Toxoplasmic meningoencephalitis in a stray cat in Korea |
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 |
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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 |
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