[A potential zoonotic parasitosis: Coccidial dermatitis due to Caryospora. New techniques for exploration within...

The genus Caryospora belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, class Sporozasida, order Eucoccidiorida. The primary hosts of its species, the best known of which are C. simplex Leger 1904 and C. bigenetica Wacha and Christiansen 1982, are carnivorous reptiles and birds of prey. The life cycle of the parasites, in these primary hosts, is a typical coccidian one, monoxenous, leading to the production of sporulated oocysts, infectious for snakes and birds, in the enterocytes of which the parasite will evolve. Beside this life-cycle, another one may take place, involving secondary hosts; these are rodents, getting infected by sporulated oocysts produced by the primary hosts, and which allow an exenteral but complete life-cycle, in various tissues, mainly connective tissue and dermis. The upshot of this life-cycle is the production of caryocysts formed from sporozoïtes having left the sporulated oocysts in the infected exenteral tissues. An interesting point is that dog and pig may be infected either from oocysts emitted by primary hosts, or by consuming infected secondary hosts bearing caryoscysts. As a matter of fact, the infection can evolve among secondary hosts, without any passage in primary hosts. The infected dogs exhibit a severe, sometimes generalized pyo-granulomatous dermatitis, that, in deficient animals, may be associated with a poor general state of health. On the other hand, Caryospora species may grow and evolve in human cells grown in vitro. According to all these facts, one cannot help conjuring up the possibility, for man, to get the caryosporan infection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)