The effect of anthelmintic treatment on coccidia oocyst shedding in a wild mammal host with intermittent cestode infection.

Radovan Václav,Jana Blažeková

doi:10.1155/2014/302903

Abstract

While hosts are routinely exploited by a community of parasite species, the principles governing host responses towards parasites are unclear. Identifying the health outcomes of coinfections involving helminth macroparasites and microparasites is one area of importance for public and domestic animal health. For instance, it is controversial how deworming programmes affect incidence and severity of such important microparasite diseases as malaria. One problem is that most study systems involve domestic and laboratory animals with conditions hardly comparable to those of free-living animals. Here, we study the effect of anthelmintic treatment on coccidia infection intensity in wild Alpine marmots, M. marmota. Our results lend support to the hypothesis that helminth infection has a positive effect on concurrent microparasite infection. However, our work also points to the fact that within-host interactions between helminths and microparasites are context-dependent and can turn to negative ones once helminth burdens increase. Our study suggests that coccidia benefit from intermittent helminth infection in marmots due to the protective effects of helminth infection only during the early phase of the host's active season. Also, the marmot's response towards coccidia infection appears optimal only under no helminth infection when the host immune response towards coccidia would not be compromised, thereby pointing to the importance of regular intestinal helminth elimination by marmots just before hibernation.

Highlights

IntroductionHosts are routinely exploited by a community of parasite species [1,2,3]
Under natural conditions, hosts are routinely exploited by a community of parasite species [1,2,3]
Examining 45 marmot faecal samples collected from mid-May to the end of September at seven marmot territories, the presence of eggs or proglottids of a tapeworm Ctenotaenia marmotae (Platyhelminthes: Anoplocephalidae), the eggs of a nematode Strongyloides sp. (Nematoda: Strongyloididae), and the oocysts of coccidia Eimeria spp. (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) was detected in 58% (26/45: 2/12, 14/23, and 10/10 for May, July, and September), 9% (4/45: 1/12, 3/23, and 0/10 for May, July, and September), and 80% (36/45: 9/12, 20/23, and 7/10 for May, July, and September) samples, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Hosts are routinely exploited by a community of parasite species [1,2,3] It is not surprising, that organisms evolved elaborate responses towards parasites under the selective pressure of multiple infection [1, 2, 4, 5]. From an applied perspective, identifying the health outcomes of coinfections involving helminth macroparasites and microparasites such as protozoa, bacteria, or viruses is of utmost importance to public and domestic animal health officials [4, 8]. This is, on one hand, because macroparasite control has become widely available and efficient for human populations and domestic animals. Despite intensive research, it is still controversial whether deworming in humans leads to decrease or increase in malaria incidence or severity [8]

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