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The Journal of Parasitology Feb 1997A total of 190 deepwater sculpins, Myoxocephalus thompsoni, collected in 1995 from Michigan waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron was examined for parasites. Five...
A total of 190 deepwater sculpins, Myoxocephalus thompsoni, collected in 1995 from Michigan waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron was examined for parasites. Five parasite species occurred in sculpins from Lake Michigan with Echinorhynchus salmonis being most common. Six parasite species infected sculpins from Lake Huron, with Haplonema sp. the most common. Haplonema sp. is the only gravid helminth species reported from deepwater sculpins. Pleistophora sp. and Trichodina sp. infected sculpins from Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Parasite species richness for sculpins at the 3 locations ranged from 5 to 6; mean values ranged from 1.18 to 1.39 for examined fish. The restricted diet of deepwater sculpin, which may be related to the depth of its habitat, appears to determine its helminth fauna. Deepwater sculpin may be an important transport host for E. salmonis, Cyathocephalus truncatus, and Eubothrium salvelini to lake trout and burbot that commonly feed on them.
Topics: Acanthocephala; Animals; Cestode Infections; Female; Fish Diseases; Fishes; Fresh Water; Great Lakes Region; Helminthiasis; Helminthiasis, Animal; Male; Nematode Infections; Prevalence; Protozoan Infections; Protozoan Infections, Animal; Sex Distribution
PubMed: 9057717
DOI: No ID Found -
Medicina Clinica Dec 1996The third case in the literature is reported of an infection produced by Pleistophora. The clinical detail of the three cases are discussed. Two of the... (Review)
Review
The third case in the literature is reported of an infection produced by Pleistophora. The clinical detail of the three cases are discussed. Two of the patients-including the reported one-were infected by HIV. All patients suffered from myositis with fever, resting and at palpation myalgia, and progressive weakness. Blood tests showed anaemia and high levels of muscle enzymes. Necrotic muscle fibrosis induced disabling contractures. Diagnosis was obtained by detecting the protozoon in a muscle biopsy. The spores may be detectable by means of different staining methods at light microscopy although electron microscopy remains the most reliable technique. Since this is such a rare condition there is no known treatment. Whether the albendazole could be as useful as occurs in patients infected by other genera of microsporidia in still uncertain.
Topics: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Adult; Animals; Humans; Male; Microsporida; Myositis; Protozoan Infections
PubMed: 9019606
DOI: No ID Found -
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Nov 1996Microsporidia are zoonotic protozoa which were rare human pathogens prior to 1985, when Enterocytozoon bieneusi was described in human immunodeficiency virus-infected...
Microsporidia are zoonotic protozoa which were rare human pathogens prior to 1985, when Enterocytozoon bieneusi was described in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with chronic diarrhea. Another species, Encephalitozoon (Septata) intestinalis, is associated with diarrhea and chronic sinusitis, and approximately 25 cases have been reported in the literature. However, other microsporidial infections in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients remain extremely rare. We report the first case of a Pleistophora sp.-like microsporidian infection presenting as a progressive severe myosotis associated with fever and weight loss. The organism was demonstrated by light microscopy and electron microscopy in corneal scrapings, skeletal muscle, and nasal discharge. Electron microscopy showed an electron-dense surface coat with "sunflare"-like projections surrounding all stages of development of meronts (two to four nuclei, dividing by binary fission), sporonts, and sporoblasts. Division of sporonts, in which sporonts separate from the thick outer coat, creating a sporophorous vesicle, is by binary fission, differentiating this organism from Pleistophora sp. The spore measures 4.0 by 2.5 microns and has a rugose exospore. A new genus and species, Trachipleistophora hominis, has been established for this parasite. The patient was treated with albendazole, sulfadiazine, and pyrimethamine, and the clinical symptoms resolved.
Topics: AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections; Adult; Albendazole; Animals; Anti-Infective Agents; Drug Therapy, Combination; Humans; Male; Microscopy, Electron; Microsporida; Microsporidiosis; Myositis; Pyrimethamine; Sulfadiazine
PubMed: 8897186
DOI: 10.1128/jcm.34.11.2803-2811.1996 -
American Journal of Clinical Pathology Oct 1996Microsporidia have emerged as important opportunistic AIDS pathogens of the alimentary, respiratory, and urinary tracts. Although nonhuman mammalian microsporidia...
Microsporidia have emerged as important opportunistic AIDS pathogens of the alimentary, respiratory, and urinary tracts. Although nonhuman mammalian microsporidia infections typically include encephalitis, CNS microsporidiosis has not been reported in patients with AIDS. A 33-year-old white male and an 8-year-old black girl presented with seizures and declining mental status. Central nervous system (CNS) imaging studies revealed small peripherally and diffusely enhancing lesions present for at least 2 and 4 months before death, respectively. Both patients expired despite empirical anti-toxoplasma therapy. Their brains contained innumerable soft gray matter lesions that consisted of central areas of necrosis, filled with free spores and spore-laden macrophages, surrounded by microsporidia-infected astrocytes. The complete autopsy of the child also revealed necrotizing and sclerosing cardiac and renal microsporidiosis and infection of the pancreas, thyroid, parathyroids, liver, spleen, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. Infected cells included astrocytes, cardiac myocytes, epithelium, endothelium, vascular smooth muscle cells, hepatocytes, adipocytes, Schwann cells, and macrophages. Light and electron microscopic studies revealed pansporoblastic development within thick-walled sporophorous vacuoles of parasite origin. Although most similar to Pleistophora sp and Thelohania sp, this microsporidian is different from any known species. Microsporidiosis should be considered as the possible cause of a wide range of diseases in AIDS patients, including CNS, cardiac, and renal.
Topics: AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections; Adult; Animals; Brain; Central Nervous System; Child; Female; Heart; Humans; Kidney; Liver; Male; Microsporida; Microsporidiosis; Myocardium; Pancreas; Spleen; Thyroid Gland
PubMed: 8853044
DOI: 10.1093/ajcp/106.4.535 -
Revista Latinoamericana de Microbiologia 1996Protozoa of the order Microsporida have become regarded as causes of several pathologies in patients with severe immunodeficiencies. Apparently they are transmitted to... (Review)
Review
Protozoa of the order Microsporida have become regarded as causes of several pathologies in patients with severe immunodeficiencies. Apparently they are transmitted to the human through fecalism, but also the respiratory route has been considered. People most affected are young males infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. The most important genera are: Enterocytozoon, Encephalitozoon, Septata, Nosema and Pleistophora. There are discrepancies about the biology of these parasites and little is known of their behavior in the human host. It is concluded that with the advent of AIDS, many nosological entities by opportunistic organisms, that were not previously considered as human infections are appearing. This work is a review of the literature published from 1959 to 1995, related to epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects.
Topics: AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections; Animals; Antiprotozoal Agents; Comorbidity; Diarrhea; Female; Herpesviridae Infections; Humans; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic; Male; Microsporida; Microsporidiosis; Mycoses
PubMed: 9026860
DOI: No ID Found -
Archives of Pathology & Laboratory... Feb 1996Microsporidiosis is a group of rapidly emerging protozoan infections that have thus far been reported predominantly from severely immunosuppressed persons with the... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
Microsporidiosis is a group of rapidly emerging protozoan infections that have thus far been reported predominantly from severely immunosuppressed persons with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The four genera that have been identified in AIDS patients (Enterocytozoon, Encephalitozoon, Septata, and Pleistophora) are an increasingly common source of both localized and disseminated infections. However, the clinical and pathologic features of these agents are being described with such rapidity that many pathologists are unaware of the histologic, immunologic, and molecular methods for diagnosing these infections. This article summarizes the clinical and morphologic spectrum of the microsporidian species that infect patients with AIDS. Additionally, the role of ultrastructural, immunologic, tissue culture, and molecular techniques for the diagnosis of microsporidian infections are discussed.
DATA SOURCES
Clinical and pathologic findings were obtained from patients with AIDS who were evaluated for microsporidian infections at the Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Selected laboratory studies were performed at the Division of Parasitic Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Department of Physiology at Morehouse University. Additionally, some cases were sent for consultation to the Infectious Disease Pathology service at Emory University. These data were combined with the published studies of microsporidian infection from the medical literature.
DATA SYNTHESIS
The pathologic appearance of microsporidian infections in each major organ system (ocular, respiratory, genitourinary, gastrointestinal) is illustrated using routine and special histochemistry and immunofluorescence. The differential diagnostic features of the four genera of microsporidia infecting AIDS patients are illustrated using transmission and scanning electron micrographs from biopsy, autopsy, and tissue culture materials. Cytologic evaluation of body tissues is emphasized as a sensitive method for microsporidian diagnosis.
CONCLUSIONS
Microsporidian infections can be expected to remain an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with AIDS. It is important that pathologists and microbiologists become acquainted with the clinicopathologic spectrum of these emerging protozoal infections, ensuring timely diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
Topics: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Animals; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Humans; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Microsporida; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Protozoan Infections
PubMed: 8712897
DOI: No ID Found -
Parasitology Research 1996The wall of the younger sporophorous vesicle (enclosing the sporogogonial plasmodium) of Pleistophora mirandellae Vaney and Conte, 1901 is composed of a membranous...
The wall of the younger sporophorous vesicle (enclosing the sporogogonial plasmodium) of Pleistophora mirandellae Vaney and Conte, 1901 is composed of a membranous labyrinth, about 0.3-0.6 microns high, interwoven with host cell cytoplasm. There is electron-opaque matter within the partitions of the labyrinth. At the onset of plasmotomy, the partitions of the labyrinth become shorter and then possibly due to stretching of the wall and withdrawal of the membranes, the electron-opaque matter is ejected to the lumen side of the wall and the partitions disappear. Only cisterna-like remains of the partitions are observable outside the electron-opaque layer. The thickness of walls in vesicles with ripe spores can be even less than 100 nm.
Topics: Animals; Microsporida
PubMed: 8897511
DOI: 10.1007/s004360050195 -
Parasitology Jan 1996Continuous culture was achieved in several cell lines of a microsporidium obtained from the skeletal muscle of an AIDS patient. Development in COS-1 and RK13 cells was...
Continuous culture was achieved in several cell lines of a microsporidium obtained from the skeletal muscle of an AIDS patient. Development in COS-1 and RK13 cells was prolific. Spores from the original biopsy were also inoculated into athymic mice by i.m. and i.p. routes. Infection was found in several organs as well as in skeletal muscle after a few weeks. All stages were surrounded by an electron-dense surface coat. Meronts had 2-4 nuclei and divided by binary fission. In sporogony the surface coat became separated from the plasma membrane to form a sporophorous vesicle, within which division into sporoblasts was effected by repeated binary fissions. The number of sporoblasts (and later spores) within the sporophorous vesicles varied from 2 to > 32 and the sizes of the vesicles varied, according to the number of spores contained therein, from 5 microns diameter to 14.0 x 11.0 microns. Spores measured 4.0 x 2.4 microns and had a prominent posterior vacuole. The parasite differs from the genus Pleistophora in that it does not form multinucleate sporogonial plasmodia and that the sporophorous vesicle enlarges during sporogony and its wall is not a multilayered structure. It is proposed to place it in a new genus and species Trachipleistophora hominis n.g., n.sp.
Topics: AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections; Animals; Cell Line; Humans; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Nude; Microsporida; Microsporidiosis; Muscles
PubMed: 8587798
DOI: 10.1017/s0031182000065185 -
Revista Medica de Chile Jun 1995The importance of microsporidium as an opportunistic agent in immunocompromised and AIDS patients is reviewed. Five strains of the agent have been described:... (Review)
Review
The importance of microsporidium as an opportunistic agent in immunocompromised and AIDS patients is reviewed. Five strains of the agent have been described: Encephalitozoon, Enterocytozoon, Nosema, Pleistophora and Septata. The clinical presentation may be as 1) Generalized infections with multisystemic involvement, specially of the central nervous system; 2) Intestinal, that is the most important and frequent localization in man, and that may cause death in AIDS patients; 3) Ocular, that affects cornea, conjunctiva and may extend to paranasal sinuses; 4) Liver and biliary tract infection with granulomatous lesions, hepatic necrosis or sclerosing colangitis and 5) Muscular, affecting skeletal muscle. The diagnosis is difficult and is established finding spores in the affected tissues with light or electron microscopy. Lately, the diagnosis of intestinal microsporidiosis is made looking for faecal spores. The resistant wall of spores hampers treatment. However, good results are obtained with Albendazole in intestinal microsporidiosis.
Topics: AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections; Animals; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Infant; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic; Male; Microsporida; Microsporidiosis
PubMed: 8525232
DOI: No ID Found -
Schweizerische Medizinische... May 1995The non-taxonomic term microsporidia relates to a group of organisms belonging to the order Microsporida of the phylum Microspora. Microsporidia are obligate... (Review)
Review
The non-taxonomic term microsporidia relates to a group of organisms belonging to the order Microsporida of the phylum Microspora. Microsporidia are obligate intracellular spore-forming protozoa and have no metabolically active stages outside the host cell. Their host range is extensive and includes most invertebrates and all 5 classes of vertebrates. More than 100 microsporidial genera and almost 1000 species have now been identified. 5 genera (Enterocytozoon, Encephalitozoon, Septata, Pleistophora and Nosema) and unclassified microsporidia have been associated with human disease. Only 10 cases of microsporidiosis have been described among persons not infected with HIV. In contrast, microsporidia have gained increasing attention as important opportunistic pathogens in the evolving pandemic of HIV infection. Diagnosis depends on morphological demonstration of the organisms themselves. The potential sources and modes of transmission of human microsporidial infections are uncertain. The clinical manifestations of microsporidiosis are diverse and include intestinal, pulmonary, ocular, muscular, and renal disease. Preliminary observations of the possible utility of albendazole for infections due to Septata intestinalis and Encephalitozoon sp. have been reported. The success of therapy for intestinal Enterocytozoon bieneusi infection has been limited. Cyclospora sp. are recently described protozoa capable of causing diarrhea in immunocompetent and immunodeficient patients. Groups at risk for infection are children in the developing world, travellers and HIV-infected patients. Diagnosis depends on light-microscopic detection of oocysts in stool smears stained with acid-fast stains. Diarrhea is usually self-limiting. Diarrhea, however, may often last weeks to months, causing significant morbidity. Cotrimoxazole appears to be the drug of choice for treatment of Cyclospora infection.
Topics: Adult; Animals; Child; Coccidiosis; Developing Countries; Eucoccidiida; Feces; Humans; Immunocompromised Host; Intestinal Mucosa; Microscopy, Electron; Microsporida; Microsporidiosis
PubMed: 7770752
DOI: No ID Found