Toxoplasmic meningoencephalitis in a stray cat in Korea

Kim, Ha-Young; Bae, You-Chan; Woo, Gye-Hyeong; Byun, Jae-Won; Jung, Byeong-Yeal; Park, Jung-Won; Chae, Hee-Sun; Choi, Jae-Yong; Nakayama, Hiroyuki; Hwang, Eui Kyung; Joo, Yi-Seok; Lee, O-Soo

Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 2009;49(4):291-295.

Ha-Young Kim¹, You-Chan Bae¹, Gye-Hyeong Woo¹, Jae-Won Byun¹, Byeong-Yeal Jung¹, Jung-Won Park¹, Hee-Sun Chae², Jae-Yong Choi³, Hiroyuki Nakayama⁴, Eui Kyung Hwang⁵, Yi-Seok Joo¹, O-Soo Lee¹

¹Animal Disease Diagnostic Center, National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service
²Research Institute of Public Health & Environment
³Korean Veterinary Medical Association
⁴Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
⁵College of Life Science and Natural Resources, Sangji University

Abstract

A dead stray cat was necropsied for zoonotic feline disease monitoring. Grossly, there were no specific lesions. Major microscopic lesions included lymphocytic meningoencephalitis, malacia, and tissue cysts in the cerebral and cerebellar cortex. The size and shape of tissue cysts were identical to those of Apicomplexa including Toxoplasma (T.) gondii. Bradyzoites in the tissue cyst were strongly positive for T. gondii by immunohistochemistry. Electron microscopy revealed that bradyzoites within the tissue cyst were similar to the morphological features of T. gondii. Fresh tissue samples were examined by a polymerase chain reaction assay and resulted in a specific band of T. gondii only in the brain. Based on the results, this case was diagnosed as toxoplasmosis. This is the first case of toxoplasmic meningoencephalitis in a cat in Korea.

Key Words: bradyzoite, cat, meningoencephalitis, tissue cysts, toxoplasmosis