Encephalitozoonosis infection in a traditional rabbit farm with neurological manifestations

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Küçük Resim

Tarih

2018

Dergi Başlığı

Dergi ISSN

Cilt Başlığı

Yayıncı

Elsevier Science Bv

Erişim Hakkı

info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess

Özet

Encephalitozoon cuniculi, a zoonotic and opportunistic pathogen, can cause latent infection, especially in lagomorphs. Nowadays, this member of the Eukaryotes has drawn significant attention in the fields of veterinary and public health. The purpose of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of infection in a New Zealand rabbit farm that has a clinical history of neurological manifestations including head tilt ataxia, aggressiveness, seizures, and circling and rotational movements around the body length axis, but the general conditions and food intake were normal. Blood samples were taken from 42 breeding rabbits and researched for E. cuniculi anti-bodies. Out of that, 25 (59%) animals resulted positive against the pathogen. The rabbit was found to be sero-positive for E. cuniculi antibodies, but negative for Toxoplasma gondii and Listeria monocytogenes antibodies. Hematological and serum biochemical parameters were measured at reference intervals. No brain tissue impairment was observed the computed tomography (CT) scan. As a result of these histopathological findings, the brain cortex presented severe neuronal degeneration and partial myelin loss, with reactive diffuse gliosis against the parasite spores was observed to the histopathology. These results are possibly related to the early stage of infection because the parasitic infestation comprise long time spreading. E. cuniculi DNA was detected on brain tissues using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and it partial DNA sequence was identified as E. cuniculi genotype I.

Açıklama

Anahtar Kelimeler

Antibodies, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, Neurological findings, Lagomorphs

Kaynak

Veterinary Parasitology

WoS Q Değeri

Q1

Scopus Q Değeri

Q1

Cilt

262

Sayı

Künye

closedAccess