engleski

Occurrence of Baylisascaris transfuga and other gastrointestinal parasites and first report of Giardia spp. in population of european brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Croatia.

The European brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a species present in limited areas of Europe and several small populations are considered endangered. This species can be affected by a range of parasites. The presence and prevalence of the gastrointestinal parasites of wild European brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Croatia were investigated. Ninety four wild bear faecal samples were collected from the ground in different areas of Primorje- Gorski Kotar county, Karlovac county and Senj-Lika county and examined for the presence of gastrointestinal parasites. At least six genera including the nematodes Baylisascaris spp., Ancylostoma spp. and Syngamus spp., and the protozoan enteropathogens Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. were found. However, neither cestode- nor trematode/acanthocephala-eggs were found. Our preliminary results emphasize the presence of Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp., Baylisascaris transfuga, and Ancylostoma spp. amongst wild bears in Croatia and highlight the potential risk for transmission of these zoonotic infections, not only for humans, but also for domestic animals in this geographic region. This is the first report of Giardia in bears from Croatia. The genus Baylisascaris is an emerging parasite of wild animals which can cause severe larva migrans syndrome in aberrant hosts, which include 100 species of birds, mammals and also humans. Baylisascaris transfuga is the species reported from bears, and with the exception of a few laboratory trials, little is known about the capacity of this species to infect other animals. Furthermore, the identification of this species has traditionally been based on light microscopy, using either morphology of the adults at necropsy or detection of the eggs in faeces, which are methods limited by the experience and the efforts of the observer. The current work was aimed at developing a specific PCR to detect the parasite directly from faecal samples of naturally infected brown bears in the field, without the need for previous flotation. Using eggs and adults of B. transfuga collected in Croatia, we developed a PCR test to detect 6 a portion of the second internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA. We then applied it to bear faecal samples spiked with a known number of B. transfuga eggs. We show here for the first time that this method allows the detection of a minimum of two B. transfuga eggs in 25 mg of faecal material, thus it demonstrates a high diagnostic capacity that could be applied to evaluate the prevalence of the parasite in faecal samples from wild populations of brown bears.

Brown bear, parasites, Croatia.

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