title: Hosts of two canid genera, the red fox and the dog, as alternate vectors in the transmission of Sarcocystis tenella from sheep.
abstract: Microscopic sarcocysts recovered from naturally infected sheep were infective to both the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). The parasite was passaged through experimental specific-parasite-free (SPF) sheep three times: infection was transmitted twice with sporocysts from foxes and subsequently with sporocysts from dogs. The sarcocysts from sheep muscle were infective to both dogs and foxes on each occasion. A cat was not infected. The prepatent period in individual canids ranged from 7 to 15 days. Sporocyst excretion was still detectable 60 days post infection. This study establishes that canids of two genera may act as vectors for a single isolate of the same Sarcocystis species from sheep.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004199:Disease Vectors / Q000469:parasitology*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D004285:Dogs; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005589:Foxes / Q000469:parasitology*; D012523:Sarcocystosis / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms