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Sarcoptic mange in wild carnivores and its co-occurrence with parasitic helminths in the Western Italian Alps

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Abstract

Between 2001 and 2004, 229 foxes, 36 stone martens and 48 badgers from the western Italian Alps were examined for sarcoptic mange and for gastrointestinal helminths to investigate their prevalence and geographical distribution and to point out the existence of potential interactions among them. Sarcoptic mange was observed in 25.3±2.8% SE of foxes and in 5.6±3.8% SE of stone martens, while no badger was found infected. Helminths belonged to Cestoidea Cyclophillidea (3.0±1.1% SE), Nematoda Trichurida (Capillaria aerophila and Trichuris vulpis: 6.5±1.6% SE; Trichinella britovi: 3.0±1.1% SE), Ascaridida (12.2±2.2% SE) and Strongylida (6.9±1.7% SE). Sarcoptic mange infection and the presence of helminths proved to be associated, with mangy foxes showing significantly higher prevalence of both cestode and nematode (particularly Ascaridida) worms. Moreover, considering three clusters of parasites (S. scabiei, nematodes and cestodes), more foxes than expected hosted simultaneously 2 and 3 taxa. These evidences suggest the existence of some kind of interaction, whose modalities and implications are discussed in this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank P. Oreiller and L. Domeneghetti, Game Office, Valle D’Aosta for cooperation and Edoardo Pozio of the International Reference Centre for Trichinellosis (Rome, Italy) for the identification of Trichinella larvae at the species level.

We sincerely thank J. M. Behnke for his kind revision of a former version of the manuscript and F. E. G. Cox and three anonymous referees for their useful suggestions.

All performed experiments comply with the current laws of Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Piemonte Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Aosta’s Unit, Ce.R.M.A.S. National Reference Centre for Wild Animal Diseases, Aosta, Italy

    Alessandro Balestrieri, Luigi Remonti, Nicola Ferrari, Angelo Ferrari, Tatiana Lo Valvo, Serena Robetto & Riccardo Orusa

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  1. Alessandro Balestrieri
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  2. Luigi Remonti
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  3. Nicola Ferrari
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  4. Angelo Ferrari
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  6. Serena Robetto
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  7. Riccardo Orusa
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Correspondence to Riccardo Orusa.

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Balestrieri, A., Remonti, L., Ferrari, N. et al. Sarcoptic mange in wild carnivores and its co-occurrence with parasitic helminths in the Western Italian Alps. Eur J Wildl Res 52, 196–201 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-006-0036-4

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