The Prevalence of Tetratrichomonas spp. in Reproductive Geese Flocks

Tetratrichomoniasis in the Geese Flock—Case Report

Infections caused by tetratrichomonas are commonly observed in geese. Most cases are subclinical, and the clinical form of the disease manifests itself with a greater mortality and the presence of caseous content in ceca. We describe the case of tetratrichomoniasis in a geese flock caused by Tetratrichomonas gallinarum, with the genetic analysis of the isolate being based on the fragments of 18SrRNA and ITS1-5.8rRNA-ITS2.

Prevalence of Blastocystis in Geese Reproductive Flocks

Simple Summary

Some diseases may be transmitted from animals to humans, and to prevent this, more studies on controlling infectious agents in animals are needed. We conducted an investigation among reproductive geese flocks to determine the presence of Blastocystis—a protozoan that may infect people and animals. The parasite was present in 46.5% of tested flocks, and there was no correlation between the bird’s age and flock size. Our conclusion is that geese could be the source of infections in humans who have contact with infected birds.

Abstract

Blastocystis is a unicellular, anaerobic protozoan that has a low specificity for the hosts, and it could be a zoonosis. There are not many data about the occurrence of Blastocystis in bird species, and this study aimed to check the prevalence of Blastocystis infection in reproductive geese flocks. The result obtained showed that a parasite was present in 46.5% of tested flocks. The extensiveness of the Blastocystis invasion in reproductive geese flocks was low because the genetic material of parasites was found only in 7.48% of samples. There was no correlation between the infection and the bird’s age or the flock size. The data obtained showed that geese could be the source of infections in humans who have contact with carriers of the infection.

High-Throughput Sequencing of faeces provides evidence for dispersal of parasites and pathogens by migratory waterbirds

Examination of faecal material has demonstrated how a broad range of organisms are distributed by bird movements. Such research has largely focused on dispersal of plant seeds by frugivores and of freshwater organisms by waterbirds. However, with few exceptions (e.g. avian influenza, Ebola virus), there is a dearth of evidence for transport of parasites and pathogens. High-throughput sequencing methods now provide a powerful means of addressing this knowledge gap by elucidating faecal contents in unprecedented detail. We collected faeces excreted by a range of migratory waterbirds in south-west Spain and pooled faecal DNA to create libraries reflective of feeding behavior. We created sets of libraries using high-throughput metagenomic and amplicon sequencing. For the latter we employed two sets of primers to broadly target the V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene (one set amplifying the region across all eukaryotes, the other excluding amplification of metazoans). Libraries revealed a wide diversity of eukaryotes, including parasites of the faecal producers themselves, parasites of food items, or those incidentally ingested. We also detected novel microbial eukaryotic taxa and found that parasite assemblage profiles were relatively distinct. Comparing the performance of the methods used supports their joint use for future studies of diversity and abundance. Because viable stages of many parasites are likely to be present in faeces, our results suggest significant levels of bird-mediated dispersal of parasites (both from avian and other hosts). Our methods revealed much hidden biodiversity, and allowed identification of the individuals who produced the faecal samples to species level, facilitating the study of interaction networks.