New hosts for the mite Ornithonyssus bursa (Mesostigmata: Macronyssidae) in Argentina

SANTILLÁN, M. A.; GRANDE, J. M.; LIÉBANA, M. S.; MARTÍNEZ, P.; DÍAZ, L. A.; BRAGAGNOLO, L. A.; SOLARO, C.; GALMES, M. A.; SARASOLA, J. H.

MEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2015 vol. 29 p. 439 - 443

0269-283X

Ornithonyssus bursa is considered a poultry pest causing important infestations in chickensand it is considered a potential vector of arbovirus. Despite to be considered as a common?parasite? in wild birds, there is scare published information about its potential hosts and itseffects over them. Here we present new bird hosts for O. bursa, assess for the presence ofvirus on mites from different hosts and discuss its potential impact over wild birdpopulations. The prevalence was calculated for all host species and mites from three hostspecies were analyzed to detect Alphavirus, Flavivirus and Bunyavirus. We found O. bursainfecting five raptor and six passerines wild birds? species. For nine of all these species, thisis the first record of infection by O. bursa. All the analyzed mites were negative forAlphavirus, Flavivirus and Bunyavirus. Because of the general nature of this ectoparasite,its presences on migratory, long dispersal and endangered bird species, and because someof the species here studied have been founded as seropositives for some arboviruses, weconsider critical to assess the role of O. bursa and other ectoparasites as potentialdeleterious agents over wild bird populations and as vectors and reservoirs of pathogens.