Berlin Dalia, Loeb Emmanuel, Baneth Gad
School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Vet Parasitol. 2009 May 12;161(3-4):316-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2009.01.030. Epub 2009 Feb 6.
Trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma evansi ("Surra") is mainly a wasting disease affecting equids, camels and cattle as well as other domestic and wild animal species. In horses, infection may cause severe neurological abnormalities; however, the clinical progression, pathogenesis and molecular ante-mortem detection of this form of the disease have not been described in detail. A mare with progressive ataxia, head tilt, nystagmus and cranial nerve deficits submitted to treatment was diagnosed with central nervous system trypanosomiasis following the detection of a Trypanosoma tryposmastigote in cerebrospinal fluid cytology. Histopathology following necropsy showed that the brain, spinal cord and kidneys were the main affected tissues with disseminated multifocal non-suppurative meningoencephalitis of the central nervous system and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Serology for T. evansi was positive and PCR indicated the presence of parasite DNA in the cerebellum, brain stem, spinal cord and bone marrow but not in other organs and confirmed the identity of causative agent as T. evansi. This is the first report of ante-mortem detection of T. evansi in the cerebrospinal fluid of a horse and the first description of post-mortem PCR identification of the parasite DNA in the nervous system.
由伊氏锥虫（“苏拉病”）引起的锥虫病主要是一种消耗性疾病，影响马、骆驼和牛以及其他家养和野生动物物种。在马身上，感染可能会导致严重的神经异常；然而，这种疾病形式的临床进展、发病机制和生前分子检测尚未得到详细描述。一匹出现进行性共济失调、头部倾斜、眼球震颤和颅神经功能缺损并接受治疗的母马，在脑脊液细胞学检查中检测到锥虫鞭毛体后，被诊断为中枢神经系统锥虫病。尸检后的组织病理学显示，大脑、脊髓和肾脏是主要受影响的组织，中枢神经系统出现弥漫性多灶性非化脓性脑膜脑炎和膜增生性肾小球肾炎。伊氏锥虫血清学检测呈阳性，PCR检测表明在小脑、脑干、脊髓和骨髓中存在寄生虫DNA，但在其他器官中未检测到，并确认病原体为伊氏锥虫。这是首次报告在马的脑脊液中生前检测到伊氏锥虫，也是首次描述死后通过PCR在神经系统中鉴定寄生虫DNA。
