Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2021 | 13(1): 17517–17520
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5179.13.1.17517-17520
#5179 | Received 18 July 2019 | Final
received 18 November 2020 | Finally accepted 23 December 2020
On the epidemiology of helminth
parasites in Hangul Deer Cervus hanglu hanglu (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Cervidae) of Dachigam National Park, India
Naziya Khurshid 1, Hidayatulla Tak 2, Ruqeya Nazir 3, Kulsum
Ahmad Bhat 4 & Muniza Manzoor 5--
1,2,4,5 Department of Zoology, 3 Microbiology
Laboratory, Centre of Research for Development,
University of Kashmir, Srinagar,
Jammu and Kashmir 190006, India.
1 naziya.scholar@kashmiruniversity.net,
2 drhidayatku@gmail.com, 3 ruqeya.ku@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 4 kulsumbhat11@gmail.com, 5 munizamanzoor78@gmail.com
Abstract: A one-year study conducted
to ascertain the prevalence and risk factors associated with helminth infection
in Hangul Deer Cervus hanglu
hanglu at Dachigam
National Park revealed that 40.45% (89 of 220 samples) were infected with four
helminth species including Heamonchus contortus, Trichuris ovis,
Dictyocaulus viviparus,
and Moneizia expansa. The study signified that the infection was
more prevalent during the dry season (summer and autumn) as compared to the wet
season (winter and spring). The overall
prevalence of Heamonchus contortus was the highest (23.18%) followed by Trichuris
ovis (8.18%), followed by Dictyocaulus
viviparus (5.45%), and Moneizia
expansa (3.63%).
The present study should be of importance in conserving the erstwhile
state animal, listed as Critically Engendered in 2017 by IUCN.
Keywords: Conservation, Hangul, helminth
infection.
Editor: Rajeshkumar G. Jani, Anand Agricultural
University, Anand, India. Date of publication:
26 January 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Khurshid, N., H. Tak, R. Nazir, K.A. Bhat & M. Manzoor (2021). On the epidemiology of helminth
parasites in Hangul Deer Cervus hanglu hanglu (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Cervidae) of Dachigam National Park, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(1): 17517–17520. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5179.13.1.17517-17520
Copyright: © Khurshid et al. 2021. 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: Ministry
of Science and Technology, Department of Science &
Technology (KIRAN DIVISION) under reference
no. SR/WOS-A/LS-425/2018.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We are thankful to the officials
and field staff at Dachigam National Park for their
kind support during the sampling.
Financial assistance rendered by DST as Wos-a
(LS-425-2018) is gratefully acknowledged.
Parasites are important natural
components of ecosystems because they actively arbitrate in the ecological,
demographic and life history processes of their hosts, impelling the structure
and organization of free-living organism communities (Poulin & Morand 2000). The
study of parasites provides information not only on the host’s health but also
on the evolutionary history and historical biogeography of the host-parasite
relationships as well as the health of
the ecosystem (Brook & McLennan 1993).
Helminth’s incursion of ruminants is one of the major problems
worldwide. These infections are
responsible a for large number of economic losses in the form of lower fertility,
reduced capacity, involuntary culling and mortality in heavily parasitized
animals (Carmicheal 1972; Akerejola
et al. 1979). Gastrointestinal parasites
especially the helminth infections are the main causal proxies of intestinal
and extra-intestinal infections, however, the parasites in wildlife vertebrates
are challenging to study. These
parasites are the common cause of significant morbidity and mortality in wild
animals especially the endangered ones.
Hence, early detection and discrepancy of these parasites is important
in the clinical management of wild animals.
This, however, has been a major limitation in studying parasites of rare
and endangered species like Hangul in Dachigam
National Park.
Hangul, being the erstwhile State
animal is a subspecies of the European Red Deer. Although more than 150 species of deer are
recognized globally, Hangul is the only surviving race of the Red Deer family
of Europe in the sub-continent. Before
1947, the number of Hangul Deer in Jammu & Kashmir was in thousands but due
to poaching, parasitic infections, and lack of management, there has been a
drastic waning in their number (Ahmad & Nigam 2014). In 2015, the total population size was
estimated to be 110–130 individuals in Dachigam
National Park with overall 150–200 individuals (the number of mature
individuals presumably significantly smaller), thus declared as a Critically
Endangered deer (Brook et al. 2017).
Parasitic infections are common
in nature, but low intensity infections are often asymptomatic and intensify
with anthropogenic changes, which may result in loss of stability associated
with altered transmission rates, host range, and virulence (Anderson & May
1979). The prevalence of these parasitic
infections in the Red Deer Cervus elaphus is widespread across the world (Watson &
Charleston 1985). The proper
identification of the helminth infection is vital to address this issue. The data concerning the gastrointestinal
infection of Hangul Deer in Dachigam National Park is
scarce and fragmentary. Therefore, the
study will add to the existing knowledge and will help to devise appropriate
control and prophylactic strategies for helminthiasis of the last surviving
species of European Red Deer.
Material and Methods
A total of
220 fresh faecal samples were collected from various feeding sites of Hangul
Deer at Dachigam National Park. The samples were stored in sterile vials
containing 10% formalin solution in order to avoid contamination and to
preserve the parasites. The preserved
samples were examined at Microbiology Research Laboratory, CORD, University of
Kashmir using various qualitative and quantitative techniques. Simple flotation technique was used for the
separation of nematode and cestode eggs by concentrating them by means of
flotation fluid with appropriate specific gravity. Sedimentation technique was used to detect
trematode eggs as this technique concentrates them in a sediment (Sloss et al. 1994; Urquhart et al. 1996). Many nematodes eggs are alike and species
like Heamonchus, Oesophagostomum,
Ostertagia, and Cooperia
cannot be differentiated. Therefore, for
proper identification, faecal culture was done for hatching and development of
these helminth eggs into infective stage (L3).
The larvae were then recovered by using Bearmann’s
technique. Identification of eggs and
larvae was done on the basis of various morphological and morphometric
characters (Sahai & Deo 1964; Soulsby
1982; van Wyk et al. 2004).
Results
Out of the total 220 samples, 89
(40.45%) samples were found infected with one or more helminth species -- Heamonchus contortus (Image
1A), Trichuris ovis (Image 1B), Dictyocaulus viviparus (Image
1C), and Moneizia expansa,
however, no acanthocephalan was detected during the study. Table 1 indicates the overall prevalence of
helminthiasis in Hangul Deer: Heamonchus contortus (23.18%) followed by Trichuris ovis (8.18%) and Dictyocaulus
viviparus (5.45%). Moneizia expansa was seen least (3.63%). There were significant differences in the
prevalence of parasitic infestation with respect to the season. Table 2 and Figure 2 clearly depicts that the
infection was higher in dry season as compared to the wet.
Discussion
The current epidemiological study
of helminth parasite infection in Hangul Deer revealed that the bulk of work
has been done on gastrointestinal parasitic infestation of ruminants of Kashmir
region (Dhar et al. 1982; Tariq et al. 2008a,b,c; Lone et al. 2012) but other
wildlife of the region remains poorly studied.
The current examination revealed four different helminth species in the
faecal samples of Hangul deer. Of these
three were nematodes, viz., Heamonchus contortus (23.18%) followed by Trichuris ovis (8.18%) and Dictyocaulus
viviparous (5.45%). Heamonchus contortus,
a tropical and sub-tropical parasite already prevalent in Kashmir Valley was
found in the highest numbers. The increase in temperature due to global climate
alterations can be one of the possible reasons for the occurrence of this
parasite in the temperate climate zone.
One cestode species Moneizia expansa was seen in least count (3.63%). Out of 220 samples (Table 1 and Fig. 1), 89
(40.45%) samples were found infected.
The prevalence of infection was found higher in dry season which
included summer and autumn (56.36%) than the wet season which included winter
and spring (24.54%) (Table 2, Figure 2).
The reason of this reduction could be the hypobiosis
of nematodes in host and unavailability of hosts (Ogunsuri
& Eysker 1979; Gibbs 1986) during the wet
season. The data however, presents
overall low intensity of infection possibly due to grazing break during winter
season and also the relocation of sheep breeding farm outside the park in 2017,
may have contributed to the lower infestation.
The incidence of infection in this study was lower as compared to
earlier studies (Nashiruddullah et al. 2005, 2007;
Lone et al. 2014).
Conclusion
The present study has revealed
that the Hangul deer is infested with helminth infection and infection is
influenced by seasonality, however, more information is required about these
parasites and their transmission to effectively control helminthiasis in the
Hangul Deer. We believe that the present
study would provide baseline data for further studies.
Table 1. Overall prevalence of
helminth infection in Hangul Deer.
|
Parasite Species |
Infected samples (Total 220) |
Percentage (%) |
|
Heamonchus contortus |
51 |
23.18% |
|
Trichuris ovis |
18 |
8.18% |
|
Dictyocaulus viviparus |
12 |
5.45% |
|
Moneizia expansa |
8 |
3.63% |
|
Total |
89 |
40.45% |
Table 2. Prevalence of helminth
infection across seasons.
|
Season(s) |
Examined faecal samples |
Infected samples |
Percentage (%) |
|
|
Dry season |
Summer |
55 |
49 |
89.09% |
|
Autumn |
55 |
13 |
23.64% |
|
|
Total |
110 |
62 |
56.36% |
|
|
Wet season |
Winter |
55 |
11 |
20% |
|
Spring |
55 |
16 |
29.09% |
|
|
Total |
110 |
27 |
24.54% |
|
|
Overall |
220 |
89 |
40.45% |
|
For
figure & image - - click here
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