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Urban forests as hubs for novel zoonosis: blood meal analysis, seasonal variation in Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) vectors, and avian haemosporidians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2013

DIEGO SANTIAGO-ALARCON ,
PETER HAVELKA ,
EDUARDO PINEDA ,
GERNOT SEGELBACHER  and
H. MARTIN SCHAEFER
DIEGO SANTIAGO-ALARCON*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 1, 79104 Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Biología y Conservación de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ecología A.C. Carretera Antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, C.P. 91070 Xalapa, Veracruz, México
PETER HAVELKA
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Erbprinzenstraße 13, 76133 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
EDUARDO PINEDA
Affiliation:
Biología y Conservación de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ecología A.C. Carretera Antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, C.P. 91070 Xalapa, Veracruz, México
GERNOT SEGELBACHER
Affiliation:
Department of Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacher Straße 4, 79106 Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
H. MARTIN SCHAEFER
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 1, 79104 Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
*
*Corresponding author: Biología y Conservación de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ecología A.C. Carretera Antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, C.P. 91070 Xalapa, Veracruz, México. E-mail: [email protected]
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Summary

Culicoides vectors can transmit a diverse array of parasites and are globally distributed. We studied feeding preferences and seasonal variation of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) vectors in an urban forest of Germany to determine whether humans living nearby are readily exposed to vector-borne parasites from wild animals. We used a fragment of the mtDNA COI gene to identify hosts from blood meals. We amplified a fragment of the mtDNA cyt b to detect haemosporidian infections in Culicoides abdomens and thoraxes. We detected a total of 22 Culicoides species. Fifty-eight blood meals (84%) were from humans, 10 from birds, and one from livestock. We found Culicoides kibunensis (considered ornithophilic) with 29 human blood meals. Host generalist Culicoides festivipennis and Culicoides obsoletus had 14 human blood meals. Culicoides clastrieri and Culicoides semimaculatus fed on birds; previously humans were their only known host. Six thoraxes and three abdomens were infected with either Haemoproteus pallidulus or Haemoproteus parabelopolskyi. There were changes in Culicoides community structure across months. Culicoides pictipennis was the dominant species during spring, C. kibunensis and C. clastrieri were dominant during summer, and C. obsoletus was dominant by early autumn. All dominant species were generalists feeding on birds, livestock and humans. Our results indicate that humans can serve as a blood source for dominant Culicoides species instead of the normal wild animal hosts in urban areas.

Keywords

CulicoidesHaemoproteusSylvia atricapillablood meal analysisemergent diseaseconservation medicinehost–parasite interaction
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 140 , Issue 14 , December 2013 , pp. 1799 - 1810
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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