Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University Veterinary Research Forum 2008-8140 6 2 2015 06 01 The European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), as a reservoir for helminth parasites in Iran 149 153 12972 EN Soraya Naem 1Department Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran Behzad Pourreza Department of Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tehran University, Iran Tahmineh Gorgani-Firouzjaee Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran Journal Article 2015 06 07 From April 2009 to December 2011, 44 dead hedgehogs (<em>Erinaceus europaeus</em>) were collected incidentally from areas of Urmia, Iran. The overall prevalence of helminth infections was 95.0%. Specific parasites and their prevalences were: <em>Physaloptera</em><em>clausa</em>(93.0%), <em>Crenosoma striatum </em>(61.0%)<em>, Capillaria</em><em>aerophila</em>(9.0%)<em>, Capillaria</em>sspp.(4.0%), <em>Brachylaemus</em><em>erinacei</em>(2.0%) and <em>Hymenolepis</em><em>erinacei</em>(16.0%)<em>.</em> There were no significant differences in helminth occurrence between hedgehog sexes, either in single or in mixed infections (<em>p </em>> 0.05). The mixed infection involving <em>Crenosoma striatum</em> and <em>P. clausa</em>occurred significantly more frequently than other mixed infection (<em>p </em>< 0.05).There were significant differences in prevalence among seasons, with the highest prevalence in summer and spring especially among <em>P. clausa</em>and<em> C. striatum (p </em>< 0.05). https://vrf.iranjournals.ir/article_12972_c1f22f4c38899f51f1ed3ce20120bbd9.pdf