Some internal parasites of reptiles in Alexandria Province,Egypt.

Abstract

For the time being, a growing number of exotic reptiles are kept as pets. Pet reptiles are often infected with parasites, some of which are potentially dangerous to humans. A total of 115 samples from reptile species (Wedge-Snouted skink, African Chameleon, Egg eating snake and Egyptian tortoise) were collected for examination. The results indicated that (48.7%) out of 115 infected with internal parasites .A wide range of internal parasites were detected including nematodes, cestodes and protozoa. Wedge-snouted skink showed the highest infection rate where it reached 82.3%, followed by African Chameleon (51.5%), Egg eating snake (23%) and Egyptian tortoise (22.7%). Various parasites were detected including Strongylid eggs, Spirurid eggs, Heterakid eggs, Oxyurid eggs, eggs of mites, Nyctotherus cysts, Cryptosporidium oocysts, Thelandros spp., Parapharyngodon spp., Raillietascarisvarani, Physaloptera tupinambae, Meteterakis saotomensis and Oochoristica spp.These results revealed that a routine parasitological examination should be done in such animals.

Molecular screening of Amblyomma species (Acari: Ixodidae) imported from African countries to Egypt, with the first report of Amblyomma latum from the ball python, Python regius (Squamata: Pythonidae)

“…In the USA, Amblyomma dissimile was identified for the first time from imported reptiles (Pietzsch et al 2006 ). Recently, there has been extensive trade of exotic reptiles, especially snakes as pets in Egypt (Satour and Dewir 2018 ; Jensen et al 2019 ). Herein, the first record is reported for the A. latum from an African Python imported to Egypt.…”