Nishimura Maki, Goyama Takashi, Tomikawa Sohei, Fereig Ragab M, El-Alfy El-Sayed N, Nagamune Kisaburo, Kobayashi Yoshiyasu, Nishikawa Yoshifumi
National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, Department of Basic Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
Parasitol Int. 2019 Feb;68(1):79-86. doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2018.10.008. Epub 2018 Oct 19.
Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that causes fatal disease in New World monkeys. Several reports have described outbreaks of toxoplasmosis in squirrel monkeys. Here, we report the death of four squirrel monkeys in a captive colony from acute toxoplasmosis, one of which developed toxoplasmosis about 1 year after the initial outbreak. Serum anti-T. gondii antibody was detected by a latex agglutination test in the animals, and one presented seropositive before clinical signs were observed. Macroscopically, the lungs were severely affected and three animals showed pulmonary edema. Microscopically, interstitial pneumonia was observed in all animals. In the liver and heart, multifocal mononuclear cell infiltration with necrosis was detected. Parasite loading tended to be higher in the lungs, liver and heart than in the spleen, kidney and brain. The parasite was isolated from the brain of one animal and this isolate showed type II restriction patterns in the SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2 and PK1 genes of T. gondii and type I restriction patterns in the L358 and Apico genes by PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism analysis. The clinical signs were reduced in mice infected with this isolate compared with those infected with reference type II strain PLK in a bioassay. To our knowledge, this is the first report of isolation of the parasite from squirrel monkeys in Japan and offers the opportunity for genomic and pathogenic analyses to aid our understanding of acute toxoplasmosis.
刚地弓形虫是一种原生动物寄生虫，可在新大陆猴中引发致命疾病。已有多篇报道描述了松鼠猴弓形虫病的暴发。在此，我们报告了圈养群体中4只松鼠猴因急性弓形虫病死亡，其中1只在初次暴发约1年后患上弓形虫病。通过乳胶凝集试验在这些动物中检测到血清抗刚地弓形虫抗体，且有1只在出现临床症状前血清呈阳性。宏观上，肺脏受到严重影响，3只动物出现肺水肿。微观上，所有动物均观察到间质性肺炎。在肝脏和心脏中，检测到多灶性单核细胞浸润伴坏死。寄生虫载量在肺、肝和心脏中往往高于脾脏、肾脏和大脑。从1只动物的大脑中分离出寄生虫，通过聚合酶链反应-限制性片段长度多态性分析，该分离株在刚地弓形虫的SAG1、SAG2、SAG3、BTUB、GRA6、c22-8、c29-2和PK1基因中显示II型限制性图谱，在L358和Apico基因中显示I型限制性图谱。在生物测定中，与感染参考II型菌株PLK的小鼠相比，感染该分离株的小鼠临床症状有所减轻。据我们所知，这是日本首次从松鼠猴中分离出该寄生虫的报告，为基因组和致病性分析提供了机会，有助于我们了解急性弓形虫病。
