Abstract
Trypanosomes identified as Trypanosoma avium were found in the ornithophilic black flies (Eusimulium latipes) attacking buzzard nestlings (Buteo buteo). Parasites formed plugs and rosettes in the hindgut of the vector and were attached on the cuticular lining of the black fly anterior intestine (ileum) by hemidesmosome-like plaques. Hindgut stages from infected black flies were experimentally transmitted into canaries (Serinus canaria) by ingestion of vectors and by contamination of host conjunctiva. This is the first clear evidence of such transmission in avian trypanosomes. Parasites survived in peripheral blood of birds at the least 10 months. In contrast to the direct inoculation of insect stages, parasites from culture failed to produce infection in experimental birds; this has consequences for laboratory studies of host susceptibility and transmission.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (project 206/00/1094), the Grant Agency of Charles University (project 147/2002/B-BIO) and the Ministry of Education (project 1131-B4).
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Votýpka, J., Svobodová, M. Trypanosoma avium: experimental transmission from black flies to canaries. Parasitol Res 92, 147–151 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-1034-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-1034-z