Molecular survey on the occurrence of avian haemosporidia, Coxiella burnetii and Francisella tularensis in waterfowl from central Italy

Valentina Virginia Ebani; Simona Nardoni; Marinella Giani; Guido Rocchigiani; Talieh Archin; Iolanda Altomonte; Alessandro Poli; Francesca Mancianti

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.07.008

Molecular survey on the occurrence of avian haemosporidia, Coxiella burnetii and Francisella tularensis in waterfowl from central Italy

Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2019 Jul 25:10:87-92. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.07.008. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Authors

Valentina Virginia Ebani¹, Simona Nardoni¹, Marinella Giani¹, Guido Rocchigiani¹, Talieh Archin², Iolanda Altomonte¹, Alessandro Poli¹, Francesca Mancianti¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, viale delle Piagge 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
² Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of some avian Haemosporidia, Coxiella burnetii and Francisella tularensis in waterfowl from Tuscany wetlands. One-hundred and thirty-three samples of spleen were collected from regularly hunted wild birds belonging to 13 different waterfowl species. DNA extracted from each sample was submitted to PCR assays and sequencing to detect the pathogens. Thirty-three samples (24.81%) were positive with PCR for at least one pathogen: 23 (17.29%) for Leucocytozoon spp., 6 (4.51%) for Plasmodium spp., 4 (3%) for C. burnetii, 2 (1.5%) for Haemoproteus spp. No specific F. tularensis amplifications (0%) were detected. To the best of our knowledge, this study firstly reports data about haemosporidian and C. burnetii infections in waterfowl from Italy.

Keywords: Coxiella burnetii; Francisella tularensis; Haemoproteus spp; Leucocytozoon spp.; Plasmodium spp; Waterfowl.