PARASITES OF DOLPHINS STRANDED ALONG THE COAST OF TUSCANY (ITALY)

In recent years, an increase in the number of stranded cetaceans has been observed. In order to give a contribution to the knowledge of the parasite fauna of stranded dolphins, in the period between February 2013 and July 2015, 10 Tursiops truncatus, 15 Stenella coeruleoalba, 1 Grampus griseus stranded along the coast of Tuscany (Pelagos Sanctuary) were screened for the search of parasites. All organs and faecal samples were examined with parasitological techniques. Immunological and molecular techniques were used for the search of Toxoplasma gondii on serum and brain tissue samples, respectively, and for Giardia and Cryptosporidium on faecal samples. The prevalence of parasites and the corresponding confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated and data were statistically analysed (p