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Cluster of Capillaria hepatica infections in non-commensal rodents from the canton of Geneva, Switzerland

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Abstract

We trapped 664 rodents belonging to five non-commensal species in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, and found a significant cluster of Capillaria hepatica infections in three species in rural and urbanized areas of the northern part of the canton. C. hepatica infections were discovered in the yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis (n=99) with an overall prevalence (OP) of 7.0% and a clustered prevalence (CP) of 20%, in the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus (n=58, OP 5.2%; CP 19%), and in the water vole Arvicola terrestris scherman (n=466; OP 0.2%; CP 4%). The estimated numbers of C. hepatica eggs isolated from infected livers ranged from 1,914 to 938,000 per animal.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to F. Rohr for her help with the laboratory work, and we thank the Natural History Museum of Chur for graciously providing the Longworth traps. This paper represents a part of the dissertation of Leslie Reperant, veterinarian. We acknowledge the support of our research activities by the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science (ECHINORISK EU FAIR Projekt CT97-3515/BBW Nr. 97.0586).

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  1. Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 266a, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland

    Leslie A Reperant & Peter Deplazes

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  1. Leslie A Reperant
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  2. Peter Deplazes
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Correspondence to Peter Deplazes.

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Reperant, L.A., Deplazes, P. Cluster of Capillaria hepatica infections in non-commensal rodents from the canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Parasitol Res 96, 340–342 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-1358-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-1358-y

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