Publication details
The screening of parasites and viral pathogens of small mammals from a farm in southern Finland, and genetic identification of the Finnish house mouse, Mus musculus
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Annales zoologici Fennici |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Zoology |
| Keywords | fungi; genome; LCMV; Mus musculus; parasites; Siphonaptera |
| Description | Seven species of small mammals (N=160) caught on a cattle farm in southern Finland were screened for various parasites and viral pathogens. Antibodies to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus were detected in 3.6% of Mus musculus (N=110) and in 7.7% of Apodemus flavicollis (N=26). Two (33%) Myodes (Clethrionomys) glareolus (N=6) had Puumala virus antibodies, and one (11%) Microtus agrestis (N=9) tested positive for cowpox virus. Of fungal organisms, Pneumocystis sp. (7.3%) and Emmonsia parvum (0.9 %) were found in histological examination of lung tissue of the house mouse. No blood parasites were detected in thin blood smears but kidney forms of Trypanosoma musculi were visible in impression smears of two of 27 (7.4%) house mice examined for the kidney forms. Meront forms of Hepatozoon sp. were detected in lung tissue sections in one Myodes glareolus. Of possible vectors of blood parasites, six species of fleas were recovered from the small mammals. House mice from the cattle farm had the sex chromosomes of the M. m. musculus type whereas mtDNA was of the M. m. domesticus type. House mice from another population in western Finland had both the nuclear and mitochondrial genome of M. m. musculus. |