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Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany
BACKGROUND: Exotic reptiles such as tortoises, have become increasingly common domestic pets worldwide and are known to host different gastrointestinal parasites. Some of these parasites bear zoonotic potential. In the present survey, we parasitologically examined tortoise faecal samples (n = 1005)...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6006665/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29914556 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2936-z |
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author | Hallinger, Malek J. Taubert, Anja Hermosilla, Carlos Mutschmann, Frank |
author_facet | Hallinger, Malek J. Taubert, Anja Hermosilla, Carlos Mutschmann, Frank |
author_sort | Hallinger, Malek J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Exotic reptiles such as tortoises, have become increasingly common domestic pets worldwide and are known to host different gastrointestinal parasites. Some of these parasites bear zoonotic potential. In the present survey, we parasitologically examined tortoise faecal samples (n = 1005) from 19 different species held as pets in private German households and German zoological gardens. METHODS: Saline faecal smears were used to generate prevalence data for potentially health-compromising gastrointestinal parasites. In addition, we performed complete parasitological dissections of dead tortoises (n = 49) to estimate endoparasite burdens precisely. RESULTS: Analysed tortoise faecal samples contained a broad spectrum of endoparasites. We detected ten taxa of endoparasites; oxyurid nematodes (e.g. Tachygonetria spp.) were the most prevalent parasites in faecal samples (43.18%), followed by ascarids (Angusticaecum spp.) (0.01%), Hexamita spp. (0.007%), Balantidium spp. (0.007%), trichomonads (0.004%), Strongyloides spp. (0.003%), Entamoeba spp. (0.005%), Hartmanella spp. (0.001%), Blastocystis spp. (0.002%), heterakids (0.001%) and Trimitus spp. (0.001%). Additionally, we investigated dead tortoise individuals (n = 49; of 10 different species) for aetiological diagnosis and estimation of endoparasite burden. Of these individuals, 38 (77.6%) were infected with parasites and 14 (28.6%) of them died most probably due to severe parasitic infection. Oxyurid infections correlated positively with calcium deficiency and metabolic bone disease (MBD) as well as nephrosis/nephritis, mainly occurring in juvenile tortoises (< 5 years of age). CONCLUSIONS: The saline faecal smear technique proved to be efficient in detecting different metazoan and protozoan parasite stages in tortoise faeces. The prevalence of oxyurid infections was particularly high. In combination with pathological findings in clinical oxyuridosis obtained from necropsied animals, our findings call for further, detailed investigations on pathogenesis and immunology of oxyurids in pet reptiles. Coprological analyses for parasite detection should be mandatory before tortoises are transferred to a new owner, animal group, or public and private enclosures such as zoos. We advocate for regular health screenings in pet tortoises and, if parasitic infections are diagnosed, adequate medication or alternative hygiene management should be considered to improve and maintain individual and population health. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-018-2936-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6006665 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-60066652018-06-26 Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany Hallinger, Malek J. Taubert, Anja Hermosilla, Carlos Mutschmann, Frank Parasit Vectors Research BACKGROUND: Exotic reptiles such as tortoises, have become increasingly common domestic pets worldwide and are known to host different gastrointestinal parasites. Some of these parasites bear zoonotic potential. In the present survey, we parasitologically examined tortoise faecal samples (n = 1005) from 19 different species held as pets in private German households and German zoological gardens. METHODS: Saline faecal smears were used to generate prevalence data for potentially health-compromising gastrointestinal parasites. In addition, we performed complete parasitological dissections of dead tortoises (n = 49) to estimate endoparasite burdens precisely. RESULTS: Analysed tortoise faecal samples contained a broad spectrum of endoparasites. We detected ten taxa of endoparasites; oxyurid nematodes (e.g. Tachygonetria spp.) were the most prevalent parasites in faecal samples (43.18%), followed by ascarids (Angusticaecum spp.) (0.01%), Hexamita spp. (0.007%), Balantidium spp. (0.007%), trichomonads (0.004%), Strongyloides spp. (0.003%), Entamoeba spp. (0.005%), Hartmanella spp. (0.001%), Blastocystis spp. (0.002%), heterakids (0.001%) and Trimitus spp. (0.001%). Additionally, we investigated dead tortoise individuals (n = 49; of 10 different species) for aetiological diagnosis and estimation of endoparasite burden. Of these individuals, 38 (77.6%) were infected with parasites and 14 (28.6%) of them died most probably due to severe parasitic infection. Oxyurid infections correlated positively with calcium deficiency and metabolic bone disease (MBD) as well as nephrosis/nephritis, mainly occurring in juvenile tortoises (< 5 years of age). CONCLUSIONS: The saline faecal smear technique proved to be efficient in detecting different metazoan and protozoan parasite stages in tortoise faeces. The prevalence of oxyurid infections was particularly high. In combination with pathological findings in clinical oxyuridosis obtained from necropsied animals, our findings call for further, detailed investigations on pathogenesis and immunology of oxyurids in pet reptiles. Coprological analyses for parasite detection should be mandatory before tortoises are transferred to a new owner, animal group, or public and private enclosures such as zoos. We advocate for regular health screenings in pet tortoises and, if parasitic infections are diagnosed, adequate medication or alternative hygiene management should be considered to improve and maintain individual and population health. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-018-2936-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2018-06-18 /pmc/articles/PMC6006665/ /pubmed/29914556 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2936-z Text en © The Author(s). 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Hallinger, Malek J. Taubert, Anja Hermosilla, Carlos Mutschmann, Frank Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany |
title | Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany |
title_full | Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany |
title_fullStr | Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany |
title_full_unstemmed | Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany |
title_short | Occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in Germany |
title_sort | occurrence of health-compromising protozoan and helminth infections in tortoises kept as pet animals in germany |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6006665/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29914556 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2936-z |
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