Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:58:13.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A review on swimmer's itch and the occurrence of bird schistosomes in Iceland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2009

K. Skírnisson ,
J.A. Aldhoun  and
L. Kolářová
K. Skírnisson*
Affiliation:
Institute for Experimental Pathology, University of Iceland, Keldur, IS 112, Reykjavík, Iceland
J.A. Aldhoun
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44Prague 2, Czech Republic
L. Kolářová
Affiliation:
National Reference Laboratory for Tissue Helminthoses, Department of Microbiology, Institute for Postgradual Medical Education and 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Ruská 85, 100 05Prague 10, Czech Republic
*
*Fax: +354 5673979 E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the past decade, swimmer's itch (SI) has repeatedly occurred in people who have been wading or bathing in ponds or lakes in Iceland where water birds and snails are abundant. Some of the affected sites were warmed by geothermal activity, and others were not. A search for the causative agent of SI, ocellate furcocercariae that have been found in Iceland only in Radix peregra snails, revealed an average infection prevalence of 1.4% (n = 12,432). Locally, infection rates commonly exceeded 6%, the highest value observed being 24.5%. A search for adult schistosomes in visceral organs and the nasal cavities of 110 water birds belonging to the orders Gaviiformes, Podicipediformes and Anseriformes revealed eggs, miracidia or adult stages of at least seven previously identifiable schistosome species in four anseriform bird species. A previously unknown species of schistosome, Allobilharzia visceralis, was detected in whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus), and classified in a new genus. In mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) a nasal Trichobilharzia sp. and the visceral schistosome T. franki were identified. In red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator), distinct egg types belonging to two species of the genus Trichobilharzia have been found. In grey-lag goose (Anser anser) two different egg types were also found – a large Trichobilharzia sp. and small eggs of a Dendritobilharzia sp. Additionally, unidentified cercariae, probably belonging to a previously undescribed genus were detected in R. peregra in Oslandsstjörn. Taken together, the data obtained by morphological examination of eggs and recent DNA sequencing results, indicate that at least eight species of bird schistosomes occur in Iceland.

Type
Review Article
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 83 , Special Issue 2: Symposium and related papers from the 10th European Multicolloquium of Parasitology , June 2009 , pp. 165 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldhoun, J.A., Kolářová, L., Skírnisson, K. & Horak, P. (2009) Bird schistosome diversity in Iceland: molecular evidence. Journal of Helminthology.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, R. (2005) An annotated list of the non-marine Mollusca of Britain and Ireland. Invertebrate Ireland Online, Ulster Museum, Belfast and National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.Google Scholar
Bargues, M.D., Vigo, M., Horák, P., Dvořák, J., Patzner, R.A., Pointier, J.P., Jackiewicz, M., Meier-Brook, C. & Mas-Coma, S. (2001) European Lymnaeidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda), intermediate hosts of trematodiases, based on nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS-2 sequences. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 1, 85–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brant, S.V. (2007) The occurrence of the avian schistosome Allobilharzia visceralis Kolářová, Rudolfová, Hampl et Skírnisson, 2006 (Schistosomatidae) in the tundra swan Cygnus columbianus (Anatidae), from North America. Folia Parasitologica 54, 99–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Gentile, L., Picot, H., Bourdeau, P., Bardet, R., Kerjan, A., Piriou, M., Le Guennic, A., Bayssade-Dufour, C., Chabasse, D. & Mott, K.E. (1996) Le dermatite cercarienne en Europe: un probleme de la santé publique nouveau? Bulletin de l'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé 74, 159–163.Google Scholar
Galaktionov, K.V. & Skírnisson, K. (2000) Digeneans from intertidal molluscs of SW Iceland. Systematic Parasitology 47, 87–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glöer, P. (2002) Die Süβwassergastropoden Nord- und Mitteleuropas. Hackenheim, ConchBooks.Google Scholar
Glöer, P. & Zettler, P. (2005) Kommentierte Artenliste der Süßwassermollusken Deutschlands. Malakologische Abhandlungen 23, 3–26.Google Scholar
Horák, P. & Kolářová, L. (2005) Molluscan and vertebrate immune responses to bird schistosomes. Parasite Immunology 27, 247–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horák, P., Kolářová, L. & Adema, C.M. (2002) Biology of the schistosome genus Trichobilharzia. Advances of Parasitology 52, 155–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jouet, D., Ferté, H., Hologne, C. & Depaquit, J. (2009) Avian schistosomes in French aquatic birds: molecular approach. Journal of Helminthology.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolářová, L. (2007) Schistosomes causing cercarial dermatitis: a mini review of current trends in systematics and of host specificity and pathogenicity. Folia Parasitologica 54, 81–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolářová, L., Skírnisson, K. & Horák, P. (1999) Schistosome cercariae as the causative agent of swimmer's itch in Iceland. Journal of Helminthology 73, 215–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolářová, L., Rudolfová, J., Hampl, V. & Skírnisson, K. (2006) Allobilharzia visceralis gen. nov., sp. nov. (Schistosomatidae – Trematoda) from Cygnus cygnus (L.) (Anatidae). Parasitology International 55, 179–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kouřilová, P., Syrucek, M. & Kolářová, L. (2004) The severity of mouse pathologies caused by the bird schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti in relation to host immune status. Parasitology Research 93, 8–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petersen, Æ. (1998) Icelandic birds. 312 pp. Reykjavík, Vaka-Helgafell (in Icelandic).Google Scholar
Pfenninger, M., Cordellier, M. & Streit, B. (2006) Comparing the efficacy of morphologic and DNA-based taxonomy in the freshwater gastropod genus Radix (Basommatophora, Pulmonata). BMC Evolutionary Biology 6, 100. Available athttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/6/100 (accessed January 2008).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skírnisson, K. & Galaktionov, K.V. (2002) Life cycles and transmission patterns of seabird digeneans in SW Iceland. Sarsia 87, 144–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skírnisson, K. & Kolářová, L. (2002) Are nasal Trichobilharzia cercariae potential threat to human health? The Icelandic Medical Journal 88, 739–744(in Icelandic with an English summary).Google Scholar
Skírnisson, K. & Kolářová, L. (2005) Swimmer's itch in Landmannalaugar, Iceland. The Icelandic Medical Journal 91, 729–736(in Icelandic with an English summary).Google ScholarPubMed
Skírnisson, K. & Kolářová, L. (2008) Diversity of bird schistosomes in anseriform birds in Iceland based on egg measurements and egg morphology. Parasitology Research 103, 43–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skírnisson, K., Magnússon, J., Kristjánsdóttir, Þ. & Kolářová, L. (1999) Swimmer's itch confirmed for the first time in Iceland. The Icelandic Medical Journal 84 (Suppl 37), 59(in Icelandic).Google Scholar
Skírnisson, K., Galaktionov, K.V. & Kozminsky, E.V. (2004) Factors influencing the distribution of digenetic trematode infections in a mudsnail (Hydrobia ventrosa) population inhibiting salt marsh ponds in Iceland. Journal of Parasitology 90, 50–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar