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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #311593
Title: Toxoplasmosis in a bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis) from the zoo of Clères, France

Author
item RIGOULET, JACQUES - Muséum National D’Histoire Naturelle
item HENNACHE, ALAIN - Muséum National D’Histoire Naturelle
item LAGOURETTE, PIERRE - Laboratoire D'Anatomie Pathologique Vétérinaire
item GEORGE, CATHERINE - Laboratoire D'Anatomie Pathologique Vétérinaire
item LONGEART, LOIC - Laboratoire D'Anatomie Pathologique Vétérinaire
item LE NET, JEAN-LOIC - Laboratoire D'Anatomie Pathologique Vétérinaire
item Dubey, Jitender

Submitted to: Parasite
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/4/2014
Publication Date: 11/20/2014
Citation: Rigoulet, J., Hennache, A., Lagourette, P., George, C., Longeart, L., Le Net, J., Dubey, J.P. 2014. Toxoplasmosis in a bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis) from the zoo of Clères, France. Parasite. 21:62.

Interpretive Summary: Toxoplasmosis continues to be a public health problem worldwide. It causes mental retardation and loss of vision in children, and abortion in livestock. Cats are the main reservoir of T. gondii because they are the only hosts that can excrete the resistant stage (oocyst) of the parasite in the feces. Humans become infected by eating under cooked meat from infected animals and food and water contaminated with oocysts. Animals in zoos are especially susceptible to toxoplasmosis, and visitors to zoos are also at risk of exposure to the parasite. Diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in dead animals is often difficult. Here, toxoplasmosis was diagnosed in a bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis) that died in a zoo in Paris, France. The parasite has never before been recorded in this host. The results will be of interest to biologists, parasitologists, and zoo veterinarians.

Technical Abstract: Toxoplasmosis causes mortality in several avian species, especially passerine birds. Toxoplasmosis was diagnosed in a bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis) found dead at the zoo of Clères (France). The bird had necrotizing pneumonia and nephritis with intralesional tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii. The diagnosis was confirmed by immunostaining with polyclonal rabbit T. gondii antibodies and by transmission electron microscopy. To our knowledge, the bar-shouldered dove is a new host record for T. gondii.