The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Domestic pigeons (
Pigeons occur worldwide and are reared as a symbol of peace, love, gentleness and spirit messengers and nowadays also for meat, ornamental pet bird. Unfortunately, they may suffer from many zoonotic protozoan infections
Domestic pigeons (
Poultry industry is the most effective and economical source of animal protein in shortest possible time. Poultry producers are looking for some substitute of chicken meat, which in the future will come in the form of pigeon meat to contribute towards its increase in gross domestic production through livestock sector
Among the birds, importance of domestic pigeons cannot be ignored, as they act as reservoir hosts or carriers and important source of parasitic infections for other avian hosts which share the common parasitic fauna and sometimes harbor zoonotic parasites
The aim of the present work is to do a pilot study of the prevalence of different zoonotic protozoans affecting different-aged domestic pigeons in different localities in Assiut Governorate, Egypt including
The present study was conducted from October through December 2018 in the Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University and Animal Health Research Institute (Assiut branch), Assiut, Egypt.
In this study, a total of 50 fecal samples, were collected from domestic pigeons (
For serological examination, a total of 50 serum samples were examined for the presence of
Statistical analysis was carried out using
The examination of 50 (20 young and 30 adult) pigeon's fecal samples by Kinyoun's acid fast stain showed that the total prevalence of
Parasites | Samples | |||||
Fecal N=50 | ||||||
young n=20 | adult n=30 | total | ||||
Inf. | % | Inf. | % | Inf. | ||
|
8 | 40 | 2 | 6.7 | 10 | 20 |
|
8 | 40 | 12 | 40 | 20 | 40 |
Mixed infection | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Using Latex Agglutination serological test for toxoplasmosis, the number of seropositive cases in domestic pigeons was 29 out of 50 (58%). Quantitatively, among seropositive pigeons; 14 (48.27%) were positive at titers ranging from 1/2 to1/128. Four samples (28.57%) were detected positive at a titer of 1/16 as well as at a titer of 1/32. Three samples (21.42%) were detected positive at a titer of 1/64.One sample (7.14%) was detected positive at a titer of 1/2, 1/4, and 1/128. On the other hand, no samples were detected positive at a titer of 1/8 (
Titer | 1/2 | 1/4 | 1/8 | 1/16 | 1/32 | 1/64 | 1/128 |
Positive samples | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
7.14 | 7.14 | 0 | 28.57 | 28.57 | 21.42 | 7.14 |
Endoparasitic infections are of great importance in poultry industry especially in backyard pigeon worldwide
In the present study the prevalence of
From Egypt,
In all previously mentioned works,
It is worth mentioning that during the present study, cryptosporidian oocysts were reported from pigeons in Assiut for the first time. As this parasite is one of the most serious human protozoan parasites, it is recommended that domestic pigeons in all Egyptian Governorates should be examined genetically to find out if the cryptosporidian oocysts found in their droppings are actually of human origin as this will indicate that these pigeons act as reservoir hosts to human beings in the surrounding dwellings.
In the present study, the total prevalence of
Although these spores were reported frequently from fecal droppings of pigeons
The discovery of zoonotic strains of microsporidiosis that can infect man even by inhalation of pigoen's droppings
Hence, future studies are recommended to examine domestic pigeons, droppings not only by acid fast stain but also by genotyping techniques in order to explore their exact role as reservoir hosts for human microsporidiosis.
Regarding
In the present study, the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in fifty domestic pigeon's sera was estimated by latex agglutination test which showed that the seroprevalence of infection was 58%. The advantages of using Latex Agglutination test agreed with
The levels of pigeon's antibodies to
Seven (58.3%) out of 12 inoculated pigeons in southeastern Brazil were tested positive for anti-
From Egypt,
The present study is the first study of toxoplasmosis detection in domestic pigeons in Assiut, Egypt. As domestic pigeons live in intimate association with human beings in their dwellings, they could be a very dangerous reservoir host in transmitting the disease to man. However, future studies are recommended to find out if pigeon's
All applicable international, national and institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed and the study and steps of practical experiments were approve by the Research Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt.
We confirm that this research was not funded by any organization.
Refaat M.A. Khalifa; Planning the study design , supervising and revising the manuscript
Abdallah A.E. Hassan: Follow up of parasitological studies
Mohsen I. Arafa: Revising and writing the results
Hanan E. M. Eldeek: Follow up of serological studies
Wafaa G. Mahmoud: Undergoing the practical tests and writing the mauscript