Endo-P Arasitic Infestation in Rhesus Macaques " (Macaca Mulatta) in Relation to its Feeding and Social Behavior

Abstract

The present study was conducted on parasitic infestation in Macaca mulatta from Shadhana Awshadhalaya factory area, Gandaria and National Zoo of Bangladesh, Mirpur, Dhaka. A total of 190 stool samples were collected randomly from Gandaria and Zoo . For collection of cyst, egg and larvae of the parasites, formalin-ether sedimentation technique and for behavior study scan sampling method were applied. A total of 30 species of parasites were identified, protozoa (Entamoeba coli, Eimeria sp., Isospora sp., Toxoplasma gonda, Chilomastix mesnili and Gregarina sp.) , cestodes (Taenia sp., Moniezia sp., Reillietina sp., Bertiella studeri and Amoebataenia sp.) , nematodes (Ascaris lumbricoides, Toxocara sp., Trichuris trichiura, Strongyloides sp., Ancylostoma sp., Ascarops sp., Gongylonema sp. , Gnathostoma sp., Subulura sp. , Enterobius sp. and Capillaria sp.), trematodes (Neoglyphe sp. , Watsonius watsoni, Schistosoma mansoni, Paragonimus sp., Clonorchis sinensis, Brachylaemus sp. and Gastrothylax crumenifer) and pentastomida (Linguatula serrata) . In Bangladsh, there are no record on gastrointestinal parasites infesting monkeys in both captivity and wild. It was observed that the cyst/gram of Entamoeba coli was centered higher than other protozoa. .• Cyst/gram of Entamoeba coli from Gandaria and Zoo were 289.58 and 252.08 respectively. Toxoplasma gondii was the second prevalent (22%) in Gandaria and (36%) in Zoo. The intensity of Entamoeba coli was higher; the mean intensity of this parasite among the monkeys in Gandaria was 98.23± 12.72. In Zoo samples it was 108.16 ± 8.30. In case of Entamoeba coli the p-value for the equality of variance test was 0.0459. It is evident that nematoda was the most dominant parasites and in Gandaria, the highest prevalence ofnematoda was 77.78 % in 2014-2015 and 80% in Zoo. In 2015-2016, the prevalence in both areas was 72% and 74% in both the year. EPG was the highest for nematoda in both study areas and in both study periods. The average prevalence (74.89%), EPG (925) and intensity (66) of nematode were observed in Gandaria (March 2014 - February 2016). In Zoo, the average prevalence, EPG and intensity of nematode were 77%, 864.59 and 66.84 respectively. The maximum prevalence (71.85%) of nematoda was observed in summer. However, the highest EPG (1337.50) and mean intensity (720.83) were recorded in winter (2014-2015) in Gandaria. On the other hand, the highest prevalence (33.22%), EPG (175) and intensity (112.5) of cestoda were observed in summer. In Zoo (2015-2016 , in case of trematoda, the highest prevalence (36.25%) and EPG (200) were observed in fall and the intensity (187.5) in summer. In case of nematoda, the highest prevalence (80.42%) was found in fall, , maximum EPG (1087.50) and intensity (783.34) were recorded in summer. On the other hand, the highest prevalence (66 .67%) of cestoda was observed in winter, whilst, the highest EPG (300) and intensity (206.25) were recorded in summer. In both the study areas, Ancylostoma sp. had the highest prevalence in Gandaria, Ascaris lumbricoides had the second highest prevalence (45.25%) followed by Strongyloides sp. (36.58%), Enterobius sp. (33.24%), Trichuris trichiura (32.8%) and Capillaria sp. (18.79%).The EPG of Ancylostoma sp. centered higher than all other nematodes. The test of equality of variance of Ancylostoma sp. EPG was significant at 1 % level but the parametric and nonparametric tests for the equality of means were not statistically significant. The p-values for the variance ratio also showed that the spread out may not be same in both the study area for Strongyloides sp, Capillaria sp. and Gnathostoma sp. In Zoo samples Strongyloides sp. had the second highest prevalence (54.10%) followed by Enterobius sp. (35.83%), Ascarops sp. (26.60%), Capillaria sp. (24.24%), Trichuris trichiura (22.78%), Subulura sp. (14.58%) and Toxocara sp. (13 .61 %). The EPG for Taenia sp. was significantly different at 5% level and that for Rei/hetina sp. was significantly different at 10% level. The environmental conditions and management practices in zoos, such as food, cleanliness, overcrowding and deworming among others may influence the prevalence of parasitic infections. In the present study, descriptive and inferential statistics method was used for EPG, prevalence and intensity of the observed parasites. The variance ratio with the p-value was used to compare the dispersion between the Gandaria and Zoo samples. Grooming is the most important and frequently observed social behavior in primate societies. Social grooming mostly occurred early morning. In the present study, it was observed that rhesus monkeys changed their feeding habit with the change of season. Most of the parasites in Zoo and Gandaria have zoonotic importance. Zoonotically important parasites (Ancylostoma sp., Taenia sp., Ascaris lumbricoides, Strongyloides sp., Trichuris trichiura, Gnathostoma sp., Paragonimus sp., Schistosoma mansoni and Linguatula serrata) were identified in the present study. As the rhesus monkey and human are very close in case of feeding habits, environment, physiologic and genetic characters which resulting zoonotic intestinal parasites infections.