Lethal encephalitozoonosis in cyclophosphamide-treated rabbits

Encephalitozoonosis is an opportunistic infection in animals and humans. Its clinical form is observed in immunosuppressed hosts. We studied the occurrence of the manifest form of rabbit microsporidiosis under cyclophosphamide immunomodulation in 40 New Zealand rabbits. The experimental animals were intraperitoneally infected with 5 x 10(7) Encephalitozoon cuniculi spores. Two weeks after infection the animals were treated intraperitoneally with cyclophosphamide, first with 50 mg/kg and then with 15 mg/kg weekly during the 12-week experimental period. Positive controls were either E. cuniculi-infected or cyclophosphamide-immunosuppressed animals. The negative control rabbits remained untreated. Both clinical signs of encephalitozoonosis and depression of peripheral blood cell count developed between weeks 4 and 6 in the experimental animals which died during week 6 of the experiment. No clinical signs compatible with encephalitozoonosis were observed in any of the controls. The results suggest that immunosuppression induced by cyclophosphamide can give rise to a lethal form of encephalitozoonosis.

The first finding of antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi in cows in Slovakia

The presence of antibodies against Encephalitozoon cuniculi in cows was observed by the method of indirect immunofluorescence (IFAT). The animals reacting at the titre 1:64 and more were considered positive. Of the total number of 55 sera examined, 20 were positive at the titre 1:64, from which four were positive at the titre 1:256 also. Our results indicate that it is very important to carry out screening examinations in large-scale breeding of cattle due to the persistent high percentage of bovine abortions and disorders in the reproductive cycle of unknown etiology.