Blood parasites of some West African rainforest birds

Abstract

A total of 969 birds representing 121 species of 21 families from the West African nations of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast were examined for haematozoa using thin blood smears; 277 individuals (28.6%) harbored blood parasites. The parasites identified included species of Haemoproteus (7.7% prevalence), Plasmodium (10.7%), Leucocytozoon (4.6%), and Trypanosoma (7.3%). In addition, microfilariae of filariid nematodes were present in 3.6% of the individuals examined. The birds were collected over a period of 12 years, from 1989-2001, from rainforest and ecotone habitats. We report a relatively high prevalence of parasites in colonial nesting birds, and two species of ground nesting birds. In addition, we compared data from bird species collected at a site identical to a previously published study, and did not find significant differences in parasite prevalence between the two years constituting two different seasons. Our results are also compared to other studies in Africa that implement similar and different methodologies.