T h e la zia g ulo sa R a illie t & H e n r y , 1910 AND T. SKRJABINI ERSCHOW, 1928 INFECTION
in S o u t h e r n E u r o p e (I t a l y )
GIANGASPERO A.*, OTRANTO D.**, VOVLAS N.*** & PUCCINI V.**
S u m m a ry :
The occurrence of Thelazia gulosa and T. skrjabini in cattle in Italy, together with an update of the prevalence of Thelazia spp.
in the southern Italy, is reported. On 764 slaughtered native cattle, fifty-five (7.2 %) bovines were infected by Thelazia spp:
T. rhodesi was found in 44 (80 %) animals, T. gulosa was found in
19(34.5 %) cattle and only one
(1.8%) cattle harboured T. skrjabini. This is the first report of T. gulosa and T. skrjabini in Southern Europe.
KEY WORDS : Thelazia gulosa, T. skrjabini, T. rhodesi, cattle, Italy.
R ésu m é : In fectionsà Thelazia gulosa Railliet & Hen r y, 1 9 1 0 et À T. skr ja bin i Er sc h o w, 1 9 2 8 dans lesu dd el’Eu rope ( I t a lie )
Dans cette étude nous avons étudié la présence de Thelazia gulosa et T. skrjabini chez des bovins en Italie et la prévalence de Thelazia spp. dans le sud-est de l'Italie. 764 bovins sont examinés : 55 bovins (7 ,2 %) son parasités par Thelazia spp.;
44 (80 %) bovins son parasités par T. rhodesi, 19 (34,5 %) par T. gulosa et un bovin ( 1,8 %) par T. skrjabini. C'est la première mention de T. gulosa et T. skrjabini dans le sud de l'Europe.
MOTS CLÉS :Thelazia gulosa, T. rhodesi, T. skrjabini, bovins, Italie
T
he genus T helazia Bosc 1819 (Nematoda: The- laziidae) includes a cosmopolitan group of spi- rurid parasites of the eyes and associated tissues of mammals. Bovine thelaziosis is caused by three species of T h elazia: T. rhodesi Desmarest, 1828, T. gu losa Railliet & Henry, 1910, and T. skrjabin i Erschow, 1928.
Thelaziosis is responsible of lacrimation, mucopurulent discharge, conjunctivitis and, less frequently, corneal opacity (Patton & Marbury, 1975; Chartier & Eboma, 1988
).
Reports of T helazia gu losa and T. skrjabin i in cattle have been documented in China and Russia (Skrjabin et al., 1971), Japan (Okoshi & Kitano, 1966), Australia (Smeal, 1968; De Chaneet, 1970), Canada (Frechette et al., 1976) and in the United States of America, such as, Kentucky (Lyons & Drudge, 1975), Tennessee (Patton & Marbury, 1975), Massachussets (Geden &
Stoffolano, 1980), Wisconsin (Gutierres et al., 1980), Ontario (M oonlenbeek & Surgeoner, 1980), Iowa (Krafsur & Church, 1985) and Indiana (Ladoucer &
Kazacos, 1981).
Relative to Europe, very few contribution are available.
Reports of T helazia g u losa and T. skrjabin i in cattle
* D ip artim ento di Strutture, Funzioni, P atologie degli anim ali e B io- tecn o lo g ie, Università di T eram o, Italy.
** D ipartim ento di Sanità anim ale, Università di Bari, Italy.
*'* Istituto di Nem atologia agraria. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy.
C o rresp on d en ce: Annunziata G ian gaspero.
Tel./Fax: 0 0 3 9 .0 8 6 1 .5 5 .8 8 .3 8 - E -m ail:giangaspero@ im i.vet.unite.it
Parasite, 2000, 7, 327-3 2 9
have been documented only in Great Bretain by Fit- simmons (1963), Oakley (1969) and later by Arbuckle
& Khalil (1978).
In Italy, since the 1950’s bovine thelaziosis was thought to be represented by only one species: T helazia rh o desi and several reports indicated the presence and prevalence of this species in Calabria (D’Esposito, 1949), Sicily and Calabria (Panebianco, 1955; Niutta et al., 1992), Sardinia (Corticelli & Lai, 1966) and Apulia (Sobrero & Schiavone, 1977; Puccini et al., 1986), ran
ging from 19,2 to 69 %.
After a fortuitous report at the slaughterhouse in a single cattle of T. g u losa and T. skrjabini, an investi
gation was undertaken to confirm the occurrence of these species and to update the overall prevalence of thelaziosis in native cattle in Apulia region (South-eas- tern Italy).
MATERIALS A N D METHODS
T wo abattoirs, Conversano and Noicattaro (Pro
vince of Bari) were visited once a week from June 1995 to December 1997. 764 local slaugh
tered cattle, eight months to seven years of age were examined. Both eyes and associated tissue including the lachrymal glands, upper and lower eyelids and skin surroundings the orbits were removed and examined for T helazia worms. Both eyes belong to each animals were then placed in a bottle containing physiological solution and returned to the University for examina-
Note de recherche
327Article available athttp://www.parasite-journal.orgorhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2000074327
GÍANGASPERO A., OTRANTO D„ VOVLAS N. & PUCCINI V.
tion. The lateral canthus was cut and after eversion of the eye the exposed surface of the conjunctiva was examined; manual pressure was applied to the base of the ducts of the lachrymal gland and the nictitating membrane to allow for the emission of worms. All nematodes recovered from individual eye were placed in physiological saline and the number, species and sex were recorded. Some specimens were placed in Amman solution for optic microscopic documentation.
The identification was made by the morphological features described by Skrjabin et al. (1967).
RESULTS
F
ifty-five (7.2 %) bovines were infected by Thelaz ia spp: T. rhodesi was found in 44 (80 %) ani
mals, T. g u losa was found in 19 (34.5 %) cattle and only one (1.8 %) cattle harboured T. skrjabini.
A total of 235 Thelazia specimens were collected: T. rho
desi was the most represented species (79 females, 26 males and 27 larvae), follow ed by T. g u lo s a (56 females, 19 males and 23 larvae) and T. skrjabin i (one female and one male). The burden ranged from one to 17 worms with a mean count of 4.0 ± 3.8 per head. T. gu losa was mainly found in the excretory ducts of the lachrymal gland but also in the duct of Harderian gland and free in the conjunctiva. The two specimens of T. sk rja b in i were found free in the conjunctiva, while T. rhodesi was found mainly free in the conjunctiva and in two cases in the duct of the Har- denian gland.
DISCUSSION
T
his survey indicates that besides T. rhodesi (Puccini et al., 1986; Niutta et al,. 1992) other two species, T. gulosa and T. skrjabini, are very com
mon in cattle in Southern Italy. These species have never been documented in Italy and in all Southern Europe.
In France has been documented T. rhodesi in cattle (Perrier, 1993) and in Germany T. lacrym alis in horse (Beelitz et al., 1997). Also, the presence of M usca au tu m n alis and M. larvipara the vector of these nema
todes, is well documented in many Southern European countries (Giangaspero, 1997). This first report on the presence of T. g u losa and T. skrjabin i in native cattle in Southern Italy suggests that these species have a more extensive geographical distribution than pre
viously thought.
We may hypotized that this lack of information on the presence of T. g u losa and T. skrjabin i in other Euro
pean countries may be due to their sheltered location (Kennedy & MacKinnon, 1994) which probably make its detection difficult.
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Reçu le 28 février 2000 Accepté le 28 août 2000
Parasite, 2000, 7, 327-3 2 9
