Prevalence of Haemosporidian Parasite Infections in Raptors of Iran

Abstract

Birds are infected by several genera of blood parasites in the phylum Apicomplexa, Order Haemosporidia: Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, and Leucocytozoon. This broadly distributed and diverse group of parasites greatly influences many aspects of the hosts' lifecycle and can cause diseases and even mortality in birds under natural and captive conditions. We determined the prevalence of haemosporidian blood parasites in raptors in Iran by examining blood samples from 62 raptors (13 species from three families: Accipitridae, Falconidae and Strigidae). We documented the first known report in Iran of haemosporidian infection for several raptor species, including eight novel host records for Haemoproteus and two novel host records for Leucocytozoon. Raptors were infected by Haemoproteus spp. (24% of 62 individuals), Leucocytozoon spp. (3% of individuals), and microfilaria (58% of individuals). Such new information from less-studied countries such as Iran can potentially be used to address conservation and management questions in epidemiological studies of wildlife diseases, veterinary medical treatment of captive birds, and in the investigation of host–parasite relationships.