Sarcocystis sp. meningoencephalitis in a captive bobcat

A geriatric captive bobcat (Lynx rufus) was euthanized due to progressive anorexia and lethargy. Meningoencephalitis with intralesional apicomplexan organisms was identified histologically. With immunohistochemistry, the organisms were immunolabeled by anti-Sarcocystis neurona antibodies. PCR targeting the ITS region of the parasite yielded an amplicon with >99.6% identity to several Sarcocystis dasypi, S. neurona, and S. speeri sequences. Amplification of the 18S region yielded a sequence that was 99.9% similar to sequences of both S. neurona (MN169125) and S. speeri (KX470746). Inflammatory disease of the CNS due to Sarcocystis sp. infection is uncommonly reported in felids and has not been reported previously in bobcats, to our knowledge. Here, we briefly review Sarcocystis-associated CNS disease in other felids, confirm that it can affect bobcats, and highlight the challenges of species-level identification of Sarcocystis sp. in routine diagnostic work.