Detecção molecular de protozoários apicomplexa em tecidos de bugio ruivo (Alouatta guariba clamitans)

Abstract

Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii and Sarcocystis spp. are obligate intracellular protozoa belonging to the phylum Apicoplexa. These parasites have heteroxene cycle, requiring definitive host (where sexual reproduction occurs) and intermediate host (asexual reproduction) and therefore have the characteristic of affecting a large number of hosts during the life cycle. The brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba clamitans) is a very present nonhuman primate and well distributed in Brazil and South America in general. Due to the expansion of cities and thus the possibility of contact between humans and wildlife and also due to the genetic similarity between howler monkeys and humans, several pathogens can be shared between humans and nonhuman primates. There is a lack of studies on protozoa in brown howler monkeys in Brazil. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate, through Polymerase Chain Reaction, the presence of Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii and Sarcocystis spp. in samples of heart, lung, liver, spleen, brain and intestine from six A. guariba clamitans from central Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The analyzes allowed the detection of DNA of Apicomplexa protozoa in tissues of the six animals of the study: T. gondii in two of the animals and Sarcocystis spp. in the other four animals. Also, it was possible to make genotypic determination of the T. gondii sample, suggesting an atypical genotype. The results are important because they reinforce the importance of howler monkeys as hosts of protozoa with zoonotic character and point to the circulation of atypical T. gondii genotype in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul.