Abstract
Harmful parasites of the wild northern boreal mammals are still surprisingly poorly studied. In 2003–2006, a peritonitis outbreak caused by the filarioid nematode, Setaria tundra, emerged in Finland’s reindeer population. In order to gain knowledge about the basic biology, epidemiology, and transmission dynamics of this parasite, samples for S. tundra were collected from reindeer and other cervids during the follow-up period 2004–2006. Using morphology and molecular biology methods, we describe here S. tundra’s first larval stage, microfilaria (smf), for the first time scientifically. The prevalence and densities of smf were higher in reindeer calves than in adults, overall prevalence being 42%. The overall smf prevalences for moose, wild forest reindeer and roe deer were 1.4–1.8%, 23%, and 39%, respectively. The focus of microfilaremia moved north and settled down in the south simultaneously with the peritonitis outbreak. The peak microfilaremia occurred in the first summer after the infection, and smf disappeared from the blood after 2 years. Captive reindeer were smf positive over the year. The prepatent period of S. tundra was estimated to be about 4 months, and the life span at least 14 months. This parasite likely has an important impact on boreal ecosystems.
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Acknowledgements
All the animal handling procedures for this work were accepted by the Experimental Animal Committee, the University of Oulu (license no. 030/04). The authors thank the Kallioluoma Reindeer Herding Cooperative for assistance and patience, Orion Pharma Oy for part-funding this study and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAKERA) for funding the Reindeer Health Care Program, which constituted the basis of this study. We also thank all the Finnish reindeer meat inspecting veterinarians and hunter organizations and especially Kauko Kilpeläinen for their kind collaboration and Tuire Nygren for providing us the historical Setaria sp. sample from moose, the personnel of the Oulu University Experimental Zoo, and the laboratory personnel of Evira in Oulu, for assistance. We thank also Arlo Pelegrin who gave us valuable comments on the manuscript.
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Live S. tundra microfilariae in reindeer blood (MOV 8.01 MB).
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Live S. tundra microfilariae in reindeer blood (MOV 4.93 MB).
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Live S. tundra microfilariae in reindeer blood (MOV 13.3 MB).
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Live S. tundra microfilariae in reindeer blood (MOV 18.5 MB).
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Live S. tundra microfilariae in reindeer blood (MOV 1.50 MB).
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Laaksonen, S., Solismaa, M., Orro, T. et al. Setaria tundra microfilariae in reindeer and other cervids in Finland. Parasitol Res 104, 257–265 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-1184-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-1184-0