Enteroparasites in Columba livia, transmissible to humans in the town of Santa Rosa, Lara State, Venezuela

Abstract

Introduction. In Lara State, the presence of enteric parasites in Domestic Pigeon had not been described, therefore, the feral population of Columba livia that frequents the Santa Rosa square (tourist/religious place) was selected to investigate the presence of important taxa. zoonotic. Methodology. Twenty "pools" of stool samples were collected at convenience, in sterile transparent bags, five samples per pool (total 100 samples) which were transferred in refrigerated cellars to the laboratory in Barquisimeto, for mounting in isotonic saline solution and lugol. followed by subsequent microscopic analysis, determining the enteroparasitic species present. Results. An 80% frequency of intestinal parasitism was detected, with 45% polyparasitism, diagnosing a diversity of 10 taxa, namely the protozoa Eimeria spp 55% (11/20), Endolimax nana 40%, Blastocystis spp 25%, Cryptosporidium spp 15%, Entamoeba coli 10%, Giardia spp 5%, Iodamoeba butschlii 5% and helminths, Ascaridia spp 10%, Capillaria spp 10% and Hymenolepis spp 5%. Discussion. This is the first report of E. nana, I. butschlii and E. coli infecting Columba livia in Venezuela, which, together with several of the taxa diagnosed, are potentially transmissible to humans and cause gastrointestinal symptoms. The most frequent parasitic association was Blastocystis spp with E. nana (20%), which corresponds to the diversity of stool studies in humans, in Venezuela. Conclusion. Prevention must be increased to prevent these birds from functioning as reservoirs and active vectors, multipliers and transmitters of pathogenic enteroparasites for humans.