Prevalence and Genetic Diversity of Avian Haemosporidian Parasites in Southern Iran

Abstract

Avian haemosporidians are widespread and diverse and are classified in the genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon, and Fallisia. These species are known to cause haemosporidiosis and decreased fitness of their hosts. Despite the high diversity of habitats and animal species in Iran, only few studies have addressed avian haemosporidians in this geographic area. This study was performed in the south and southeast of Iran during the bird breeding seasons in 2017 and 2018, with the aim to partly fill in this gap. Blood samples of 237 passerine birds belonging to 41 species and 20 families were collected. Parasite infections were identified using a nested PCR protocol targeting a 479-base-pair fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) gene of Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon species. The overall prevalence of haemosporidian parasites was 51.1%, and 55 different lineages were identified, of which 15 cytb lineages were new globally. The lineages of Haemoproteus predominated (63.6% of all detected lineages), followed by Leucocytozoon and Plasmodium. Nineteen new host records of haemosporidian cytb lineages were identified, and the majority of them were found in resident bird species, indicating local transmission. Thirteen co-infections (9.8% of infected individuals) of Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon parasites in seven host species were observed. This study shows the presence of active local transmission of parasites to resident bird species in the southeast of Iran and contributes to the knowledge on haemosporidian parasite biodiversity in this poorly studied region of the world.

Prevalence and New Host Records of Avian Blood Parasites in Songbirds from the West of Iran: Insights into Haemosporidian Infections and the Impact of Humidity

“…For example, in Bulgaria, songbirds exhibited an infection rate of 58.04% [8], while in Austria, the rate was 43.7% [9]. Similar studies conducted in Iran reported a prevalence of haemosporidian infections of 35.75% in northern regions [10] and 51.1% 2 in southern parts of Iran [11]. The prevalence and transmission of blood parasites depend on factors such as vector presence and bird population density [12].…”

Molecular Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Avian Haemosporidian Parasites in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) of Western Iran

“…Oak ( Quercus ) forest, covering most of Zagros, provides a good habitat for wild birds. Climatically, the western region is warmer than the eastern region, with hot summers and moderate winters, and has better conditions for the propagation of arthropod vectors (Ghaemitalab et al 2021).…”

“…3). PADOM05 was the most frequent lineage isolated from House Sparrows in Iran (Nourani et al 2018; Ghaemitalab et al 2021). Some Haemoproteus spp.…”

“…(0-43.2%) and a very low prevalence (~2%) of Plasmodium spp. in House Sparrows of Iran (Nourani et al 2017(Nourani et al , 2018Ghaemitalab et al 2021) and other parts of the world (Valki ūnas et al 2006b;Marzal et al 2011). However, the rate of infection was markedly varied among species of passerines (Nourani et al 2017).…”

“…To explain such a prevalence variation, the presence and abundance of arthropod vectors in the study area should be considered (Doussang et al 2019). The relatively high prevalence (32.2%) of haemosporidians in the much hotter southern Zagros has been attributed to the abundance of vectors (Ghaemitalab et al 2021 Both Haemoproteus spp. lineages in this study (PADOM41 and PAHIS1) were most similar to lineages from Passeriformes (Fig.…”