Blood smears prepared from the peripheral blood of 20 wild caught Amietia quecketti (Boulenger) from the North-West University Botanical Gardens, North West Province, South Africa, were examined for the presence of haemogregarines. A haemogregarine species comparative in morphology, host and geographical locality to that of Haemogregarina theileri Laveran, 1905 was detected. The original descri...

There are few published data on amphibian leukocyte profiles, and relationships between amphibian leukocytes and parasites are even less well known. Using counts from 35 pairs of blood smears taken 2 days apart, we tested for correlations between leukocyte proportions and infection intensities of Hepatozoon spp. (either Hepatozoon catesbianae or Hepatozoon clamatae) in green frogs (Rana clamita...

BACKGROUND Only limited information is currently available on the prevalence of vector borne and zoonotic pathogens in dogs and ticks in Nigeria. The aim of this study was to use molecular techniques to detect and characterize vector borne pathogens in dogs and ticks from Nigeria. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Blood samples and ticks (Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus turanicus and Hea...

BACKGROUND Cercopithifilaria bainae is a filarioid parasite that infects dogs, being transmitted by Rhipicephalus sanguineus group ticks in many countries of the Mediterranean basin. This study assessed the incidence density rate (IDR) of infection by C. bainae in dogs and the probability of co-infection with other tick-borne pathogens (i.e., Anaplasma platys, Babesia vogeli and Hepatozoon cani...

Madagascar is one of the world's top twelve "megadiversity" hot spots hosting unique and threatened flora and fauna. Parasites are a major component of biodiversity but remain largely uncharacterized in wildlife. In this study we combine microscopic and molecular assessment of hemoparasites in endemic reptile species from Madagascar. We detected three distinct parasites: the apicomplexans Hepat...