Eimeria elephantuli : A new coccidian parasite found in the rufous elephant shrew.

The species Eimeria elephantuli is the first coccidian parasite that has been found in the rufous elephant shrew, Elephantulus rufenscens (Modrý, Jirků, Hůrková, 2005). Coccidian parasites are single-celled organisms and need an animal cell to live and reproduce in. Other species in the subclass of coccidia can be found in pets such as dogs, and infect animals through consumption of contaminated soil or feces. Coccidiosis is dangerous for puppies because it may cause bloody diarrhea and death if left untreated (CAPC 2012).

The rufous elephant shrew is an insectivore that can grow up to 60g, and is generally located in East Africa south of the Sahara (Modrý, Jirků, Hůrková, 2005). The new species, E. elephantuli, was found in the feces and the intestines of three of the six elephant shrews that were examined. The parasites present in the intestines were in stages of gametogony, which means they were working on forming gametes, with large numbers of oocysts, which contain the parasite’s zygote, being located in the feces of the infected subject animals, indicating that the oocysts are likely the infective stage of the parasite (Modrý, Jirků, Hůrková, 2005).

                So far, only two species of Eimeria have been discovered and reported from insectivores in Africa, but the two differ greatly in general appearance and can be told apart easily by these differences. E. elephantuli is easy to distinguinsh from the other species of Eimeria because of the characteristics of the oocysts, including size, morphology, and the shape of intracellular bodies (Modrý, Jirků, Hůrková, 2005). Further research is needed to know where E. eufenscens picks up the infection though it is likely it eats infected prey.

CAPC. [Internet]. 2012 [Cited 2012 Sept 19]. Pets and Parasites. Available from http://www.petsandparasites.org/

Modrý, D., Jirků, M., Hůrková, L. 2005. A new coccidian parasite (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the rufous elephant shrew, Elephantus rufescens, from Kenya. African Zoology. 40: 327-329.