Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2020 | 12(15): 17168–17170

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4756.12.15.17168-17170

#4756 | Received 12 December 2018 | Final received 06 October 2020 | Finally accepted 10 October 2020

 

 

Parasitic enteritis in the free-ranging Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Aves: Passeriformes: Sturnidae)

 

Rakesh Kumar 1, Aman Dev Moudgil 2, Sameeksha Koundal 3 , Rajendra Damu Patil 4  & Rajesh Kumar Asrani 5

 

1,3,4,5 Department of Veterinary Pathology, 2 Department of Veterinary Parasitology,

DGCN College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSK HP Agricultural University, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh176062, India.

1 rkvetpath@gmail.com, 2 moudgil.aman@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 sameekshakoundal@gmail.com, 4 rdpatil02@gmail.com,

5 asranirk@gmail.com

 

 

Editor: L.D. Singla, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, India. Date of publication: 26 November 2020 (online & print)

 

Citation: Kumar, R., A.D. Moudgil, S. Koundal, R.D. Patil & R.K. Asrani (2020). Parasitic enteritis in the free-ranging Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Aves: Passeriformes: Sturnidae). Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(15): 17168–17170. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4756.12.15.17168-17170

 

Copyright: © Kumar et al. 2020. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: None.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors are highly grateful to the Dean, COVAS for providing necessary facilities to carry out the study.

 

 

The Common Myna Acridotheres tristisis is an opportunist omnivore and can be easily spotted near human localities or grazing pastures (Feare et al. 2016). The maintenance of a high level of infection in mynas is associated with their feeding habits.  These birds often feed insects which are usually the intermediate hosts for many helminthic infections (Caughley & Sinclair 1994).  The myna has also been found to carry protozoan parasites like Haemoproteus and Plasmodium spp. (Ishtiaq et al. 2006).  Various reports of mynas spreading the zoonotic diseases to humans (bird flu and salmonellosis), asthma, dermatitis etc. are also recorded (Young 2000). This communication highlights the presence of the parasitic tapeworm, Hymenolepis cantaniana, in a free ranging bird, precipitating the potentiality of disease transmission to domesticated birds.

Two adult Common Myna (1 male and 1 female) were brought to the Department of Veterinary Pathology for necropsy examination from Rajot, Baijnath Tehsil, Himachal Pradesh.  On detailed necropsy examination the entire small intestine was found to be stuffed with balled-up dull white coloured tapeworms along with catarrhal exudate (Image 4).  The collected cestode parasites were thin thread-like having average lengths of 1.84±0.13 cm.  The proglottids of the tapeworms were collected carefully from the intestines (mainly duodenum and jejunum) of the birds, which were dorso-ventrally compressed between two slides and fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin.  After complete overnight washing, the worms were dehydrated in ascending grades of alcohol.  The specimen were stained in borax carmine and then transferred to a clearing agent (cedar wood oil) and finally mounted in dextrine plasticised xylene (DPX) (Meyer & Oslen 1975).

Tissue sections of the intestine with a thickness of 5mm were collected in 10% neutral buffered formalin for histopathological investigation.  The formalin fixed tissues were processed, sectioned at 4–6 micron thickness and stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) for microscopic evaluation as per the protocol described by Luna (1968).

A thorough external examination revealed emaciated carcasses with whitish to pale conjunctival mucus membranes.  The morphological characteristics of the parasites recovered from the small intestine were studied in detail for identification of the genus of the cestode parasite.  The detailed observation of the scolex, exhibited the presence of armed rostellum, i.e., presence of rostellar hooks (Image 1).  The mean length of the cestode parasites was 1.84±0.13 cm (mean ± standard deviation) (n=10).  The proglottids exhibited the presence of unilateral genital pores, slightly anterior to the middle of the proglottids (Image 2).  The observations were depicting the parasite to be Hymenolepis cantaniana and were in concordance to the findings of Demis et al. (2015).  In a similar study, Ponnudurai et al. (2009) recovered tapeworms from Myna, which were later on identified as Railliettina species.

The histopathological examination of the intestine revealed the presence of severe congestion, necrotic cellular debris in the intestinal lumen, pyknotic changes and eosinophilic catarrhal exudate along with goblet cell hyperplasia and a few polymorphonuclear cells (Image 3).  The observations are in concordance with the findings of Omer et al. (2015).

As this avian species frequently wanders around the backyard or organized poultry farms, consequently, may act as a potential source for pathogen transmission to the domesticated poultry and other birds by contaminating the feed or water with their droppings.  The gross and histopathological studies revealed that severe emaciation due to catarrhal enteritis caused by H. cantaniana tape worms was most probably the cause of death in the Common Myna.

 

For images - - click here

 

References

 

Caughley, G. & A.R.E. Sinclair (1994). Wildlife Ecology and Management. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK, 334pp.

Demis, C., M. Anteneh & A. Basith (2015). Tapeworms of poultry in Ethiopia: A Review. British Journalof Poultry Science 4(3): 44–52. https://doi.org/10.5829/idosi.bjps.2015.4.3.96145

Feare, C.J., J.V. Woude, P. Greenwell, H.A. Edwards, J.A. Taylor, C.S. Larose, P. Ahlen, J. West, W. Chadwick, S. Pandey, K. Raines, F. Garcia, J. Komdeurb & A. Groene (2016). Eradication of Common Mynas Acridotheres tristis from Denis Island, Seychelles. Pest Management Science 73(2): 295–304. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.4263

Ishtiaq, F., J.S. Beadell, A.J. Baker, A.R. Rahmani, Y.V. Jhala & R.C. Fleischer (2006). Prevalence and evolutionary relationships of haematozoan parasites in native versus introduced populations of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273: 587–594. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3313

Luna, G. (1968). Manual of Histological Staining Method of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 3rd Edition. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, xii+258pp.

Meyer, C.M. & W.O. Oslen (1975). Essentials of Parasitology. Dubuque, W.M.C Brown Company Publishers, ix+303pp.

Omer, L.T., M. Ali, A. Dyar & A. Morad (2015). Detection of parasitic infections and their pathological changes in wild pigeons in Duhok province. Al-Qadisiyah Journal of Veterinary Medicine Sciences 14: 2.

Ponnudurai, G., T.J. Harikrishnan, A. Arulmozhi & N. Rani (2009). A note on helminth parasites of Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. Zoos’ Print 24(11): 2.

Young, A. (2000). Corneal laceration with total but isolated aniridia caused by a pecking injury. Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery 26(9): 1419–1421. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0886-3350(00)00365-5