The prevalence of blood parasites was investigated in 701 Japanese wild birds for 13 years from January, 1988 to March, 2001. Most of the injured or sick birds were caught in the suburbs of Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture and brought to the zoo for clinical care. Among all the birds examined, 10.6% were infected with hematozoa belonging to three genera as Plasmodium (1.7% of the samples), Haemoprot...

Parasites may lead bird species to extinction, affect host temporal and spatial population dynamics, alter community structure and alter individual' social status. We evaluated blood parasite prevalence and intensity according to bird families and species, among 925 birds that were caught in 2000 and 2001, in the Atlantic Forest in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. We applied Giemsa staining t...

The phylogenetic relationships among hemosporidian parasites, including the origin of Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent malaria parasite of humans, have been heavily debated for decades. Studies based on multiple-gene sequences have helped settle many of these controversial phylogenetic issues. However, denser taxon sampling and genome-wide analyses are needed to confidently resolve the ...

The interaction between hosts and parasites is characterized by the evolution of reciproca adaptations aiming at reducing the cost of infection (from the host point of view) and to optimize host exploitation (from the parasite point of view). Within this co-evolutionary scenario, the immune system takes a central role. The immune system has evolved to fight off parasitic attacks. However, immun...

background: to determine the morphological specifications of the bird schistosomes cercaria from lymnaea gedrosiana and to detect the surface carbohydrates as receptors for host lectins in the host-parasite relationship systems such as avian schistosomiasis and human cercarial dermatitis. methods: one hundred ninety two snails collected from dezful areas in khuzestan province, in the south west...

Southeast Brazil is a neotropical region composed of a mosaic of different tropical habitats and mountain chains, which allowed for the formation of bird-rich communities with distinct ecological niches. Although this region has the potential to harbor a remarkable variety of avian parasites, there is a lack of information about the diversity of malarial parasites. We used molecular approaches ...

Parasites that rely on trophic transmission can manipulate the behavior of an intermediate host to compromise the host's antipredator competence and increase the probability of reaching the next host. Selection for parasite manipulation is diminished when there is significant risk of host death to causes other than consumption by a suitable definitive host for the parasite. Consequently, behavi...

Oceanic archipelagos are vulnerable to natural introduction of parasites via migratory birds. Our aim was to characterize the geographic origins of two Plasmodium parasite lineages detected in the Galapagos Islands and in North American breeding bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) that regularly stop in Galapagos during migration to their South American overwintering sites. We used samples from a...