Abstract < /h3 > < p class= " a-plus-plus " > Amphibians are host to a number of vector-transmitted blood parasites. One parasite for which there is little information is a recently described intracellular bacteria in the order < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Rickettsiales < /em > , found in red-backed salamanders ( < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Plethodon cinereus < /em..."> Abstract < /h3 > < p class= " a-plus-plus " > Amphibians are host to a number of vector-transmitted blood parasites. One parasite for which there is little information is a recently described intracellular bacteria in the order < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Rickettsiales < /em > , found in red-backed salamanders ( < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Plethodon cinereus < /em..." /> Abstract < /h3 > < p class= " a-plus-plus " > Amphibians are host to a number of vector-transmitted blood parasites. One parasite for which there is little information is a recently described intracellular bacteria in the order < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Rickettsiales < /em > , found in red-backed salamanders ( < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Plethodon cinereus < /em..." />

Investigating temporal changes and effects of elevation on the prevalence of a rickettsial blood parasite in red-backed salamanders ( Plethodon cinereus ) in Virginia, USA

< h3 class= " a-plus-plus " > Abstract < /h3 > < p class= " a-plus-plus " > Amphibians are host to a number of vector-transmitted blood parasites. One parasite for which there is little information is a recently described intracellular bacteria in the order < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Rickettsiales < /em > , found in red-backed salamanders ( < em class= " a-plus-plus " > Plethodon cinereus < /em > ) in the eastern USA. This parasite was observed in 16.7  % of individuals across three states in the summer of 2008. Here, we resampled one of the locations from the 2008 study (Mountain Lake, Virginia, where site-level prevalence was 22 %) to determine if the incidence of infection has changed in 5 years. We also examined red-backed salamanders at se ven other nearby sites that varied in elevation (670–1310 m) to ascertain if the pathogen shows any corresponding variation. We collected a total of 113 salamanders across the eight sites. We found no evidence that prevalence of the pathogen has changed; overall prevalence was 12.4 %, which was not significantly different from the 2008 estimate, and prevalence at the Mountain Lake site (28.6 %) also did not differ from the 2008 estimate. When comparing prevalence across elevations, we found that the highest-elevation sites tended to have highest levels of infections; one in five salamande rs was infected with rickettsial bacteria at these locations. Ironically, these high-elevation sites appeared to have the highest salamand...
Source: Comparative Clinical Pathology - Category: Pathology Source Type: research