Occurrence of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adnan Hodžić
*
,
Amer Alić
,
Jasmin Omeragić
Received: 27 January 2014
Received in revised form: 26 February 2014
Accepted: 31 March 2014
Available Online First: 25 April 2014
Published on: 15 October 2014
Correspondence: Adnan Hodžić, adnan.hodzic@vfs.unsa.ba
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence and distribution of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis among free-living red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For this purpose, a total of 123 fecal samples fromred foxes, shot during hunting seasons between January 2011 and March 2012 were examined using immunofluorescentmicroscopy. Overall, observed prevalences of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis were 3.2 % (4/123) and 7.3% (9/123), respectively. The results show that foxes might play the role of potential reservoirs of Cryptosporidium and Giardia parasites, but further molecular analysis are necessary to elucidate the source of infection, routes of transmission and zoonoticpotential of these two pathogens.
Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis, immunofluorescence, red fox
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Copyright
© 2014 Hodžić A. This is an open-access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Acknowledgement
Authors would like to thank Ajša Kos and Samir Bogunić for their techical support, as well as all hunting societies which participated in this study.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declared that they have no potential conflict of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Citation Information
Macedonian Veterinary Review. Volume 37, Issue 2, Pages 189-192, p-ISSN 1409-7621, e-ISSN 1857-7415, DOI: 10.14432/j.macvetrev.2014.04.012, 2014
10.14432/j.macvetrev.2014.04.012
