Parasites Pathogens and Prevalence of the Green Pigeon (<i>Treron calvus</i>, TEMMINCK, 1811) in the South-East of Côte d’Ivoire: Histopathological Assessment

Today, the green pigeon (Treron calvus, TEMMINCK, 1811) holds an in-creasingly important place in the dietary habits of the populations of south-east of Côte d’Ivoire, especially those of Grand-Bassam. To provide food security to these customers a study was carried out. Objective: The current study is to identify the different protozoa and fungus that could po-tentially infect the green pigeon’s gut. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on protozoa and digestive fungus in this species of pigeon in the south-east of Côte d’Ivoire. It has been carried out from November 2020 to February 2021. A total of sixty freshly dead pigeons, including 10 males and 50 females, have been bought in Grand-Bassam. After autopsy, the gut of each animal was preserved in formalin (10%) for a subsequent histopatho-logical examination. Results: The analysis of the results revealed the fol-lowing pathogen genus: Cryptosporidium spp, Histomonas spp, Toxoplasma gondii and Trichomonas spp for protozoa. Cryptococcus neoformans for fungus. The calculation of prevalence gave the following values: 63% [20; 40] for protozoa and 37% [10; 40] for fungus. Conclusion: The study showed that the intestine of the green pigeon of the Grand-Bassam region is infested by a range of pathogens. Namely: Cryptosporidium spp, Histomonas spp, Toxoplasma gondii, Trichonomas spp and Cryptococcus neoformans. Cryptococcus neoformans was the most common pathogen encountered in this study. Among these pathogens, some like Cryptococcus neoformans and Toxoplasma gondii are zoonosis. Thus, the present study deserves further investigation to know more about the nature of human infection in C?te d’Ivoire. Furthermore, given the diversity of digestive pathogens including zoonosis one, a reasonable recommendation to consumers would be stop eating the intestines.