Parasitological and immunological diagnoses from feces of captive-bred snakes at Vital Brazil Institute

Autor: Janaína Lima de Souza, Alynne da Silva Barbosa, Adriana Prado Vazon, Claudia Maria Antunes Uchôa, Beatriz Coronato Nunes, Myrian Bandeira Vianna Cortez, Valmir Laurentino da Silva, Leonora Brazil Más, Aníbal Rafael Melgarejo, Otilio Machado Pereira Bastos
Jazyk: English<br />Spanish; Castilian<br />Portuguese
Předmět:
Zdroj: Revista Brasileira de Parasitologia Veterinária, Vol 23, Iss 2, Pp 123-128
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1984-2961
DOI: 10.1590/S1984-29612014032
Popis: Fecal samples from 56 snakes at the Vital Brazil Institute, in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, were tested using the sedimentation and flotation techniques to investigate the evolutionary forms of parasites such as helminths and protozoa, and using enzyme immunoassay techniques to detect antigens of Cryptosporidium sp. and Giardiasp. Among the animals tested, 80.3% were positive for parasites. Out of these, there were 16 Bothrops jararaca, 16 B. jararacussu and 13 Crotalus durissus. The prevalence of parasitic nematodes was 41.1%, and nematodes were found in all three snake species. Among these, the most frequent finding was eggs of Kalicephalus sp., which were diagnosed in 25% of the snakes. The positivity for protozoa detected using parasite concentration techniques was 75%, including oocysts of Caryospora sp. in 75%, cysts with morphology similar to Giardia sp. 3.6%, amoeboid cysts in 41.1% and unsporulated coccidia oocysts in 8.9%. Immunoassays for Cryptosporidium sp. antigens produced positive findings in 60.7%. Pseudoparasites were detected in 64.3%. These results show that there is a need to improve the sanitary handling of captive-bred snakes, and also for the animal house that supplies rodents to feed them. The results also highlight that diagnostic tests should be performed periodically on stool specimens from captive-bred snakes.
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