RESUMO
An injured young individual of the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca; Accipitridae) from the Protected Bird Area "Medzibodrozie" in the south-eastern Slovakia was subjected to the complete clinical examination at the Clinic for Birds and Exotic Animals of the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy. Adult trematodes were isolated from the pharynx of the eagle after oesophagoscopy. The morphological and molecular identification of the flukes confirmed a trematode Cathaemasia hians (Cathaemasiidae), the obligate parasite of black storks (Ciconia nigra) and white storks (Ciconia ciconia). This finding represents the first documented case of C. hians in new bird host species and indicates broader spectrum of definitive hosts of the fluke.
RESUMO
Diphyllobothriosis is a fish-borne parasitic zoonosis caused by so-called "broad tapeworms" or "fish tapeworms" of different genera of the order Diphyllobothriidea. Dibothriocephalus latus (Linnaeus 1758), (syn. Diphyllobothrium latum), is a medically important type species of the genus, whose occurrence in various European regions is either regular, e.g. in the Alpine lakes region, or occasional and sporadic, e. g. in the Danube River region. For the latter, data on the detection of D. latus plerocercoids in the second intermediate fish host (European perch Perca fluviatilis), as well as in definitive hosts (human and dog), in which infection was directly linked to the consumption of infected fish from the Danube, were published more than 50 years ago. In order to assess the current situation, we aimed to find out whether D. latus is present in the natural environment of the Danube River. In total, 700 perch from five sampling sites in the Slovak part of the Danube River were examined. Plerocercoids were not detected in any fish examined, which leads to the conclusion that D. latus is currently not present in the studied aquatic environment.
RESUMO
The internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of fish cestodes of the genus Eubothrium were sequenced. The ITS sequences of Eubothrium rugosum were determined and compared with previously analysed congeneric species, Eubothrium crassum and Eubothrium salvelini. The ITS-1 sequences of E. rugosum and E. crassum were 535 bp long, the length of E. salvelini ITS-1 was 536 bp. The ITS-2 region was found to be 403 bp in E. rugosum and E. crassum, and 401-402 bp in E. salvelini. The ITS-1 region of E. rugosum was closer to E. salvelini (identity 98.9-99.1%) than to E. crassum(97.9-98.1%), while the sequence similarity within the ITS-2 region was almost identical (97.5-98.0% for E. crassum; 97.7-98.3% for E. salvelini). Several restriction enzymes were found to be suitable for the differentiation of the three Eubothrium species by PCR-RFLP. The intraspecific sequence variation of E. crassum from different fish hosts (freshwater and marine) and European regions was very low, 0.2% for ITS-1 and 0.5% for ITS-2. Analysis of the ITS sequences of specimens from rainbow trout from three localities in Scotland revealed that both E. crassum and E. salvelini are present in this fish host.
Assuntos
Cestoides/genética , DNA Espaçador Ribossômico/análise , Variação Genética , Animais , Sequência de Bases , Cestoides/classificação , DNA de Helmintos/análise , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase/métodos , Polimorfismo de Fragmento de Restrição , Alinhamento de SequênciaRESUMO
The karyotype of Acanthocephalus lucii(Müller, 1776), a parasite of perch, consists of six autosomal biarmed chromosomes and two subtelocentric sex X chromosomes in females or one X in males. The sex determining mechanism is of the XX-X0 type. Most of the acanthocephalans (85%) exhibit small supernumerary metacentric B chromosomes, the number of which varies from one to five. Our data represent the first record of B chromosomes in thorny-headed worms. A possible relationship between the occurrence of B chromosomes and a heavy metal accumulation in acanthocephalan tissue from contaminated aquatic environments is briefly discussed.