DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE PATHOBIOLOGY
Joshua Webster, BVSc, DVM, PhD
Graduate Student in
Anatomic Pathology
Purdue University
“Encephalitozoon cuniculi-Associated Placentitis
And Perinatal Death In An Alpaca (Lama vicugna)”
Thursday, October 11,
2007
VPTH 112
3:30 p.m.
ABSTRACT:
Encephalitozoon cuniculi is
an obligate intracellular, microsporidian parasite,
which is associated with spontaneous infections in several species including
rabbits, dogs, foxes, rodents, horses, and human and non-human primates. Placentitis,
premature birth, and perinatal death were associated
with E. cuniculi
infection in a 290-day-gestation alpaca submitted for necropsy at Purdue University’s
Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. Histologically, chorionic trophoblasts contained many Gram-positive, PAS-positive,
variably acid-fast spores. Multiple
necrotic foci and infiltrating lymphocytes, eosinophils,
and neutrophils were scattered throughout the chorionic membrane. Ultrastructurally, spores in trophoblasts
were approximately 1 µm x 2 µm, thick-walled, and contained polar filaments and
polar vacuoles consistent with microsporidia. The presence of E. cuniculi DNA was confirmed by
sequencing the polymerase chain reaction amplicon from
frozen placental tissue. This is the
first reported case of E. cuniculi infection in an alpaca.