First Detection of Toxoplasma gondii DNA in a Wild Bat from Colombia

Toxoplasma gondii infections have been reported for many warm-blooded animals around the world including chiropterans. However, in Colombia, the country that holds the highest taxonomic richness of this order of mammals in the Neotropics, up to date there are no reports of T. gondii in bats (Carollia brevicauda).

The objective of the present study was to detect T. gondii DNA from internal bat organs from Quindío, Colombia.

We report the first detection of T. gondii DNA from internal bat organs in the department of Quindio, Central Andes of Colombia. Out of three silky short tail bat (Carollia brevicauda) specimens collected at the natural reserve "La Montaña del Ocaso", organs were recovered (lungs, liver, heart, kidneys, small and large intestine) and tested for T. gondii through PCR for B1 sequence, with 1/3 (33.3%) positive result for the presence of T. gondii DNA in bat kidney tissues.

Taking into consideration the high diversity of bat species in Colombia, and the complexity of the ecological and functional relationships that these organisms establish in the ecosystems they inhabit, we discuss on the urgent need for more detailed research and surveys for Toxoplansma in bats and other mammalian wild species.