Detail of Grant Awarded Academic Researches
Prevalence of parasitic infections in wild birds of the Tamagawa River estuary
(at that time)
|Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine Research Institute Infectious Biological Defense Area Special lecture|
A tideland of the Tamagawa River estuary of Japan is important area where a large amount of wild migratory birds (approximately 20,000 birds per a year) come and more than 1% of wild bird species registered in the Ramsar Convention inhibit. It has been reported that a parasitic disease is one of the infectious diseases causing death of wild birds. However, an investigation of parasitic infection in wild birds of the Tamagawa River estuary has not yet performed. Here, we investigated prevalence of parasitic infection of wild birds in this area using bird feces. In this study, we collected 401 samples of bird feces. In fecal examination, we detected oocysts of protozoan parasites from 38 samples (9.5%) and eggs of helminthes from 13 samples (3.2%). A high detection rate of parasites was found in samples collected from wetlands. Additionally, in order to identify a bird species of feces, we extracted DNA from bird feces. Using these DNAs, we performed PCR targeting a bird specific gene (the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, cox1) and determined nucleotide sequences of PCR products. In a result, we could identify 15 bird species from 221 DNA samples and found that feces of the water pipit, having a tendency to live in flocks, had high prevalence of parasitic infection. These results suggest that wet environment and living in flocks would be related to parasite infection in the Tamagawa River estuary.
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