Meningoencephalitis Associated with an Unidentified Apicomplexan Protozoan in a Pacific Harbor Seal
| Autor: | J. M. Lapointe, Jitender P. Dubey, B. C. Barr, D. W. MacPherson, Frances M. D. Gulland, Pádraig J. Duignan, A. K. Petrich |
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| Rok vydání: | 2003 |
| Předmět: |
Seals
Earless Multilocular Thymic Cyst Blotting Western Urinary Bladder Antibodies Protozoan Central Nervous System Protozoal Infections Kidney Polymerase Chain Reaction Necrotizing meningoencephalitis law.invention Microbiology Fatal Outcome law Agglutination Tests parasitic diseases medicine Animals Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Polymerase chain reaction Cerebral Cortex biology Toxoplasma gondii Meningoencephalitis biology.organism_classification medicine.disease Immunohistochemistry Neospora caninum Microscopy Electron Mediastinal Cyst Immunology Protozoa Harbor seal Female Parasitology Autopsy Apicomplexa |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Parasitology. 89:859-862 |
| ISSN: | 1937-2345 0022-3395 |
| DOI: | 10.1645/ge-62r1 |
| Popis: | A Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsii) was found on the central California coast with neurologic signs and labored breathing, which were unresponsive to treatment. Necropsy revealed a nonsuppurative necrotizing meningoencephalitis, a multilocular thymic cyst, and nonsuppurative cystitis and renal pyelitis. Microscopic examination revealed protozoans in the brain, thymic cyst, and bladder mucosa. Ultrastructurally, the protozoal tachyzoites were different from those of Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii, and Sarcocystis neurona; the rhoptries were small and had electron-dense contents, and the organism divided by endodyogeny. Specific antibodies were not detected in serum using agglutination (N. caninum, T. gondii) and immunoblot assays (S. neurona). Immunohistochemistry for these organisms was negative. Polymerase chain reaction on brain tissue using specific primers did not amplify T. gondii deoxyribonucleic acid. The meningoencephalitis in this seal thus appears to have been caused by a novel protozoan. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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