First Occurrence of Eustrongylides spp. (Nematoda: Dioctophymatidae) in a Subalpine Lake in Northwest Italy: New Data on Distribution and Host Range

Vasco Menconi, Maria Vittoria Riina, Paolo Pastorino, Davide Mugetti, Serena Canola, Elisabetta Pizzul, Maria Cristina Bona, Alessandro Dondo, Pier Luigi Acutis and Marino Prearo
Additional contact information
Vasco Menconi: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Maria Vittoria Riina: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Paolo Pastorino: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Davide Mugetti: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Serena Canola: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Elisabetta Pizzul: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, via Giorgieri 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Maria Cristina Bona: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Alessandro Dondo: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Pier Luigi Acutis: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy
Marino Prearo: The Veterinary Medical Research Institute for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-9

Abstract: The genus Eustrongylides includes nematodes that infect fish species and fish-eating birds inhabiting freshwater ecosystems. Nematodes belonging to the genus Eustrongylides are potentially pathogenic for humans; infection occurs after the consumption of raw or undercooked fish. In the two-year period 2019–2020, a total of 292 fish belonging to eight species were examined for the occurrence of Eustrongylides spp. from Lake San Michele, a small subalpine lake in northwest Italy. The prevalence of infestation was 18.3% in Lepomis gibbosus , 16.7% in Micropterus salmoides , and 10% in Perca fluviatilis . The other five fish species ( Ameiurus melas , Ictalurus punctatus , Squalius cephalus , Carassius carassius , and Scardinius erythrophthalmus ) were all negative for parasite presence. There were no significant differences in prevalence between the three fish species (Fisher’s exact test; p = 0.744). The mean intensity of infestation ranged from 1 ( M. salmoides and P. fluviatilis ) to 1.15 ( L. gibbosus) , and the mean abundance ranged from 0.1 ( P. fluviatilis ) to 0.28 ( L. gibbosus ). There were significant differences in the infestation site between the four muscle quadrants (anterior ventral, anterior dorsal, posterior ventral, and posterior dorsal) and the visceral cavity (Kruskal–Wallis test; p = 0.0008). The study findings advance our knowledge about the distribution and host range of this parasite in Italy.

Keywords: public health; zoonoses; epidemiology; fishbone zoonotic parasite (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4171/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4171/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:11:p:4171-:d:370275

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().