Vector-borne zoonotic blood parasites in wildlife from Ecuador: A report and systematic review

Vet World Vol.14 July-2021 Article-30

Research Article

Veterinary World, 14(7): 1935-1945

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1935-1945

Eduardo Diaz¹, Anahi Hidalgo¹, Carla Villamarin², Gustavo Donoso¹, and Veronica Barragan^2,3

1. Escuela de Veterinaria, Hospital de Fauna Silvestre TUERI, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
2. Colegio de Ciencias Biologicas y Ambientales, Instituto de Microbiologia, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
3. Department of Biological Science, Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA.

Background and Aim: Ecuador is a hugely diverse country, but information on infectious diseases in local wild animals is scarce. The aim of this study was to screen the presence of blood parasites in free-ranging wild animals admitted to the Wildlife Hospital at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, from April 2012 to January 2019.

Materials and Methods: We identified blood parasites by microscopic observation of blood smears from free-ranging wildlife species that attended the Wildlife Hospital of Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) from April 2012 to January 2019.

Results: The microscopic evaluations of animals as potential reservoirs for vector-borne zoonotic blood parasites revealed the presence of Anaplasma spp., Babesia spp., Ehrlichia spp., Hepatozoon spp., microfilaria, Mycoplasma spp., and Trypanosoma spp. in previously unreported wildlife species. In addition, we performed a systematic review to understand the current knowledge gaps in the context of these findings.

Conclusion: Our data contribute to the knowledge of blood parasites in wildlife from Ecuador. Furthermore, the potential transmission of these parasites to humans and domestic animals, current anthropogenic environmental changes in the region, and the lack of information on this suggest the importance of our results and warrant further investigations on infectious diseases in animals and humans and their relationship with environmental health as key domains of the One Health concept. Keywords: amazon basin, blood parasites, Ecuador, free-ranging wildlife, hemoparasites, one health, systematic review, vector-borne zoonotic.

Keywords: amazon basin, blood parasites, Ecuador, free-ranging wildlife, hemoparasites, one health, systematic review, vector-borne zoonotic.

How to cite this article: Diaz E, Hidalgo A, Villamarin C, Donoso G, Barragan V (2021) Vector-borne zoonotic blood parasites in wildlife from Ecuador: A report and systematic review, Veterinary World, 14(7): 1935-1945.

Received: 09-04-2021 Accepted: 10-06-2021 Published online:

Corresponding author: Veronica Barragan E-mail: vbarragan@usfq.edu.ec

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.1935-1945

Copyright: Diaz, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.