Publications by authors named "Federica Marcer"

Non-human primates (NHPs) host a variety of helminth and protist parasites that are able to cause infection in humans. Gastrointestinal parasites in NHPs living in two zoological gardens of Northern Italy were studied. An total of 96 faecal pools were collected from 26 groups of NHPs.

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The Mediterranean Sea is recognized as a marine biodiversity hotspot. This enclosed basin is facing several anthropogenic-driven threats, such as seawater warming, pollution, overfishing, bycatch, intense maritime transport and invasion by alien species. The present review focuses on the diversity and ecology of specific marine trophically transmitted helminth endoparasites (TTHs) of the Mediterranean ecosystems, aiming to elucidate their potential effectiveness as ‘sentinels’ of anthropogenic disturbances in the marine environment.

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(Copepoda: Harpaticoida) is one of the few components of the epibiontic fauna of that show a "true" parasitic association with their host. From rrosive to ulcerative cutaneous lesions may seldom appear as a consequence of the copepod feeding on keratin on turtles' skin. Debilitating Turtle Syndrome (DTS) is the final outcome of a chronic insufficient assumption of nutrients, generally occurring with the impairment of immune functions and high epibiota burdens.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the effectiveness of different copromicroscopic techniques for detecting gastrointestinal helminths in red foxes, focusing on the comparison between scraping, filtration and counting (SFCT) and simpler methods like flotation (FT) and multiplex PCR (CMPCR).
  • Researchers isolated helminths from 150 red foxes in Italy, identifying three types of nematodes and five types of cestodes, with FT showing low sensitivity compared to SFCT, especially for Taeniidae species.
  • The findings suggest that traditional copromicroscopic methods often underestimate helminth prevalence, particularly in high-prevalence situations for cestodes, due to irregular egg shedding and sample handling issues, highlighting the need for more
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Gymnophallids of the genus Parvatrema are small trematodes infecting waterbirds in their adult stage. Several species of clams and mussels have been found to act as first and second intermediate hosts, in which the trematode larval stages induce the formation of pearls. In this study, a wild population of Mytilus galloprovincialis was sampled along the Northwestern coast of the Adriatic Sea to evaluate the origin and extent of visible pearls.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the distribution and genetic diversity of anisakid nematodes (Anisakis spp.) in cetaceans, revealing that this aspect of marine ecosystems is often overlooked.
  • A total of 478 specimens from various cetacean species across the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean were analyzed, showing clear host preferences for different Anisakis species among cetacean families.
  • Findings indicate significant genetic differences in some Anisakis populations depending on their cetacean hosts and geographic locations, highlighting the importance of understanding these interactions for conservation in the face of climate change.
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Free-ranging cetaceans are considered sentinels for the marine ecosystem's health. New and non-invasive methods have been set up for the collection of fecal samples from free-ranging big whales at sea, permitting to gain an excellent epidemiological picture of parasitic infections in wild populations. To select the best protocol to be used for copromicroscopic examination in cetaceans stool samples, we evaluated the sensitivity of two commonly used techniques, i.

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is a turtle species native to Central America. Since the 1950s, pond sliders have been imported worldwide as companion animals, but have often ended up in foreign ecosystems with great ecological consequences. Moreover, both autochthonous and invasive species of turtles can be carriers of pathogens, including .

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Organs and content of the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) of marine mammals are relevant for a variety of investigations and provide data to researchers from different fields. Currently used protocols applied to the GIT for specific analysis limit the possibility to execute other investigations and important information could be lost. To ensure a proper sample collection and a multidisciplinary investigation of the GIT of marine mammals, a new multi-sieves tool and a specific protocol have been developed.

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Post-mortem examination of a fin whale Balaenoptera physalus stranded in the Mediterranean Sea led to the finding of Bolbosoma balaenae for the first time in this basin. In this work, we describe new structural characteristics of this parasite using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy approaches. Moreover, the molecular and phylogenetic data as inferred from both ribosomal RNA 18S-28S and the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase c subunit 1 (cox1) for adult specimens of B.

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The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is the rarest species of pinniped in the world. Necropsy of a Mediterranean monk seal pup that stranded alive on the southern Adriatic Italian coast and died a few hours later revealed co-infection by cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) and Toxoplasma gondii. Pathological lesions included a multifocal, moderate to severe, necrotizing myocarditis and a diffuse, chronic, moderate interstitial pneumonia with bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial hyperplasia.

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Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) is a disease caused by the protist and transmitted to dogs by sand fly (Diptera: Phlebotominae) bites. In 2005, a new autochthonous focus of CanL was recognised in the southern part of Euganei hills (northeastern Italy). In subsequent years, this outbreak was monitored, testing dogs and evaluating sand fly population.

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Aquatain is an alternative larvicide formulation to the currently used larvicides. Its efficacy can be assessed monitoring emerging adults with a floating device that was recently developed for use in catch basins. In this study, the efficacy of Aquatain in controlling and complex was investigated by comparing the adults emerging from 25 treated catch basins with that of 25 control basins in northeastern Italy.

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is a nematode parasite of sea turtles, widespread in neritic foraging grounds with variable prevalence, reaching 30% in loggerhead turtles feeding in northern Adriatic Sea. Ulcerative gastritis associated to high intensity of infection is reported in this host species. The life cycle of has been elucidated in Australian and American waters, demonstrating the ability of the species of infecting a wide range of intermediate hosts, represented by bivalve and gastropod molluscs.

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(Anisakidae), a pathogenic nematode of sea turtles, may cause ulcerous gastritis with different degrees of severity. Previous studies demonstrated a high prevalence of infection in the Mediterranean loggerhead turtle (), although no data on the potential intermediate hosts of this nematode has been published thus far from the Mediterranean basin. Here, using molecular analyses, we demonstrated that the cross sections of nematode larvae observed histologically in Mediterranean mussels () collected from a farm along the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy belong to .

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Background: Parasites of the family Spirorchiidae cause disease and mortality in marine and freshwater turtles; two species, Hapalotrema mistroides and Neospirorchis sp., are reported in the resident population of loggerhead turtles of the Mediterranean Sea, with the first being the most widespread. In vivo diagnosis of spirorchidiasis can represent a challenge in guaranteeing prompt control and treatment of the disease and is currently limited to copromicroscopy.

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The contamination of public areas by dog faeces is a social behaviour and public health problem. In fact, the most frequently isolated intestinal helminths in dogs are distributed worldwide, and most of them have zoonotic potential (i.e.

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Various ticks exist in the temperate hilly and pre-alpine areas of Northern Italy, where Ixodes ricinus is the more important. In this area different tick-borne pathogen monitoring projects have recently been implemented; we present here the results of a twoyear field survey of ticks and associated pathogens, conducted 2009-2010 in North-eastern Italy. The cost-effectiveness of different sampling strategies, hypothesized a posteriori based on two sub-sets of data, were compared and analysed.

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Sulcascaris sulcata Rudolphi 1819 is a gastric nematode parasite of sea turtles. Here, we report the occurrence and describe for the first time the pathological changes caused by S. sulcata in the Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) stranded along the Tyrrhenian coast and northern Adriatic coast of Italy.

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Infection by blood flukes and sp. (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) has been recently reported in (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Mediterranean Sea. Observations of post mortem lesions are generally used to assess disease severity, and few attempts have been made to standardize the evaluation of the parasitic burden from tissue egg counts.

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