Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:32:24.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A helminthological survey of wild red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from the metropolitan area of Copenhagen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

A.L. Willingham
Affiliation:
Danish Centre for Experimental Parasitology, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 13, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
N.W. Ockens
Affiliation:
ADA's Dyrehospital, Højvangsvej 15, 2640 Hedehusene, Denmark
C.M.O. Kapel
Affiliation:
Danish Centre for Experimental Parasitology, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 13, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
J. Monrad
Affiliation:
Danish Centre for Experimental Parasitology, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 13, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

Abstract

Sixty-eight red foxes were collected from the metropolitan area of Copenhagen and examined for helminth infections. Standard faecal flotations for intestinal parasites gave the following results: Strongyle eggs (75.0%), Capillaria eggs (36.8%), Toxocara eggs (23.5%), Taenia eggs (1.5%), and coccidia oocysts (2.9%). Gastrointestinal helminths were collected from 21 of the 68 foxes with the following specimens found: Uncinaria stenocephala (85.7%), Toxocara canis (81.0%), Taenia spp. (38.1%), Mesocestoides lineatus (23.8%) and Polymorphus spp. (9.5%). Faeces of 39 foxes were examined by the Baermann method for larvae of cardiopulmonary worms with 20 foxes (51.3%) being infected. Fourteen foxes (35.9%) were infected with Angiostrongylus vasorum, 11 (28.2%) were infected with Crenosoma vulpis, and 5 foxes (12.8%) were infected with both species. Muscle digestion of diaphragms from the 68 foxes indicated that none harboured larvae of Trichinella spiralis.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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

Beresford-Jones, W.P. (1961) Observations on the helminths of British wild red foxes. Veterinary Record 73, 882883.Google Scholar
Biering-Sørensen, U. (1972) Trichinelliasis - Trichinellosis. Særtryk af Medlemsblad for Den danske Dyrlægeforening 55, 831845.Google Scholar
Blackmore, D.K. (1964) A survey of disease in British wild foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Veterinary Record 76, 527533.Google Scholar
Bolt, G., Monrad, J., Henriksen, P., Dietz, H.H., Koch, J., Bindseil, E. & Jensen, A.L. (1992) The fox (Vulpes vulpes) as a reservoir for canine angiostrongylosis in Denmark. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 33, 357362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borg, O.A. & Woodruff, A.W. (1973) Prevalence of infective ova of Toxocara species in public places. British Medical Journal 4, 470472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clausen, B. & Henriksen, S.Å. (1976) The prevalence of Trichinella spiralis in foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and other game species in Denmark. Nordisk Veterinær Median Tidsskrift 28, 265270.Google ScholarPubMed
Georgi, J.R. & Georgi, M.E. (1992) Canine clinical parasitology. 227 pp. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger.Google Scholar
Gleason, N.N., Kornblum, R. & Walzer, P. (1973) Mesocestoides (Cestoda) in a child in New Jersey treated with niclosamide (Yomesan®). American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 22, 757760.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glickman, L.T. & Schantz, P.M. (1981) Epidemiology and pathogenesis of zoonotic toxocariasis. Epidemiohgic Reviews 3, 230250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guildal, J.A. & Clausen, B. (1973) Endoparasites from one hundred Danish red foxes (Vulpes vulpes (L.)). Norwegian Journal of Zoology 21, 329330.Google Scholar
Hackett, F. & Walters, T.M.H. (1980) Helminths of the red fox in Mid-Wales. Veterinary Parasitology 7, 181184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henriksen, S.Å. & Clausen, B. (1977) Trichinella spiralis in wild boars (Sus scrofa). Nordisk Veterinær Median Tidsskrift 29, 543545.Google ScholarPubMed
Henriksen, S.Å. (1978) Recovery of Trichinella spiralis larvae from frozen muscle samples. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 19, 607608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, D.J. & Craig, N.A. (1992) The role of foxes Vulpes vulpes in the epidemiology of Echinococcus granulosus in urban environments. Medical Journal of Australia 157, 754756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jensen, B. (1968) Preliminary results from the marking of foxes (Vulpes vulpes L.) in Denmark. Danish Review of Game Biology 5, 38.Google Scholar
Jergensen, R.J. & Madsen, K. (1982). Undersøgelse af fsecesprøver for lungeormlarver. Dansk Veterinær Tidsskrift 65, 517518.Google Scholar
Khalil, L.F., Jones, A. & Bray, R.A. (1994) Keys to the cestode parasites of vertebrates. Wallingford, UK, CAB International.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lunevcidus, R., Rockien, A. & Racinas, M. (1995) Echinococcosis in Lithuania: Epidemiological and surgical aspects. Bulletin of the Scandinavian Society of Parasitology 5, 1617.Google Scholar
Malczewski, A., Rocki, B., Ramisz, A. & Eckert, J. (1995) Echinococcus multilocularis (Cestoda), the causative agent of alveolar echinoccocosis in humans: First record in Poland. Journal of Parasitology 81, 318321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ockens, N.W.F. (1968) Hageorm hos hunde, reservoir og terapi. Særtryk af Medlemsblad for Den danske Dyrlægeforening 51, 737740.Google Scholar
Richards, D.T., Harris, S. & Lewis, J.W. (1993) Epidemiology of Toxocara canis in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from urban areas of Bristol. Parasitology 107, 167173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richards, D.T., Harris, S. & Lewis, J.W. (1995) Epidemiological studies on intestinal helminth parasites of rural and urban red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in the United Kingdom. Veterinary Parasitology 59, 3951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schantz, P.M. (1989) Toxocara larva migrans now. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 41 (suppl.), 2134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schantz, P.M. & Stehr-Green, J.K. (1988) Toxocaral larva migrans. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 192, 2832.Google ScholarPubMed
Schöffel, V.I., Schein, E., Wittstadt, U. & Hentsche, J. (1991) Zur parasitenfauna des rotfuchses in Berlin (West). Berliner und Münchener Tierärzliche Wochenschrift 104, 153157.Google ScholarPubMed
Taylor, J.W. (1914) Land and freshwater mollusca of the British Isles. Leeds, Taylor Brothers.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.C.A. (1976) The occurrence of Mesocestoides sp. in British wild red foxes (Vulpes vulpes crucigera). Journal of Helminthology 50, 9194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Urquhart, G.M., Armour, J., Duncan, J.L. & Jennings, F.W. (1987) Veterinary parasitology. 286 pp. New York, Churchill Livingstone Inc.Google Scholar
Verster, A. (1969) A taxonomic revision of the genus Taenia Linneaus S. Str. Ondersteport Journal of Veterinary Research 36, 358.Google Scholar
Williams, B.M. (1976) The intestinal parasites of the red fox in south west Wales. British Veterinary Journal 132, 309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, J.F., Westheimer, J. & Banman, W.R. (1975) Mesocestoides infection in the dog. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 166, 996998.Google ScholarPubMed