title: The occurrence and ape-to-ape transmission of the entodiniomorphid ciliate Troglodytella abrassarti in captive gorillas.
abstract: Entodiniomorphid ciliates are often present in the colons of wild apes. In captive apes the infection tends to gradually disappear, with the exception of Troglodytella abrassarti. We used fecal examinations to screen the gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in European (Czech Republic, UK) and Australian Zoos to explore the ape-to-ape transmission pattern of T. abrassarti. Gorillas from two out of three European Zoos were positive for T. abrassarti, while gorillas from the Australian Zoo were negative. We documented a horizontal transmission of T. abrassarti to a non-infected adult gorilla introduced into a Troglodytella-positive group in the Prague Zoo and traced the origin of the ciliate infection to the Paignton Zoo (UK) using serial fecal examinations. During this study, two infant gorillas born in the Prague Zoo (CZ) first became positive for T. abrassarti at the age of 9 mo. Ciliate morphology and the sequencing of the small subunit rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer rDNA spacer region revealed that T. abrassarti affects both captive gorillas and chimpanzees. We conclude that zoo transport plays a major role in the distribution of T. abrassarti among captive gorillas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého 1-3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Modrý
authors.forename: Klára J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Petrzelková
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pomajbíková
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tokiwa
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krízek
authors.forename: Soichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vallo
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Profousová
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Slapeta