Meredith A L, Cleaveland S C, Brown J, Mahajan A, Shaw D J
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies & The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Roslin, UK.
Transbound Emerg Dis. 2015 Apr;62(2):148-56. doi: 10.1111/tbed.12091. Epub 2013 Apr 22.
Encephalitozoon cuniculi is an obligate intracellular microsporidian that is the causal agent of encephalitozoonosis, an important and emerging disease in both humans and animals. Little is known about its occurrence in wildlife. In this study, serum samples from 793 wild rodents [178 bank voles (BV), 312 field voles (FV) and 303 wood mice (WM)], 96 foxes and 27 domestic cats from three study areas in the UK were tested for the presence of antibodies to E. cuniculi using a direct agglutination test (DAT). Seroprevalence in the wild rodents ranged from 1.00% to 10.67% depending on species (overall 5.31%) and was significantly higher in foxes [49.50% (50/96)]. None of the 27 cats sampled were found to be seropositive. This is the first report of seroprevalence to E. cuniculi in BV, FV, WM, foxes and cats in the UK and provides some evidence that foxes could act as sentinels for the presence of E. cuniculi in rodents. The study demonstrates that wildlife species could be significant reservoirs of infection for both domestic animals and humans.
兔脑炎微孢子虫是一种专性细胞内微孢子虫,是兔脑炎微孢子虫病的病原体,这是一种在人类和动物中都很重要且新出现的疾病。关于它在野生动物中的存在情况知之甚少。在本研究中,使用直接凝集试验(DAT)对来自英国三个研究区域的793只野生啮齿动物[178只棕背鼠平(BV)、312只田鼠(FV)和303只林姬鼠(WM)]、96只狐狸和27只家猫的血清样本进行了兔脑炎微孢子虫抗体检测。野生啮齿动物的血清阳性率因物种而异,范围为1.00%至10.67%(总体为5.31%),狐狸的血清阳性率显著更高[49.50%(50/96)]。所采集的27只猫均未检测出血清阳性。这是英国关于BV、FV、WM、狐狸和猫中兔脑炎微孢子虫血清阳性率的首次报告,并提供了一些证据表明狐狸可能是啮齿动物中兔脑炎微孢子虫存在的哨兵。该研究表明,野生动物物种可能是家畜和人类感染的重要储存宿主。