Dw. Macdonald et al., Inter-annual differences in the age-related prevalences of Babesia and Trypanosoma parasites of European badgers (Meles meles), J ZOOL, 247, 1999, pp. 65-70
A total of 263 individual badgers Meles meles provided 718 blood samples wh
ich were screened for parasites. This revealed that 77.2% of individuals te
sted positive for Babesia missirolii at least once over 3 years, whereas 7.
7% did so for Trypanosoma pestanai. However, the prevalence was highest in
younger age classes, except in 1990 when it was high in most categories. Th
ere was some evidence that following a positive test for Babesia badgers we
re more likely to be caught again in subsequent years when compared to indi
viduals testing negative. For Trypanosoma, although prevalence decreased fr
om a peak of 29.2% from June onwards in 1990, we found no significant corol
laries of infection. These results are discussed in the light of inter-annu
al variation in weather and other factors.