RESUMO

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to estimate the occurrence of malaria infection among captive psittacine birds (n=127) from three zoological gardens in Brazil. Malaria infection was evaluated by the association of direct examination of blood smears with amplification of the 18SSU rRNA gene of the Plasmodium genus, demonstrating an overall occurrence of 36%. Most infected bird species were Amazona aestiva (28/73), Ara ararauna (6/10), and Amazona amazonica (3/10). The low parasitemias observed among the infected birds suggest a chronic infection. The sequence analyses of 10 isolates indicate a potential occurrence of four distinct Plasmodium lineages. These findings provide new data on malarial infection in captive psittacine birds, and emphasize the need for better control of importation and exportation of these birds.

Assuntos

Malária Aviária/parasitologia , Plasmodium/isolamento & purificação , Psittaciformes , Animais , Sequência de Bases , Brasil/epidemiologia , Estudos Transversais , DNA de Protozoário/química , DNA de Protozoário/genética , Feminino , Malária Aviária/epidemiologia , Masculino , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Parasitemia/epidemiologia , Parasitemia/parasitologia , Parasitemia/veterinária , Filogenia , Plasmodium/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase/veterinária , RNA Ribossômico 18S/química , RNA Ribossômico 18S/genética , Alinhamento de Sequência