Search results for "Intestinal parasite"
showing 10 items of 17 documents
Food limitation constrains host immune responses to nematode infections.
2016
Trade-offs in the allocation of finite-energy resources among immunological defences and other physiological processes are believed to influence infection risk and disease severity in food-limited wildlife populations. However, this prediction has received little experimental investigation. Here we test the hypothesis that food limitation impairs the ability of wild field voles ( Microtus agrestis ) to mount an immune response against parasite infections. We conducted a replicated experiment on vole populations maintained in large outdoor enclosures during boreal winter, using food supplementation and anthelmintic treatment of intestinal nematodes. Innate immune responses against intestina…
Aging parasites produce offspring with poor fitness prospects.
2017
Senescing individuals have poor survival prospects and low fecundity. They can also produce offspring with reduced survival and reproductive success. We tested the effect of parental age on the performance of descendants in the nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus , an intestinal parasite of rodents. We found that offspring of senescing worms had reduced within-host survival and reduced egg shedding over the first month post-infection compared with offspring produced by young parents. These results suggest that declining offspring quality is a component of senescence in parasitic nematodes and might have evolutionary consequences for the optimal schedule of age-dependent investment into repr…
Interpreting immunological indices: the importance of taking parasite community into account. An example in blackbirds Turdus merula.
2015
13 pages; International audience; Despite the intensive use of immune indices in immunoecology, whether to interpret the results of immune indices in terms of actual immune competence (i.e. ability to control and clear parasite infections as indicated by high values of immune indices associated with low parasite loads) or current immune activation (pathogenic infection being associated with high parasite load and high values of immune indices) is still an open question. Most studies to date have produced contrasting results focused on the effect of a single parasite species despite the fact that hosts usually harbour a community of parasites that influences one another's impact on host immu…
Prevalence of intestinal parasites, with emphasis on the molecular epidemiology of Giardia duodenalis and Blastocystis sp., in the Paranaguá Bay, Bra…
2018
BACKGROUND: Intestinal protozoan parasites are major contributors to the global burden of gastrointestinal disease causing significant socioeconomic consequences. Children living in resource-poor settings with restricted access to water and sanitary services are particularly at risk of these infections. METHODS: A prospective, community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in Paraná (southern Brazil) between May 2015 and May 2016. A total of 766 stool samples were individually collected from volunteers (male/female ratio: 0.99; age range: 0-76 years) and used for investigating the presence of intestinal helminth and protozoan species by routine microscopic procedures including the Ka…
Disentangling the effect of host genetics and gut microbiota on resistance to an intestinal parasite
2019
11 pages; International audience; Resistance to infection is a multifactorial trait, and recent work has suggested that the gut microbiota can also contribute to resistance. Here, we performed a fecal microbiota transplant to disentangle the contribution of the gut microbiota and host genetics as drivers of resistance to the intestinal nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus. We transplanted the microbiota of a strain of mice (SJL), resistant to H. polygyrus, into a susceptible strain (CBA) and vice-versa. We predicted that if the microbiota shapes resistance to H. polygyrus, the FMT should reverse the pattern of resistance between the two host strains. The two host strains had different microbi…
Disease severity in patients with visceral leishmaniasis is not altered by co-infection with intestinal parasites
2017
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected tropical disease that affects the poorest communities and can cause substantial morbidity and mortality. Visceral leishmaniasis is characterized by the presence of Leishmania parasites in the spleen, liver and bone marrow, hepatosplenomegaly, pancytopenia, prolonged fever, systemic inflammation and low body mass index (BMI). The factors impacting on the severity of VL are poorly characterized. Here we performed a cross-sectional study to assess whether co-infection of VL patients with intestinal parasites influences disease severity, assessed with clinical and haematological data, inflammation, cytokine profiles and BMI. Data from VL patients was s…
Under control: how a dietary additive can restore the gut microbiome and proteomic profile, and improve disease resilience in a marine teleostean fis…
2017
[Background]: The constant increase of aquaculture production and wealthy seafood consumption has forced the industry to explore alternative and more sustainable raw aquafeed materials, and plant ingredients have been used to replace marine feedstuffs in many farmed fish. The objective of the present study was to assess whether plant-based diets can induce changes in the intestinal mucus proteome, gut autochthonous microbiota and disease susceptibility of fish, and whether these changes could be reversed by the addition of sodium butyrate to the diets. Three different trials were performed using the teleostean gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) as model. In a first preliminary short-term tr…
Effects of Diets Supplemented with Medicinal Mushroom Myceliated Grains on Some Production, Health, and Oxidation Traits of Dairy Ewes
2019
The beneficial properties of mushrooms’ bioactive compounds indicate their potential for use as performance-enhancing natural additives for livestock animals. A study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of diets supplemented with mushroom myceliated grains (MMGs) fed to dairy ewes on intestinal parasite load, milk production, milk fatty acid (FA) composition, and cheese oxidative stability. During an 8-week experimental period, 21 lactating Valle del Belice ewes were divided into 3 groups named MMG20, MMG10, and MMG0. Ewes in each group were fed hay ad libitum and 1.3 kg/day/head of 1 of 3 concentrates with MMGs at 20% (MMG20), 10% (MMG10), or 0% (MMG0). The ewes fed MMG20 had comparable…
Assessment of the Nutritional Status, Diet and Intestinal Parasites in Hosted Saharawi Children.
2020
Since the early 1990s, Spanish humanitarian associations have welcomed Saharawi children from the refugee camps in Tindouf (Argelia). These children are the most affected by the lack of food, water, hygienic measures and health care. The main objective of this study was to analyze the anthropometric, nutritional and parasitological data of 38 Saharawi boys and girls (from 10 to 13 years old) under a holiday host program in the city of Valencia. Our results confirm that malnutrition and multiparasitism are highly frequent, so it is understood that living conditions in refugee camps continue to be precarious with a lack of proper hygiene and nutrition. Furthermore, biochemical alterations, la…
Carotenoid trade-off between parasitic resistance and sexual display: an experimental study in the blackbird (Turdus merula).
2008
Many parasites depress the expression of the carotenoid-based colour displays of their hosts, and it has been hypothesized that animals face a trade-off in carotenoid allocation between immune functions and ‘degree of ornamentation’. While numerous correlative studies suggest that parasite infection decreases the intensity of carotenoid-based colour displays, the existence of this trade-off has never been demonstrated experimentally in a host–parasite model. In this study, we used the blackbird ( Turdus merula ) and Isospora (an intestinal parasite) to assess whether this trade-off does indeed exist. Blackbirds were supplemented with carotenoids while simultaneously being exposed to parasi…