Blood parasites, total plasma protein and packed cell volume of small wild mammals trapped in three mountain ranges of the Atlantic Forest in Southeastern Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Silva,MAML.
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Ronconi,A., Cordeiro,N., Bossi,DEP., Bergallo,HG., Costa,MCC., Balieiro,JCC., Varzim,FLSB.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Biology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842007000300019
• topic: blood parasites; wild mammals; Atlantic Forest; plasma protein; packed cell volume

A study of blood parasites in small wild non-flying mammals was undertaken in three areas of the Atlantic Forest in Southeastern Brazil: Serra de Itatiaia, RJ, Serra da Bocaina, SP and Serra da Fartura, SP, from June 1999 to May 2001. A total of 450 animals (15 species) were captured in traps and it was observed in 15.5% of the blood smears the presence of Haemobartonella sp. and Babesia sp. in red blood cells. There was no statistically significant difference between parasited and non-parasited specimens regarding total plasma protein, packed cell volume and body weight, which strongly suggests that these specimens might be parasite reservoirs.