Abstract
The occurrence of Trypanosoma spp. in wild carnivore populations has been intensively investigated during the last decades. However, the impact of these parasites on the health of free-living infected animals has been largely neglected. The Pantanal biome is the world’s largest seasonal wetland, harboring a great diversity of species and habitats. This includes 174 species of mammals, of which 20 belong to the order Carnivora. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of Trypanosoma evansi and Trypanosoma cruzi infections and coinfections on the health of the most abundant carnivores in the Pantanal: coati (Nasua nasua), crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous), and ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). We captured 39 coatis, 48 crab-eating foxes, and 19 ocelots. Diagnostic tests showed T. cruzi infection in 7 crab-eating foxes and 5 coatis. Additionally, 7 crab-eating foxes, 10 coatis, and 12 ocelots were positive for T. evansi. We observed coinfections in 9 crab-eating foxes, 8 coatis, and 2 ocelots. This is the first report of T. evansi and T. cruzi infection on the health of free-living ocelots and crab-eating foxes. We showed that single T. evansi or T. cruzi infection, as well as coinfection, caused some degree of anemia in all animals, as well as an indirect negative effect on body condition in coatis and crab-eating foxes via anemia indicators and immune investment, respectively. Furthermore, the vigorous immune investment observed in sampled coatis, crab-eating foxes and ocelots infected by T. evansi, T. cruzi and coinfected can be highly harmful to their health. Overall, our results indicate that single and combined infection with T. evansi and T. cruzi represent a severe risk to the health of wild carnivores in the Pantanal region.
Highlights
Parasites are known to use resources from their hosts, affecting their energy balance [1, 2], little is known about the effect of parasitism on the health of mammals that inhabit natural environments [3]
We found lower red blood cell counts (RBC) and Packed cell volume (PCV) mean values for ocelots parasitized by T. evansi and in those coinfected with both parasites than in non-infected animals, differences were not statistically significant (RBC: χ2 = 3.672, df = 03, p > 0.05; PVC: χ2 = 5.12, df = 03, p > 0.05; and Mean corpuscular volume (MCV): χ2 = 0.2237, df = 03, p > 0.05) between non infected and T. evansi-infected ocelots (Table 4)
Our results reveal that T. evansi infection in coatis, crab-eating foxes and ocelots causes some degree of anemia
Summary
Parasites are known to use resources from their hosts, affecting their energy balance [1, 2], little is known about the effect of parasitism on the health of mammals that inhabit natural environments [3]. The occurrence of Trypanosoma spp. in wild carnivores has sparked intensive investigation worldwide in the last decades [7,8,9,10,11]. The impact of these parasites on the health of free-living infected animals has been largely neglected. Studies documenting the outcomes of Trypanosoma cruzi and T. evansi on the health of wild carnivores have shown that these parasites can cause damage to the health of their hosts [12, 13]. In enzootic areas Trypanosoma species are maintained in a complex network transmission cycles including mammals and blood sucking vectors. While T. evansi transmission occur mechanically by hematophagus flies, such as tabanids and Stomoxys calcitrans, T. cruzi is cyclically transmitted through Triatominae faces [14,15]
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