Folia Parasitologica 65:018 (2018) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2018.018

Detection of Neospora caninum (Toxoplasmatidae) in wild small mammals from Thailand

Ornampai Japa¹, Serge Morand², Anamika Karnchanabanthoeng³, Kittipong Chaisiri⁴, Alexis Ribas^5,6

¹ Division of Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Phayao, Thailand;

² CNRS ISEM-CIRAD ASTRE, Faculty of Veterinary Technology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand;

³ Vettech, Faculty of Veterinary Technology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand;

⁴ Department of Helminthology, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand;

⁵ Section of Parasitology, Department of Biology, Healthcare and the Environment, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;

⁶ Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

The presence of Neospora caninum Dubey, Carpenter, Speer, Topper et Uggla, 1988 in small mammals (i.e. murid rodents, Erinaceomorpha, Eulipotyphla and Scadentia) was explored for first time in South-East Asia. A total of 192 individuals from six localities across Thailand were analysed. A general prevalence of N. caninum of 22% was observed, with some variation among localities (5-36%). Four main types of habitat were included and rodents trapped in dry-land habitat (17 positive among 41 individuals) were more likely to be infected with N. caninum than those from other habitats (forest, rain-fed land and settlement). Rodent species identity and individual rodent weight had no influence on individual infection. Our results provided the first data on the presence of N. caninum in rodents in South-East Asia and first report of N. caninum in the order Scadentia.

Keywords: DNA, Apicomplexa, rodent, South-East Asia

Received: May 9, 2018; Accepted: October 14, 2018; Published online: November 27, 2018  Show citation