Pet chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera): Source of zoonotic Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium ubiquitum and microsporidia of the genera Encephalitozoon and Enterocytozoon.

Autor: Zikmundová V; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Republic; Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: veronika.zikmundova@paru.cas.cz., Horáková V; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Brno, Czech Republic. Electronic address: horakova.veronica@gmail.com., Tůmová L; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Republic; Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: tumova.lenka@volny.cz., Koudela B; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Republic; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Brno, Czech Republic. Electronic address: KoudelaB@VFU.cz., Holubová N; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: holubova@paru.cas.cz., Sak B; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: casio@paru.cas.cz., Rost M; Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: rost@fzt.jcu.cz., Beranová K; Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: kri.beranova@gmail.com., Kváč M; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., České Budějovice, Czech Republic; Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: kvac@paru.cas.cz.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Veterinary parasitology [Vet Parasitol] 2024 Oct; Vol. 331, pp. 110275. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2024.110275
Abstrakt: The domestic chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera) is kept as a pet and previous studies suggest that it may play an important role as a source of zoonotic parasites, including Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium spp. and microsporidia. In this study, we examined the occurrence and genetic diversity of above mentioned parasites in pet chinchillas in the Czech Republic by PCR/sequencing of the 18S rRNA, TPI, and ITS genes. Of 149 chinchillas from 24 breeders, 91.3 % were positive for G. intestinalis, 8.1 % for Cryptosporidium spp., 2.0 % for Encephalitozoon spp., and 5.4 % for E. bieneusi. Molecular analyses revealed presence of G. intestinalis assemblage B, C. ubiquitum (XIIa family), E. bieneusi genotypes D, SCF2, and, CHN-F1, and E. intestinalis. The infection intensity of G. intestinalis determined by qRT-PCR reached up to 53,978 CPG, C. ubiquitum up to 1409 OPG, E. intestinalis up to 1124 SPG, and E. bieneusi up to 1373 SPG. Only two chinchillas with C. ubiquitum and five with G. intestinalis had diarrhoea at the time of the screening. Three chinchillas in the long-term study were consistently positive for G. intestinalis, with intermittent excretion of C. ubiquitum, E. intestinalis, and E. bieneusi over 25 weeks. The findings indicate that chinchillas are frequently infected with zoonotic parasitic protists, but that these infections rarely show clinical signs. The lack of visible signs could reduce the vigilance of pet owners when handling their chinchillas, increasing the risk of transmission within breeding groups and possibly to humans.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Martin Kváč reports financial support was provided by Czech Science Foundation. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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