Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) as a potential link in the epidemiological chain mycoses originating from water reservoirs

Abstract

Swabs sampled from beaks and cloaca of 123 live Mallard ducks (also referred to as wild ducks) were subjected to routine mycological diagnostics.

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) staying in urban environments have higher levels of microfungi biota diversity than do birds from non-urban areas

“…Astorga et al, 1994;Dynowska and Kisicka, 2005a;Cafarchia et al, 2006;Georgopoulou and Tsiouris, 2008;Dynowska et al, 2013a,b;Gogu-Bogdan et al, 2014). Many species of wild birds live or stay temporarily in urban and suburban areas in close vicinity to humans, constituting a very rich reservoir of potentially pathogenic fungi (Dynowska et al, 2013a). Moreover, migratory birds have very high zoonotic potential and are able to disperse fungi over a long distance (Hub alek, 2004;Foti et al, 2011;Gogu-Bogdan et al, 2014).…”

Epidemiological Importance of Yeasts Isolated from the Beak and Cloaca of Healthy Charadriiformes

“…Stage II of transmission involves multiplication of fungi and/or survival in the environment. During stage III, transmission and penetration into a new host take place -this may be another bird or a human (14).…”

“…Modern medicine -in search for the ecological background of a number of diseases -increasingly often conducts biomonitoring studies (1, 9) to analyse not only the diversity and prevalence of aetiological factors, but also their reservoirs and vectors (4,13,14). The latter are the basis for evaluating epidemiological hazards, which are particularly important in the case of mycoses, belonging as they do to the group of environmentally-mediated diseases (13,14,25).…”

“…The latter are the basis for evaluating epidemiological hazards, which are particularly important in the case of mycoses, belonging as they do to the group of environmentally-mediated diseases (13,14,25).…”

“…Chromogenic media (CHROMagar Candida, CHROMagar, France) and API-tests (API 20°C, and API 20°C AUX, BioMérieux, France) were used for biochemical analyses (14).…”