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Title: DISSEMINATED ACANTHAMOEBA SP. INFECTION IN A DOG

Author
item Dubey, Jitender
item BENSON, J - ADL GALESBURG IL
item BLAKELEY, K - JACKSON MACOMB, IL04BOOTO
item BOOTON, G - COLUMBUS OH
item VISVESVARA, G - CDC ATLANTA GA

Submitted to: Veterinary Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/2004
Publication Date: 7/15/2005
Citation: Dubey, J.P., Benson, J.E., Blakeley, K.T., Booton, G.C., Visvesvara, G.S. 2005. Disseminated acanthamoeba sp. infection in a dog. Veterinary Parasitology 128:183-187..

Interpretive Summary: Acanthamoeba species are free-living parasites that can cause mortality in humans and animals. Scientists at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the CDC, Atlanta, Georgia, report a case fatal neurologic illness in a dog. The results will be of interest to biologisits, parasitologists and veterinarians.

Technical Abstract: Several species of free-living amoebe can cause encephalomyelitis in animals and humans. Disseminated acanthamoebiasis was diagnosed in pyogranulomatous lesions in brain, thyroid, pancreas, heart, lymph nodes, and kidney of a one-year-old dog. Acanthamoeba sp. was identified in canine tissues by conventional histology, by immunofluorescence, by cultivation of the parasite from the brain of the dog that had been stored at -70'c for two months, and by PCR. The sequence obtained from the PCR product from the amoeba from the dog was compared to other sequences in the Acanthamoeba ribosomal DNA database and was determined to be genotype T1, associated with other isolates of Acanthamoeba obtained from granulomatous amebic encephalitis infections in humans.