Vet World Vol.12 June-2019 Article-18
Research Article
Veterinary World, 12(6): 844-848
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.844-848
The medical relevance of Spirometra tapeworm infection in Indonesian Bronzeback snakes (Dendrelaphis pictus): A neglected zoonotic disease
2. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Airlangga University, Indonesia.
3. Department of Wildlife Conservation, Education Staff of Mojokerto Reptile and Exotic Animals Community, Indonesia.
Background and Aim: Spirometra parasites cause sparganosis, a zoonotic disease, especially in reptiles and humans. This study aimed to report on the prevalence and effects of Spirometra parasites infection on public health and provide a scientific foundation for its prevention.
Materials and Methods: A total of 378 living Indonesian wild-caught and captive-bred Bronzeback snakes (Dendrelaphis pictus) were selected. The snakes were euthanized using ethyl ether anesthesia before checking for Spirometra parasites. The numbers of Spirometra located in the muscle tissue, subcutaneous tissue, and coelom (including the viscera) were each counted to investigate the distribution of Spirometra inside the snake body cavity.
Results: The total prevalence in the sample was 50.85%. The prevalence values in wild-caught and captive-bred snakes were 70.7% and 48.7%, respectively. More than half (56.6%) of the Spirometra parasites were located in the muscular tissue, while 29.5% were in the subcutaneous tissue and 13.8% were in the coelomic cavity.
Conclusion: Wild-caught Indonesian Bronzeback snakes, which are sold as food in markets, and captive-bred snakes, which are collected as exotic pets in Indonesia, have similar opportunities to transmit the Spirometra parasite and cause global health problems due to their high prevalence. Keywords: Dendrelaphis pictus, sparganosis, Spirometra, zoonosis.
Keywords: Dendrelaphis pictus, sparganosis, Spirometra, zoonosis.
How to cite this article: Yudhana A, Praja RN, Supriyanto A (2019) The medical relevance of Spirometra tapeworm infection in Indonesian Bronzeback snakes (Dendrelaphis pictus): A neglected zoonotic disease, Veterinary World, 12(6): 844-848.
Received: 04-01-2019 Accepted: 03-05-2019 Published online: 18-06-2019
Corresponding author: Aditya Yudhana E-mail: adityayudhana@fkh.unair.ac.id
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.844-848
Copyright: Yudhana, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.