Mustela putorius, Linnaeus, 1758

Duscher, Georg G., Leschnik, Michael, Fuehrer, Hans-Peter & Joachim, Anja, 2015, Wildlife reservoirs for vector-borne canine, feline and zoonotic infections in Austria, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 4 (1), pp. 88-96 : 91

2.1.4. Polecat ( Mustela putorius )

Polecats in Europe harbour two different parasites, a trematode and a nematode, in their nasal sinuses. Both make an impressive appearance by dissolving the bone structure, probably during the feeding process. The trematode, Troglotrema acutum , is transmitted via two intermediate hosts, a water snail and a frog ( Vogel and Voelker, 1978). Incidentally, this parasite was found in foxes, badgers, martens and mink in several countries (summarized in Duscher et al., in press). The nematode, Skrjabingylus nasicola , is transmitted via terrestrial molluscs and maybe small mammals as paratenic hosts ( Kierdorf et al., 2006).

These parasites seem to gain importance due to the increased popularity of keeping ferrets, the domestic form of the polecat, as pets.

2.1.5. Martens: beech marten ( Martes foina ), pine marten ( Martes martes )

Although martens are often discussed and investigated as a potential carrier of E. multilocularis , this could not be confirmed to our knowledge. One beech marten from Lower Austria was found to harbour Hepatozoon sp. , which could not be further classified ( Weinberger and Duscher, 2014).