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25 April 2023 Survey of Toxoplasma gondii in Urban and Rural Squirrels (Sciuridae) in Manitoba, Canada
Riikka P. Kinnunen, Chloé Schmidt, Adrián Hernández-Ortiz, Md Niaz Rahim, Colin J. Garroway
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Abstract

The coccidian parasite Toxoplasma gondii is found worldwide infecting warm-blooded vertebrates. Felids are the definitive hosts; other species act as intermediate hosts. Squirrels (Sciuridae) generally have high population densities in cities and forage and cache food on the ground, where they may come into contact with T. gondii oocysts or be preyed upon by cats and other carnivores. This environment might make squirrels important intermediate hosts of T. gondii in cities, and infection rates could indicate environmental levels of oocysts in soil. We investigated whether urban squirrels would be more exposed to T. gondii infection than rural squirrels with samples collected from American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus), and least chipmunks (Tamias minimus) in and around Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We tested 230 tissue samples from 46 squirrels for T. gondii DNA by quantitative PCR and 13 serum samples from grey squirrels for T. gondii antibodies by competitive ELISA. We found no evidence of infection in any squirrel, indicating that squirrels are probably not important intermediate hosts of T. gondii in cities and that consumption of oocysts in the soil in general may not be an important contributor to transmission in colder environments.

Riikka P. Kinnunen, Chloé Schmidt, Adrián Hernández-Ortiz, Md Niaz Rahim, and Colin J. Garroway "Survey of Toxoplasma gondii in Urban and Rural Squirrels (Sciuridae) in Manitoba, Canada," Journal of Wildlife Diseases 59(1), 149-154, (25 April 2023). https://doi.org/10.7589/JWD-D-21-00171
Received: 28 October 2021; Accepted: 14 July 2022; Published: 25 April 2023
KEYWORDS
host-parasite interaction
Sciuridae
squirrel
Toxoplasma gondii
urbanization
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