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Feather molt is recognized as an energetically costly activity for birds, and parasite infestation during molt has the potential to reduce host fitness because parasites sequester essential nutrients and stimulate the immune system. We manipulated the coccidian parasite load of captive male House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) by suppressing the natural infection of control birds with an anticoccidial drug and infecting experimental birds with coccidian oocysts. Following infestation, the effect of chronic coccidian infection on individual condition, molt and 12 indices of physiological and immunological function was assessed. We found a significant positive relationship between infestation and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio measured at capture, indicating infectioninduced stress. We also found that coccidians negatively affected feather growth during molt: the increase in wing length of the noninfected birds was significantly higher than that of infected birds. In comparison to control birds, infect...

The importance of studies on the diversity of ticks attacking humans resides mostly in the relatively highly-specific tick-pathogen associations. Human tick bites are commonly reported worldwide but removal of ticks from patients is rarely followed by specific identification of the ticks, leaving to some degree of hazard the preventive treatment of possible associated diseases. A total number of 308 ticks were collected between April and June 2010 from 275 human patients who voluntarily presented to a hospital from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The mean intensity of infection was 1.12 ± 0.46. Four species of ticks were identified Ixodes ricinus, Dermacentor marginatus, Haemaphysalis concinna and H. punctata. Ixodes ricinus was the most abundant species feeding on humans in the study area. A brief review of possible associated pathogen is provided.

There is no current information regarding the prevalence of parasites in Romanian cats. Consequently, we conducted a study to evaluate the prevalence of endoparasites in a sample of household cats in the Transylvania region, to point out the risk factors for parasite infection and to evaluate the knowledge of cat owners about the zoonotic potential of some parasites. Four hundred fourteen faecal samples were collected and examined by sodium chloride flotation followed by microscopy. Also, questionnaires were administered to cat owners (196). The overall prevalence of endoparasites in household cats was 34.3% (142/414; CI 29.8-39.1). Concurrent infections with two or more parasites were recorded in 17.6% cats. The detected parasites were Toxocara cati (20.3%), Ancylostoma spp. (10.1%), Isospora rivolta (8.9%), Isospora felis (5.3%), Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (5.6%), Strongyloides spp. (3.4%), Capillaria aerophila (3.1%), Taenia taeniaeformis (2.7%), T. gondii/H. hammondi (1.2%), Sarcocystis spp. (1%), Giardia duodenalis (0.7%) and Dypillidium caninum (0.2%). Risk factors for infection with parasites in cats were identified to be age and medium (rural or urban area). Thus, I. felis, I. rivolta and T. cati were more common in cats less than/equal to 1-year old, and Ancylostoma spp. and A. abstrusus were more prevalent in cats older than 1-year of age. 72.4% of the owners applied anthelmintic treatments to their cats, more commonly in urban areas (87.3%) (4 treatments/year) than in rural areas (12.7%) (1 treatment/year). 66.3% of the owners knew about the zoonotic potential of some parasites from cats, and the main source of information was veterinarians (65.4%). In conclusion the prevalence of endoparasites in household cats from Transylvania is high. Consequently, consideration should be given to the use of anthelmintics and to pet owner education.

SUMMARYIn the present study, we experimentally manipulated coccidian parasitism and dietary carotenoid availability in a fully factorial experiment in male house sparrows (Passer domesticus Linnaeus), and tested whether carotenoid supplementation reduces the cost of parasitism in terms of condition, moult and immune responses. We found that coccidians have a significant but transient negative effect on body mass, which can be reduced if birds have access to carotenoid supplementation in their diet. Experimental manipulation had no significant effect on the moulting parameters of the birds measured following coccidian infestation and during the whole moulting period. Carotenoid supplementation increased the plasma carotenoid concentration in both infested and medicated birds treated with a coccidiostatic drug; however,after two months exposure to parasites, plasma carotenoid concentration increased only in the carotenoid-supplemented and medicated group whereas no difference was observed between the carotenoid-supplemented and infested and non-supplemented groups. On the contrary, coccidian infestation was not affected by carotenoid supplementation. Experimental infestation decreased the antibody response to sheep red blood cells (SRBCs), although no significant effect was observed in the capacity of the birds to respond to a mitogenic challenge with phytohemagglutinin. Within the experimentally infested groups birds with carotenoid-supplemented food tended to have an increased anti-SRBC humoral immune response. The positive correlation between coccidian infestation and the strength of the humoral immune response against SRBCs in the non-supplemented and infested groups indicates that this part of the immune system plays an important role in defence against these parasites.

The first identification of Neospora caninum infection in aborted bovine foetuses in Romania is reported. Nine aborted foetuses were collected from a dairy farm. The foetal age of foetuses was between 3 and 7 months. A 7-month-old foetus was mummified. N. caninum DNA Nc-5 region was amplified from samples extracted from brain tissues of three (33.3%) aborted foetuses. The foetal ages of PCR positive foetuses were 3, 4 and 7 months (mummified). No specific lesions or tissue cysts were found to the histological examination, because of advanced autolysis of brains.