Animals (Mar 2021)

Monitoring Campaign over an Edible Dormouse Population (<i>Glis glis</i>; Rodentia: Gliridae) in Sicily: First Report of Mesocestodiasis

  • Giorgia Schirò,
  • Domenico Pieri,
  • Mario Lo Valvo,
  • Luigi Gradoni,
  • Simone Mario Cacciò,
  • Francesco Severini,
  • Gianluca Marucci,
  • Lucia Galuppo,
  • Valentina Cumbo,
  • Roberto Puleio,
  • Guido Ruggero Loria

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11040934
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 4
p. 934

Abstract

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This study reports on the health status of the edible dormouse (Glis glis) living in Nebrodi Park (Sicily, Italy), responsible for nut crop damage in the area. In the frame of a monitoring campaign for potential zoonotic risk involving 30 dormice, rectal and conjunctival swabs and fur and nest content were collected for bacteriological and parasitological examinations, respectively. A large presence of fleas belonging to Monopsyllus sciurorum was found. Necropsy of a dead dormouse revealed an infection of Mesocestoides lineatus, whose cysts were found in the abdomen cavity and on the liver; this is the first report of this in this species. Further studies are necessary to identify their role in the environment, considering the limited knowledge of this species in Italy.

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