Captive Agamid lizards in Germany: Prevalence, pathogenicity and therapy of gastrointestinal protozoan and helminth infections.

Captive Agamid lizards in Germany: Prevalence, pathogenicity and therapy of gastrointestinal protozoan and helminth infections.
Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis. 2019 Apr;63:74-80
Authors: Hallinger MJ, Taubert A, Hermosilla C, Mutschmann F
Abstract
Reptiles are becoming popular pets in many parts of the world. They are also known to harbor numerous gastrointestinal parasites. We used faecal smears to examine 748 stool samples from 14 different agamid lizard species. In addition, we used coproantigen ELISA tests (11 samples) and immunofluorescence assays (IFA) (19 samples) to detect reptile Cryptosporidium infections. In 28 cases, veterinarians requested therapy to treat oxyurid- and/or Isospora amphiboluri-infections and resent fecal samples after proposed therapy and anti-parasitic treatments had been applied. We also performed complete dissections of 24 deceased agamas in order to specify protozoan and helminth parasite infections. Overall, the examined fecal samples contained 6 different taxa. Oxyurids (Pharyngodonidae) were the most prevalent nematodes (41.2%), followed by I. amphiboluri (17.0%), Entamoeba spp. (0.8%), Choleoeimeria spp. (0.5%), Trichomonas spp. (0.3%), Cryptosporidium spp. (0.3%) and Strongyloides-like nematodes (0.1%). I. amphiboluri infections were significantly more prevalent (Chi-square test: χ2 = 21,5, df = 1, P <  0.001) in juvenile agamid lizards (31.9%) than in adults (14.2%). One of 11 (9.1%) ...

Source: Comparative immunology, microbiology and infectious diseases. - March 31, 2019 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Hallinger MJ, Taubert A, Hermosilla C, Mutschmann F Tags: Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis Source Type: research