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Serologic responses of cats against experimental Sarcocystis neurona infections
J P Dubey1, D S Lindsay, W J A Saville
1United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Animal and Natural Resources Institute, Parasite Biology, Epidemiology and Systematics Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350, USA. jdubey@anri.barc.usda.gov
Abstract:
Sarcocystis neurona is the most important cause of a neurologic disease of horses, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). Cats and other carnivores can act as its intermediate hosts and horses are aberrant hosts. Little is known of the sero-epidemiology of S. neurona infections in cats. In the present study, antibodies to S. neurona were evaluated by the S. neurona agglutination test (SAT). Cats fed sporocysts from the feces of naturally infected opossums or inoculated intramuscularly with S. neurona merozoites developed high levels (> or =1:4000) of SAT antibodies. Antibodies to S. neurona were not found in a cat inoculated with merozoites of the closely related parasite, Sarcocystis falcatula. These results should be useful in studying sero-epidemiology of S. neurona infections in cats.