Abstract:
An annotated host-parasite list of the blood parasites of domestic poultry in sub-Saharan Africa is
presented. This list contains the haematozoa found in domestic waterfowl (ducks, geese and muscovies)
and phasianids (turkey, fowl and peafowl).
In South Africa Plasmodium durae was isolated from 4 out of 8 backyard turkeys, from 3 out of 26
Swainson's francolins and from 1 redwing francolin, but not from 20 helmeted guineafowls and 9
greywing francolins. This points at Swainson's and redwing francolins as being the main natural hosts
of P. durae in South Africa.
The increase in the period of prepatency after intramuscular subinoculation as compared with the
intravenous route was found to correspond to that of a 1 000 fold dilution of an intravenous inoculum of
parasitized blood. This delay was not due to an intervening cycle of exoerythrocytic schizogony, but to
large numbers of the injected erythrocytes apparently not finding their way into the circulation of the
new host.
