sampling with fecal samples from several bird species (NG et al, 2006;NAKAMURA et al, 2009, SEVÁ et al, 2011BAMAIYI et al, 2013;REBOREDO-FERNÁNDEZ et al, 2015).…”