Infection by blood flukes (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) in Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas) on Campos Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Trematoda, Spirirorchiidae, Chelonia mydas, Hapalotrema, Laeredius
Blood flukes cause one of the most common diseases in sea turtles. Eggs and the adult form of trematodes are mainly found in the heart, liver, lung, spleen, and gastrointestinal tract. The objective of this work was to diagnose a series of cases and study the injuries caused by spirorchids in green turtles in Rio de Janeiro, diagnosed in the Setor de Anatomia Patológica (SAP) of the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRuralRJ) from 2020 to 2021 and describe epidemiological and anatomopathological findings. Histopathological examination was performed on 99 green turtles, of which 88.9% (88/99) had parasitic infections. Of the 88 turtles, 86 were juveniles (97.7%), 72.7% (64/88) were females, 22.7% (20/88) were males, and 4.5% (4/88) were individuals of indeterminate sex. Acute 1.1% (1/88), subacute 7.7% (7/88) and chronic 90.9% (80/88) inflammatory reactions were observed by histopathology. In 13.6% (12/88) of sea turtles, adult blood flukes were found and their eggs. In 86.4% (76/88), turtles were found with only eggs. Most granulomas consisted of five to 15 eggs, but lesions with 120 eggs were observed in only one histological section. The spleen 88.6% (78/88), lungs 65.8% (52/88), small intestine 62.9% (39/88) and stomach 55.3% (21/88) were the organs with the highest amount of eggs. Adult trematodes found in the histological lesions in order of occurrence were observed in the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, kidney, spleen, lung, liver and heart. The present study provided high prevalence results in a series of Spirochiid infections in green turtles (Chelonia mydas). However, further studies are needed on the pathogenesis and biological cycle of the trematodes of the Spirorchiidae family.