In traditional Chinese medicine, the feces of flying squirrels have long been used to promote blood circulation and relieve bodily stasis. However, the excrement of flying squirrels may harbor zoonotic agents that could be hazardous to public health. To understand the occurrence of bacterial and parasitic infections in this species, we investigated selected zoonotic pathogens including Leptospira and Blastocystis in the urine and feces of flying squirrels in China. Urine and fecal samples from flying squirrels were collected from a family-owned flying squirrel farm located in Enshi County, Hubei Province in China. Leptospira and Blastocystis DNA was extracted from the urine and feces of flying squirrels, and used as targets for PCR amplification, using different specific primers. PCR amplification and DNA sequencing showed that 4.4% (3/69) of flying squirrels were positive for Leptospira, while 30.4% (21/69) of the animals were positive for Blastocystis. Notably, 1.4% (1/69) of flying squirrels were found to be co-infected with Leptospira and Blastocystis. Sequence analyses allowed for the detection of 3 Blastocystis subtypes (ST1, ST3 and ST13), and mixed infections of Blastocystis subtype 1 and subtype 3 were found in 4.4% (3/69) of flying squirrels. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene (rrs2), the flagellin B gene (flaB), and outer membrane lipoprotein lipL32 gene (LipL32) sequences indicated that the Leptospira species detected in the study was L. interrogans. We concluded that flying squirrels from central China were infected with Leptospira and Blastocystis, suggesting that these animals can be a source of infection for their owners, and using fresh excrement from this animal as traditional medicine could be risky to human health. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Leptospira and Blastocystis infection in flying squirrels from Enshi County, China. Our findings provide new data on the epidemiology of these pathogens in this region.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2019.105065 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Effective Survey Methods for the Elusive Data Deficient Black Flying Squirrel () in Sabah, Malaysia Facilitate First Vocalisation Record.
Animals (Basel)
November 2024
Night Spotting Project, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia.
Flying squirrels are nocturnal, gliding relatives of tree and ground squirrels (order Sciuridae). Despite 49 species existing, literature on Asiatic flying squirrels is scarce, thus they are overlooked in conservation action plans. Recently, three species of giant flying squirrel (, and ) were observed during a nocturnal mammal survey at the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC), an Eco centre at the edge of the Kabili-Sepilok forest reserve in Sepilok, Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNo evidence of early life resource pulse effects on age-specific variation in survival, reproduction and body mass of female Siberian flying squirrels.
J Anim Ecol
December 2024
Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Understanding the diversity and causes of senescence patterns in the wild remains a challenging task, in particular among fast-living species for which senescence patterns have been poorly studied. Early life environmental conditions can shape senescence by influencing trade-offs between early and late life performance (disposable soma theory) or individual fitness through lifelong positive effects (silver spoon effects). Using a 23-year-long monitoring dataset of two populations of Siberian flying squirrels (Pteromys volans L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA long look at Copley's A Boy with a Flying Squirrel: implications for the default mode network.
Brain
October 2024
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
Application of improved Jellyfish search algorithm for 9-parameters cell extraction and GMPPT in PV systems.
Sci Rep
October 2024
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
Article Synopsis
- Optimization algorithms help solve real-world problems by minimizing or maximizing variables, crucial for improving photovoltaic (PV) systems’ efficiency.
- Many existing algorithms struggle under changing conditions, often getting stuck at local maxima instead of finding the global maximum power point (GMPPT), leading to energy losses.
- The paper introduces an Improved Jellyfish Search Optimization (IJSO) algorithm that combines features from the Jellyfish Search Optimization and cuckoo search to enhance exploration and exploitation, showing promising results in experiments focusing on energy extraction and parameter optimization in PV systems.
Comparative selective pressure analysis on mitochondrial protein-coding genes in flying squirrels (Pteromyini) and tree squirrels (Sciurini).
Mitochondrial DNA A DNA Mapp Seq Anal
October 2024
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, Key Laboratory of Tropical Animal and Plant Ecology of Hainan Province, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China.
Article Synopsis
- - Different animal groups have unique energy needs based on their locomotion, and this study focuses on flying squirrels (Pteromyini) and tree squirrels (Sciurini), which belong to the same family but have different movement styles and energy requirements.
- - By analyzing mitochondrial genome sequences from 13 Pteromyini and 117 Sciurini species, the study found distinct evolutionary pressures on the protein-coding genes that produce energy, indicating different selective influences on these two squirrel tribes.
- - The analysis showed that some genes in flying squirrels faced less selection pressure, while others in tree squirrels experienced stronger and more varied selection, highlighting the genetic adaptations to their different locomotion modes.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!