Survey of Baylisascaris spp. in captive striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in some European areas

Abstract

Skunks are popular carnivore species kept both in zoological institutions and in households where they are hand raised as exotic pets. These small carnivores are considered the main definitive hosts of the roundworm Baylisascaris columnaris. The purpose of this survey was to investigate the occurrence of Baylisascaris spp. in striped skunks kept as pets or in private zoo collections in some European areas. Copromicroscopic data from two laboratories, one in Italy and one in Germany, were used. A total of 60 animals were selected. Samples came from Germany (n = 30), Italy (n = 23), United Kingdom (n = 5), Austria (n = 1), and the Netherlands (n = 1). Twenty-eight animals were certainly kept as pets in private households in Italy and the UK. Fifteen out of 60 animals (25%) were positive for Baylisascaris spp. Molecular identification of adult parasites was performed in ten of those animals, revealing B. columnaris in all cases. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first survey of Baylisascaris spp. in captive skunks in Europe.

Partial molecular characterization of the mitochondrial genome of Baylisascaris columnaris and prevalence of infection in a wild population of Striped skunks

“…resulted in partial sequences for B. columnaris Cox1 (413 bp) and Cox2 (483 bp) genes (Franssen et al., 2013). The availability of these sequences has facilitated the molecular identification of these parasites for us as well as other researchers (d'Ovidio et al., 2017). …”

“…A recent study on the prevalence of B. columnaris in captive European skunks found that ∼25% of skunks tested were infected with B. columnaris (d'Ovidio et al., 2017). Data indicates that in our study area there is a much higher infection rate of Striped skunks than reported in studies of captive Striped skunks in Europe.…”

“…In contrast to the relative abundance of studies on B. procyonis , little is known of its closest relative, B. columnaris . Previous research using copromicroscopic detection has shown B. columnaris infection prevalence of ∼25% in a population of Eastern Spotted skunks ( Spilogale putorius ) (Lesmeister et al., 2008) and 25% prevalence in captive Striped skunks in Europe (d'Ovidio et al., 2017). To our knowledge, the prevalence of B. columnaris in wild populations of Striped skunks has not previously been reported.…”

Beyond the raccoon roundworm: The natural history of non-raccoon Baylisascaris species in the New World

“…Worm burdens were not determined, but in one study, eggs per gram of feces (EPG) ranged from 150 to 14,500 (mean of 4713 EPG) (d'Ovidio et al., 2016). This is relatively low compared to natural B. procyonis infections, which may average 26,000 EPG (Kazacos, 2016).…”

“…Contemporary surveys on B. columnaris are generally lacking; more surveillance is needed to accurately characterize the distribution and eco-epidemiology of this parasite because most recent reports are from captive pet skunks ( d’Ovidio et al., 2016 ). From published reports, B. columnaris appears to be well-established in the northeast, upper Midwest, and prairie regions of the United States and Canada, apparently uncommon in arid regions of the west and southwest ( Table 2 ).…”