Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic intracellular protozoan parasite of worldwide distribution that infects many species of warm-blooded animals, including birds. To date, there is scant information about the seropositivity of T. gondii and the risk factors associated with T. gondii infection in wild bi...
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ftdatacite:10.7892/boris.9921 2023-05-15T16:08:35+02:00 Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain Höfle, Ursula Margalida, Antoni Dubey, Jitender P. Lavin, Santiago Molina-Lopez, Rafael Almeria, Sonia Obon, Elena Hernandez, Mauro Bach-Raich, Esther Blanco, Juan M. Echeverria, Israel Marco, Ignasi Cabezon, Oscar Darwich, Laila Garcia-Bocanegra, Ignacio 2011 application/pdf https://dx.doi.org/10.7892/boris.9921 http://boris.unibe.ch/9921/ en eng Public Library of Science info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CreativeWork article 2011 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.9921 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic intracellular protozoan parasite of worldwide distribution that infects many species of warm-blooded animals, including birds. To date, there is scant information about the seropositivity of T. gondii and the risk factors associated with T. gondii infection in wild bird populations. In the present study, T. gondii infection was evaluated on sera obtained from 1079 wild birds belonging to 56 species (including Falconiformes (n = 610), Strigiformes (n = 260), Ciconiiformes (n = 156), Gruiformes (n = 21), and other orders (n = 32), from different areas of Spain. Antibodies to T. gondii (modified agglutination test, MAT titer ≥1:25) were found in 282 (26.1%, IC95%:23.5–28.7) of the 1079 birds. This study constitute the first extensive survey in wild birds species in Spain and reports for the first time T. gondii antibodies in the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), short-toed snake-eagle (Circaetus gallicus), Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus), Western marsh-harrier (Circus aeruginosus), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), long-eared owl (Asio otus), common scops owl (Otus scops), Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), white stork (Ciconia ciconia), grey heron (Ardea cinerea), common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus); in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “vulnerable” Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) and great bustard (Otis tarda); and in the IUCN “near threatened” red kite (Milvus milvus). The highest seropositivity by species was observed in the Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) (68.1%, 98 of 144). The main risk factors associated with T. gondii seropositivity in wild birds were age and diet, with the highest exposure in older animals and in carnivorous wild birds. The results showed that T. gondii infection is widespread and can be at a high level in many wild birds in Spain, most likely related to their feeding behaviour. Article in Journal/Newspaper eurasian eagle-owl Falco peregrinus peregrine falcon Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle osprey Pandion haliaetus DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Otis ENVELOPE(-136.217,-136.217,-75.083,-75.083) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
English |
description |
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic intracellular protozoan parasite of worldwide distribution that infects many species of warm-blooded animals, including birds. To date, there is scant information about the seropositivity of T. gondii and the risk factors associated with T. gondii infection in wild bird populations. In the present study, T. gondii infection was evaluated on sera obtained from 1079 wild birds belonging to 56 species (including Falconiformes (n = 610), Strigiformes (n = 260), Ciconiiformes (n = 156), Gruiformes (n = 21), and other orders (n = 32), from different areas of Spain. Antibodies to T. gondii (modified agglutination test, MAT titer ≥1:25) were found in 282 (26.1%, IC95%:23.5–28.7) of the 1079 birds. This study constitute the first extensive survey in wild birds species in Spain and reports for the first time T. gondii antibodies in the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), short-toed snake-eagle (Circaetus gallicus), Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus), Western marsh-harrier (Circus aeruginosus), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), long-eared owl (Asio otus), common scops owl (Otus scops), Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), white stork (Ciconia ciconia), grey heron (Ardea cinerea), common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus); in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “vulnerable” Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) and great bustard (Otis tarda); and in the IUCN “near threatened” red kite (Milvus milvus). The highest seropositivity by species was observed in the Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) (68.1%, 98 of 144). The main risk factors associated with T. gondii seropositivity in wild birds were age and diet, with the highest exposure in older animals and in carnivorous wild birds. The results showed that T. gondii infection is widespread and can be at a high level in many wild birds in Spain, most likely related to their feeding behaviour. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Höfle, Ursula Margalida, Antoni Dubey, Jitender P. Lavin, Santiago Molina-Lopez, Rafael Almeria, Sonia Obon, Elena Hernandez, Mauro Bach-Raich, Esther Blanco, Juan M. Echeverria, Israel Marco, Ignasi Cabezon, Oscar Darwich, Laila Garcia-Bocanegra, Ignacio |
spellingShingle |
Höfle, Ursula Margalida, Antoni Dubey, Jitender P. Lavin, Santiago Molina-Lopez, Rafael Almeria, Sonia Obon, Elena Hernandez, Mauro Bach-Raich, Esther Blanco, Juan M. Echeverria, Israel Marco, Ignasi Cabezon, Oscar Darwich, Laila Garcia-Bocanegra, Ignacio Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain |
author_facet |
Höfle, Ursula Margalida, Antoni Dubey, Jitender P. Lavin, Santiago Molina-Lopez, Rafael Almeria, Sonia Obon, Elena Hernandez, Mauro Bach-Raich, Esther Blanco, Juan M. Echeverria, Israel Marco, Ignasi Cabezon, Oscar Darwich, Laila Garcia-Bocanegra, Ignacio |
author_sort |
Höfle, Ursula |
title |
Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain |
title_short |
Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain |
title_full |
Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain |
title_fullStr |
Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seropositivity and Risk Factors Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds from Spain |
title_sort |
seropositivity and risk factors associated with toxoplasma gondii infection in wild birds from spain |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.7892/boris.9921 http://boris.unibe.ch/9921/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-136.217,-136.217,-75.083,-75.083) |
geographic |
Otis |
geographic_facet |
Otis |
genre |
eurasian eagle-owl Falco peregrinus peregrine falcon Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle osprey Pandion haliaetus |
genre_facet |
eurasian eagle-owl Falco peregrinus peregrine falcon Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle osprey Pandion haliaetus |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.9921 |
_version_ |
1766404614656098304 |