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Published on: October 27, 2013
Infections caused by pathogenic free-living amebas (Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba sp.) in horses
Hailu Kinde1, Deryck H Read, Barbara M Daft
1California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS), San Bernardino Branch, 105 West Central Avenue, San Bernardino, CA 92408, USA. hkinde@ucdavis.edu
Abstract:
This article describes amebic infections in 4 horses: granulomatous amebic encephalitis caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba culbertsoni and systemic infections caused by Acanthamoeba sp. The former infection occurred in 1 of 4 horses spontaneously without any underlying conditions; the latter amebic infection was perhaps "opportunistic" considering the visceral involvement by this protozoan in association with Aspergillus sp. and/or Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas sp. The clinicopathologic findings and demonstration of the amebic organisms using immunohistochemical techniques, culture, polymerase chain reactions, and electron microscopy are presented.
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