Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T15:59:24.211Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cystic echinococcosis in a wild population of the brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata), a threatened macropodid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2008

T. S. BARNES ,
A. W. GOLDIZEN ,
J. M. MORTON  and
G. T. COLEMAN
T. S. BARNES*
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Qld. 4072, Australia
A. W. GOLDIZEN
Affiliation:
School of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland, Qld. 4072, Australia
J. M. MORTON
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Qld. 4072, Australia
G. T. COLEMAN
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Qld. 4072, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Qld. 4072, Australia. Tel: +61 7 3365 3203. Fax: +61 7 3365 1255. E-mail: t.barnes@uq.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Infection of small macropodids with the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus can cause fatalities as well as significant pulmonary impairment and other adverse sequelae. The brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) is a small macropodid listed as vulnerable on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. This study used radiographic techniques to determine the prevalence and severity of pulmonary hydatid infection and growth rates of hydatid cysts in a wild population of this macropodid. The overall prevalence was 15·3% (9/59 animals) with 20·0% (8/40 animals) of adults infected. During the study period, the death of at least 1 infected animal was directly attributed to pulmonary hydatidosis. Rapid cyst growth occurred in some animals (up to 43% increase in cyst volume in 3 months). Cyst volume reduced lung capacity by up to 17%. Secondary pulmonary changes were uncommon but, in 1 animal, resulted in reduction in lung capacity by approximately 50%. Infection was associated with a higher blood urea concentration, but no significant differences in other blood variables were detected. These results indicate that hydatid infection may be a significant risk to threatened populations of small macropodids and should be addressed in conservation management plans for these animals.

Keywords

Echinococcus granulosushydatidmarsupialmacropodidbrush-tailed rock-wallabyPetrogale penicillataconservationAustralia
Type
Original Articles
Information
Parasitology , Volume 135 , Issue 6 , May 2008 , pp. 715 - 723
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Banks, D. J. D., Copeman, D. B. and Skerratt, L. F. (2006). Echinococcus granulosus in northern Queensland. 2. Ecological determinants of infection in beef cattle. Australian Veterinary Journal 84, 308–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barnes, T. S., Hinds, L. A., Jenkins, D. J. and Coleman, G. T. (2007 a). Precocious development of hydatid cysts in a macropodid host. International Journal for Parasitology 37, 1379–1389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, T. S., Morton, J. M. and Coleman, G. T. (2007 b). Clustering of hydatid infection in macropodids. International Journal for Parasitology 37, 943–952.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barnes, T. S., Goldizen, A. W. and Coleman, G. T. (2008). Hematology and serum biochemistry of the brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata). Journal of Wildlife Diseases 44, 295–303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Begg, M., Beveridge, I., Chilton, N. B., Johnson, P. M. and O' Callaghan, M. G. (1995). Parasites of the Proserpine rock-wallaby, Petrogale persephone (Marsupialia: Macropodidae). Australian Mammalogy 18, 45–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beveridge, I., Spratt, D. M., Close, R. L., Barker, S. C. and Sharman, G. B. (1989). Helminth parasites of rock-wallabies, Petrogale spp. (Marsupialia), from Queensland (Australia). Australian Wildlife Research 16, 273–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burbidge, A. A. and McKenzie, N. L. (1989). Patterns in the modern decline of Western Australia's vertebrate fauna: Causes and conservation implications. Biological Conservation 50, 143–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clancy, T. F. and Close, R. L. (1997). The Queensland rock-wallabies – an overview of their conservation status, threats and management. Australian Mammalogy 19, 169–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleaveland, S., Hess, G. R., Dobson, A. P., Laurenson, M. K., McCallum, I. H., Roberts, M. G. and Woodroffe, R. (2001). The role of pathogens in biological conservation. In The Ecology of Wildlife Diseases (ed. Hudson, P., Rizzoli, A., Heesterbeek, H., Dobson, A. P. and Grenfell, B. T.), pp. 139–150. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Daszak, P., Cunningham, A. A. and Hyatt, A. D. (2000). Wildlife ecology – emerging infectious diseases of wildlife – Threats to biodiversity and human health. Science 287, 443–449.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dovey, L., Wong, V. and Bayne, P. (1997). An overview of the status and management of rock-wallabies (Petrogale) in New South Wales. Australian Mammalogy 19, 163–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durie, P. H. and Riek, R. F. (1952). The role of the dingo and wallaby in the infestation of cattle with hydatids (Echinococcus granulosus (Batsch 1786) Rudolphi, 1805) in Queensland. Australian Veterinary Journal 28, 249–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eldridge, M. D. B. (1997). Rock-wallaby conservation: essential data and management priorities. Proceedings of the 1994 National Rock-wallaby Symposium Workshops. Australian Mammalogy 19, 325–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gemmell, M. A. (1958). Hydatid disease in Australia: III. Observations on the incidence and geographical distribution of hydatidiasis in sheep in New South Wales. Australian Veterinary Journal 34, 269–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazlitt, S. L., Eldridge, M. D. B. and Goldizen, A. W. (2004). Fine-scale spatial genetic correlation analyses reveal strong female philopatry within a brush-tailed rock-wallaby colony in southeast Queensland. Molecular Ecology 13, 3621–3632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hazlitt, S. L., Goldizen, A. W. and Eldridge, M. D. B. (2006). Significant patterns of population genetic structure and limited gene flow in a threatened macropodid marsupial despite continuous habitat in southeast Queensland, Australia. Conservation Genetics 7, 675–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hope, M., Bowles, J., Prociv, P. and McManus, D. P. (1992). A genetic comparison of human and wildlife isolates of Echinococcus granulosus in Queensland: public health implications. Medical Journal of Australia 156, 27–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
IUCN (2006). 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 5th February, 2007, from www.iucnredlist.orgGoogle Scholar
Jarman, P. J. and Bayne, P. (1997). Behavioural ecology of Petrogale penicillata in relation to conservation. Australian Mammalogy 19, 219–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, D. J., Fraser, A., Bradshaw, H. and Craig, P. S. (2000). Detection of Echinococcus granulosus coproantigens in Australian canids with natural or experimental infection. Journal of Parasitology 86, 140–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, D. J. and Macpherson, C. N. L. (2003). Transmission ecology of Echinococcus in wild-life in Australia and Africa. Parasitology 127, S63–S72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, D. J. and Morris, B. (1991). Unusually heavy infections of Echinococcus granulosus in wild dogs in south-eastern Australia. Australian Veterinary Journal 68, 36–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, D. J. and Morris, B. (2003). Echinococcus granulosus in wildlife in and around the Kosciuszko National Park, south-eastern Australia. Australian Veterinary Journal 81, 81–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, P. M., Speare, R. and Beveridge, I. (1998). Mortality in wild and captive rock-wallabies and nailtail wallabies due to hydatid disease caused by Echinococcus granulosus. Australian Mammalogy 20, 419–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumaratilake, L. M. and Thompson, R. C. A. (1982). Hydatidosis/echinococcosis in Australia. Helminthological Abstracts – Series A, Animal and Human Helminthology 51, 233–252.Google Scholar
Laws, R. J. and Goldizen, A. W. (2003). Nocturnal home ranges and social interactions of the brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) at Hurdle Creek, Queensland. Australian Mammalogy 25, 169–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lightowlers, M. W., Jensen, O., Fernandez, E., Iriarte, J. A., Woollard, D. J., Gauci, C. G., Jenkins, D. J. and Heath, D. D. (1999). Vaccination trials in Australia and Argentina confirm the effectiveness of the EG95 hydatid vaccine in sheep. International Journal for Parasitology 29, 531–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lillie, R. D. (1954). Histopathologic Technic and Practical Histochemistry. The Blakiston Company, Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Lundie-Jenkins, G. and Lowry, J. (2005). Recovery plan for the bridled nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata) 2005–2009. Report to the Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH), Canberra. Environmental Protection Agency/Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Brisbane.Google Scholar
McCallum, H. (1994). Quantifying the impact of disease on threatened species. Pacific Conservation Biology 1, 107–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCallum, H. and Dobson, A. (1995). Detecting disease and parasite threats to endangered species and ecosystems. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 10, 190–194; 107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menkhorst, P. and Jarman, P. (2005). National recovery plan for the brush-tailed rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata (Gray 1825), 2004/05–2008/09 (Melbourne, Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment).Google Scholar
Nolan, B. and Johnson, P. M. (2001). Recovery plan for the Proserpine rock-wallaby (Petrogale persephone) 2000–2004. Report to Environment Australia, Canberra. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Poole, W. E. and Catling, P. C. (1974). Reproduction in two species of grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus Shaw and Macropus fuliginosus (Desmarest). 1. Sexual maturity and estrus. Australian Journal of Zoology 22, 277–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pople, A. R., Lowry, J., Lundie-Jenkins, G., Clancy, T. F., McCallum, H. I., Sigg, D., Hoolihan, D. and Hamilton, S. (2001). Demography of bridled nailtail wallabies translocated to the edge of their former range from captive and wild stock. Biological Conservation 102, 285–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riordan, P., Hudson, P. J. and Macdonald, D. W. (2006). Do parasites matter? Infectious diseases and the conservation of host populations. In Key Topics in Conservation Biology (ed. Macdonald, D. W.), Blackwell, Oxford. pp. 156–172.Google Scholar
Seymour, C. and Gleed, G. (1999). BSAVA Manual of Small Animal Anaesthesia and Analgesia. British Small Animal Veterinary Association, Cheltenham.Google Scholar
Sharp, A. (2002). The ecology and conservation biology of the yellow-footed rock-wallaby. Ph.D. thesis, University of Queensland, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Strahan, R. H. (1995). The Mammals of Australia. New Holland Publishers, Sydney, Australia.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. C. A., Lymbery, A. J., Hobbs, R. P. and Elliot, A. D. (1988). Hydatid disease in urban areas of Western Australia: an unusual cycle involving western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus), feral pigs and domestic dogs. Australian Veterinary Journal 65, 188–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turni, C. and Smales, L. R. (2001). Parasites of the bridled nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata) (Marsupialia: Macropodidae). Wildlife Research 28, 403–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wen, C. P., Tsai, S. P. and Gibson, R. L. (1983). Anatomy of the healthy worker effect: a critical review. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 25, 283–289.Google ScholarPubMed
Wynd, N. M., Sigg, D. P., Pople, A. R., Hazlitt, S. L. and Goldizen, A. W. (2006). Factors affecting female reproductive success and the survival of pouch young in the threatened brush-tailed rock-wallaby, Petrogale penicillata. Australian Journal of Zoology 54, 61–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar