{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T21:19:04Z","timestamp":1777756744737,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Vet. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Haemosporidian parasites of the genera\n                    <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Haemoproteus<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and\n                    <jats:italic>Leucocytozoon<\/jats:italic>\n                    are widespread vector-borne pathogens of birds, yet their tissue distribution and lineage diversity remain poorly understood in many host species. We investigated haemosporidian infections in hooded crows (\n                    <jats:italic>Corvus cornix<\/jats:italic>\n                    ) from Northwestern Italy using a multi-organ molecular approach. Forty-seven individuals collected between 2010 and 2011 were screened by nested PCR targeting the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, followed by sequencing. Overall infection prevalence was 97.9%, with\n                    <jats:italic>Leucocytozoon<\/jats:italic>\n                    spp. detected in all infected individuals, followed by\n                    <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic>\n                    spp. (52.2%) and\n                    <jats:italic>Haemoproteus<\/jats:italic>\n                    spp. (17.4%). Five\n                    <jats:italic>Leucocytozoon<\/jats:italic>\n                    lineages were identified, with lineage COCOR09 being dominant and widely distributed across organs (heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen skeletal muscle and brain), while other lineages showed more restricted tissue patterns. Sequencing also revealed the\n                    <jats:italic>Haemoproteus<\/jats:italic>\n                    lineage CXPIP27 and three globally distributed\n                    <jats:italic>Plasmodium<\/jats:italic>\n                    lineages (LINN1, GRW06, and SGS1) detected for the first time in this host species. Mixed infections were frequent, occurring in over two-thirds of infected birds. These findings demonstrate extensive tissue dissemination, lineage-specific organ tropism, and high infection complexity in hooded crows, underscoring the importance of multi-organ, lineage-level approaches for understanding the ecology and epidemiology of avian malaria parasites.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2026.1724903","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T12:34:17Z","timestamp":1777466057000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Lineage-specific tissue distribution and high prevalence of haemosporidian parasites in hooded crows (Corvus cornix) from northwestern Italy"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Laura","family":"Starvaggi Cucuzza","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Torino","place":["Torino, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Paola","family":"Pregel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Torino","place":["Torino, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anton David","family":"P\u00e9rez-Rodr\u00edguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State","place":["Bloemfontein, South Africa"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Enrico","family":"Bollo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Torino","place":["Torino, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Frine Eleonora","family":"Scaglione","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Torino","place":["Torino, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780198577386.003.0002","volume-title":"Bird\u2013Parasite Interactions: Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior","author":"Atkinson","year":"1991"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1263","DOI":"10.1017\/S0031182024000040","article-title":"Avian haemosporidian parasites: special issue editorial","volume":"150","author":"Ranford-Cartwright","year":"2024","journal-title":"Parasitology"},{"key":"ref3","volume-title":"Avian Malaria Parasites and Other Haemosporidia","author":"Valki\u016bnas","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1255","DOI":"10.1093\/molbev\/msz315","article-title":"The avian transcriptome response to malaria infection","volume":"37","author":"Videvall","year":"2020","journal-title":"Mol Biol 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