Serological Survey for Antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi in Ownerless Dogs From Urban Areas of Brazil and Colombia

There are 3 strains of Encephalitozoon cuniculi that occur in mammals. Strain III is associated with clinical disease in dogs, although some can be asymptomatic carriers and excrete spores in their urine. Several cases of human E. cuniculi infection caused by strain III have been observed in immunoc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Parasitology
Main Authors: Lindsay, David S., Goodwin, David G., Zajac, Anne M., Cortes-Vecino, J. A., Gennari, S. M., Rosypal, A. C., Dubey, Jitender P.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Society of Parasitology 2009
Subjects:
foxes alopex-lagopus
canine encephalitozoonosis
saguinus-imperator
toxoplasma-gondii
immune-response
aids patient
infection
microsporidiosis
prevalence
tamarins
parasitology
Alopex lagopus
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10919/49086
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1645/GE-1890.1
https://doi.org/10.1645/ge-1890.1
Description
Summary:There are 3 strains of Encephalitozoon cuniculi that occur in mammals. Strain III is associated with clinical disease in dogs, although some can be asymptomatic carriers and excrete spores in their urine. Several cases of human E. cuniculi infection caused by strain III have been observed in immunocompromised patients, indicating that E. cuniculi should be considered a zoonotic agent. Encephalitozoon cuniculi can cause fatal disease in maternally-infected or young dogs. Clinical signs in these animals included blindness, encephalitis, retarded growth rate, and nephritis. Encephalitozoon cuniculi has also been associated with primary renal failure in adult dogs. The present study used the direct agglutination test (DAT, cut-off 1:50) and the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT, cut-off 1:10) to examine the prevalence of antibodies to E. cuniculi in dogs from Brazil and Colombia. Using the DAG, 31 (27.4%) of 113 dogs from Brazil and 47 (18.5%) of 254 dogs from Colombia were seropositive. Nine (14.3%) of 63 dogs from Brazil and IS (35.3%) of the 51 dogs from Colombia were seropositive by indirect immunofluorescent antibody test. These results indicate that dogs from Brazil and Colombia are exposed to E. cuniculi. National Institute of General Medical Sciences GM 00678 Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine

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