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Parasitemia due to Sarcocystis neurona ‐like infection in a clinically ill domestic cat
Author(s) -
Zitzer Nina C.,
Marsh Antoinette E.,
Burkhard Mary Jo,
Radin M. Judith,
Wellman Maxey L.,
Jugan Maria,
Parker Valerie
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
veterinary clinical pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.537
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1939-165X
pISSN - 0275-6382
DOI - 10.1111/vcp.12541
Subject(s) - sarcocystis , toxoplasma gondii , pathology , biology , sarcocystosis , cats , antibody , pleural effusion , parasite hosting , medicine , immunology , world wide web , computer science
An 8‐year‐old, 6‐kg, male neutered Domestic Shorthair cat was presented to The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center ( OSU ‐ VMC ) for difficulty breathing. Physical examination and thoracic radiographs indicated pneumonia, a soft‐tissue mass in the left caudal lung lobe, and diffuse pleural effusion. The effusion was classified as modified transudate. Rare extracellular elongated (~5–7 μm × 1–2 μm) zoites with a central round to oval‐shaped purple to deep purple vesicular nucleus with coarsely stippled chromatin and light blue cytoplasm were seen on a peripheral blood smear. Serum IgG and IgM were positive for Sarcocystis sp. antibodies and negative for Toxoplasma gondii antibodies, suggesting that the infection was acute rather than a recrudescence of prior infection. This organism was most consistent with either Sarcocystis neurona or Sarcocystis dasypi based on DNA sequence analysis of PCR products using COC ss RNA , ITS ‐1, sn SAG 2, and JNB 25/ JD 396 primer sets. This is the first report to visualize by light microscopy circulating Sarcocystis sp. merozoites in the peripheral blood of a domestic cat. Therefore, Sarcocystis should be considered as a differential diagnosis in cats with suspected systemic protozoal infection.