detection of malaria parasites and other haemosporidia in migratory and native birds in mazandaran and golestan provinces, iran

Background: a variety of haemoprotozoa including plasmodium, haemoproteus and leucocytozoon cause infectionsin birds and are transmitted by some known vectors. these parasites cause anemia, low appetite, weakness and ultimatelydeath in birds. the present study was aimed to determine these parasites, in birds of mazandaran and golestan provincesin iran.methods: the project was performed on 340 live birds in 2016. the samples were collected from february to september2016, from each bird, two thin and thick blood smears were prepared and the remaining blood about 1ml was kept inedta-containing tubes for molecular studies. the slides were stained with 10% giemsa, then examined microscopically.about ten percent of the negative samples were considered for polymerase chain reaction (pcr) technique, usingspecific primers to diagnose plasmodium and haemoproteus spp. electrophoresis was done for pcr products and relevantbands to the parasites were identified based on the size. the considered birds belonged to ducks, chickens, roosters,and pigeons.results: from 340 microscopically examined blood samples 32 (9.5%) samples were positive. twenty-five (7.35%) ofthem were infected with the genus haemoproteus. seven samples (14%) out of 50 microscopically negative sampleswere found as haemoproteus or plasmodium spp when pcr technique was employed.conclusion: this study revealed the existence of malaria parasites and other haemosporidia in birds in iran. employingmolecular methods (pcr examination) could detect more infections.