Full length articleTrichomonas gallinae: Prevalence and molecular characterization from pigeons in Minoufiya governorate, Egypt
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Trichomonas gallinae, a flagellated protozoan parasite with an ovoid to pyriform morphology, infects pigeons all over the world (Amin et al., 2014). It infects the upper digestive tract of birds and lesions vary from mild ulceration of the mucosa to large caseous masses (Borji et al., 2011). Although the majority of infections are subclinical (Amin et al., 2014) the disease resulted in high mortality rates, especially in squabs (Robinson et al., 2010). Pigeons are orally exposed to T. gallinae trophozoites through contaminated food or water, during courtship via billing, or when nestlings are fed crop milk from infected parents (Stabler, 1947). The infection of pigeons with T. gallinae was reported in several countries such as Mauritius (Gaspar da Silva et al., 2007), Spain (Martinez-Herrero et al., 2014, Sansano-Maestre et al., 2009), Austria and the Czech Republic (Grabensteiner et al., 2010), Seychelles (Bunbury, 2011), Iran (Nematollahi et al., 2012), Australia (McKeon et al., 1997), Germany (Stenkat et al., 2013), Slovenia (Dovc et al., 2004), United States (Girard et al., 2014), Brazil (Ecco et al., 2012), and Switzerland (Schreiber et al., 2015). There were few studies on T. gallinae in pigeon from Egypt and they were mainly concerned with the pathology and treatment of the infected pigeons (Abd El-Rahman et al., 2008, Mohamed et al., 2009, Seddiek et al., 2014). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to study the prevalence of T. gallinae in some cities of Minoufiya governorate, Egypt and molecular characterization of the parasite by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).
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Birds and study area
A total number of 3315 pigeons of various ages (≤1-≥12 months) were clinically inspected for trichomomonosis from March 2015–February 2016. The analyzed birds were 1715 from Ashmoun, 900 from Minoof, 500 from El-Shouhada, and 200 from Quesna cites, Minoufiya governorate, Egypt.
Microscopical examination of Trichomonas gallinae
Swabs were taken from the oral cavity and crop of pigeons showing oral lesions and were blended with Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) and were spread on glass slides. At that point, the slides were fixed with methanol and
Prevalence of T. gallinae
Pigeons from four cities of Minoufiya governorate, Egypt were examined for the presence of T. gallinae. The total number of infected birds was 63 (1.9%). The parasite was found in 35 (2.04%) from Ashmoun, 15 (1.66%) from Minoof, 8 (1.6%) from Quesna, and 5 (2.5%) from El-Shohada birds (Table 1). Concerning the age of the examined pigeons, the parasite was detected in 32 (2.13%) at ≤1, 18 (1.9%) at 2, 10 (1.83%) at 4, and 3 (0.85%) at ≥12 months (Table 2). The infection was mainly detected in 60
Discussion
T. gallinae was clinically detected in 1.9% of the examined birds which is lower than prevalence in pigeons from Seychelles 47.1% (Bunbury, 2011), from Spain 15% (Seddiek et al., 2014), 4.9% (Martinez-Herrero et al., 2014), 34.2% (Mohamed et al., 2009), and 44.8% (Sansano-Maestre et al., 2009), from Iran 57% (Nematollahi et al., 2012), from Slovenia 7.9% (Dovc et al., 2004), from Australia 59% (McKeon et al., 1997), from United States 36% (Girard et al., 2014), and from Germany 24% (Stenkat
Acknowledgments
We thank the farmers and farm owners at the villages of different cities in Minoufiya governorate, Egypt for their kind cooperation.
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The authors have equal participation.