{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T03:01:44Z","timestamp":1772679704441,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,1,1]],"date-time":"2018-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1514764800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004681","name":"Higher Education Commission, Pakistan","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004681","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Parasitology Research"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Little is known about the prevalence of protozoan parasites in the muscles of rock pigeons<jats:italic> (Columbia livia)<\/jats:italic>. The muscles from 54 (heart from 45 and breast from 54) rock pigeons were examined for DNA of<jats:italic> Toxoplasma gondii<\/jats:italic>,<jats:italic> Neospora caninum, <\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic> Sarcocystis <\/jats:italic>species using PCR. Twenty-four were female and 30 were males. The birds were part of flocks of pigeons housed at the tombs of saints in Lahore, Pakistan. Birds that died or were euthanized due to poor health were submitted for necropsy at the Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan, where DNA isolations and PCR were conducted. Nineteen (35.1%) of the birds were positive for<jats:italic> T. gondii<\/jats:italic> DNA. Seven males and 12 females were positive. Breast tissue was always infected in<jats:italic> T. gondii<\/jats:italic> positive birds, while the heart was infected in 13 (28.8%) of breast positive birds. Five (9.2%) of the pigeons, 2 males and 3 females, were positive for<jats:italic> N. caninum<\/jats:italic>. The distribution of<jats:italic> N. caninum<\/jats:italic> DNA was more variable in the muscles of pigeons than<jats:italic> T. gondii <\/jats:italic>and was found only in the heart of 1 (female), heart and breast muscle of 2 (male), and only the breast muscle of 2 birds (female). One of the 54 rock pigeons (female) was positive for both<jats:italic> T. gondii<\/jats:italic> (heart and breast) and<jats:italic> N. caninum<\/jats:italic> (heart only). Two of the positive<jats:italic> Neospora caninum<\/jats:italic> amplicons were sequenced and had 97% nucleotide identity with<jats:italic> N. caninum <\/jats:italic>isolates.<jats:italic> Sarcocystis<\/jats:italic> DNA was not found in any bird. The prevalence of<jats:italic> T. gondii<\/jats:italic> in rock pigeons and their predation by cats suggest that they may play an unrecognized role in maintaining environmental contamination with<jats:italic> T. gondii<\/jats:italic> oocysts by cats. Our study indicates that rock pigeons are intermediate hosts of<jats:italic> N. caninum<\/jats:italic> and this information will aid in understanding the epidemiology of<jats:italic> N. caninum<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1155\/2018\/6264042","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,5,6]],"date-time":"2018-05-06T19:31:28Z","timestamp":1525635088000},"page":"1-4","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Prevalence of<i> Toxoplasma gondii<\/i>,<i> Neospora caninum<\/i>, and<i> Sarcocystis<\/i> Species DNA in the Heart and Breast Muscles of Rock Pigeons<i> (Columbia livia)<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1155","volume":"2018","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6557-7228","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Muhammad Mudasser","family":"Nazir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathobiology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan"},{"name":"Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54600, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7301-7386","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Muhammad Mazhar","family":"Ayaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathobiology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Atif Nisar","family":"Ahmed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathobiology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Azhar","family":"Maqbool","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54600, Pakistan"},{"name":"Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Lahore, Lahore 54500, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kamran","family":"Ashraf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54600, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Muhammad","family":"Oneeb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54600, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ghulam","family":"Yasin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Camel Breeding and Research Station, Rakh Mahni, Bhakkar 30000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Atta","family":"Subhani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54600, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Muhammad Asif","family":"Ali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54600, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Noman","family":"Nazir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Muhammad Afzal","family":"Sajid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Veterinary Research Institute, Lahore 54810, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","reference":[{"key":"1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0020-7519(99)00170-8"},{"key":"2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3284160"},{"key":"3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3285506"},{"key":"4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3285623"},{"key":"5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1550-7408.2000.tb00045.x"},{"key":"6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0304-4017(02)00034-1"},{"key":"7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rvsc.2011.05.011"},{"key":"8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3283975"},{"key":"9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3279960"},{"key":"10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3280926"},{"key":"11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1550-7408.1984.tb05495.x"},{"key":"12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1645\/0022-3395(2001)087[0824:ASFLII]2.0.CO;2"},{"key":"13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1638\/1042-7260(2001)032[0252:APSFLI]2.0.CO;2"},{"key":"14","first-page":"466","volume":"22","year":"1991","journal-title":"Journal 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