First report of avian malaria in a Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)

This study reports the case of a Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) that died from avian malaria while under care at a rehabilitation center in Espírito Santo, Brazil. The bird was rescued on October 2018, and remained under care until it died suddenly on January 2019. A blood smear produced 8 days before death was negative for parasites, whereas a blood smear produced post-mortem revealed a high parasitemia by a parasite resembling Plasmodium cathemerium. The sequence of a 412 bp segment of the cyt-b gene was identical to that of lineage PADOM09, and phylogenetic analysis corroborated that this parasite was closely-related to known lineages of P. cathemerium. The acuteness and severity of the infection documented in this case suggest that seabirds of the order Procellariiformes might be highly susceptible to Plasmodium infections, raising the concern that avian malaria may present a significant threat to their conservation. [Display omitted] •First report of Plasmodium sp. infection in a Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)•Morphological and genetic evidence suggest the parasite was P. cathemerium•The parasite was believed to be a spill-over from native terrestrial birds in Brazil•Infection was acute and severe, leading to lethal avian malaria•Procellariiformes may present a particularly high susceptibility to avian malaria