• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.183-185
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• 2006

Four pigeons which lived together of same cage were referred due to excessive feather loss, severe itching, and erythema on the head, neck and flank regions. They had behavioral problem with feather bloating and plucking. Although they were mildly depressed, appetite was normal. On microscopic examination of feather picking, prominent external parasite infection was found. Mite infection was diagnosed with morphological confirmation. On analysis of complete blood count (CBC), eosinophilia was evident. The patients were treated with ivermectin (apply 200 mcg/kg topically two times per every other week and spray 200 mcg/ml solution every week). Clinical signs of four, pigeons were improved 45 days following first therapy. This case report indicates that mite infection is accompanied with severe feather loss, itching, and generalized erythema on the skin and behavioral problem with feather bloating and plucking. And this infection can be managed with topical and spray application of Ivermectin without injection.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.239-242
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• 2012

The influence of temperature on the development and embryonation of Ascaris suum eggs was studied using coarse sand medium in an environmental chamber with 50% humidity. The time required for development and embryonation of eggs was examined under 3 different temperature conditions, $5^{\circ}C$, $25^{\circ}C$, and $35^{\circ}C$. A. suum eggs did not develop over 1 month at the temperature of $5^{\circ}C$. However, other temperature conditions, $25^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$, induced egg development to the 8-cell-stage at days 5-6 after incubation. All eggs examined developed to the 8-cell stage at day 6 after incubation in the sand medium at $25^{\circ}C$. The higher temperature, $35^{\circ}C$, slightly accelerated the A. suum egg development compared to $25^{\circ}C$, and the development to the 8-cell stage occurred within day 5 after incubation. The formation of larvae in A. suum eggs at temperatures of $35^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$ appeared at days 17 and 19 after incubation, respectively. These findings show that $35^{\circ}C$ condition shortens the time for the development of A. suum eggs to the 8-cell-stage in comparison to $25^{\circ}C$, and suggest the possibility of accelerated transmission of this parasite, resulting from global warming and ecosystem changes.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.199-205
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• 2012

Toxoplasmic encephalitis is caused by reactivation of bradyzoites to rapidly dividing tachyzoites of the apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii in immunocompromised hosts. Diagnosis of this life-threatening disease is problematic, because it is difficult to discriminate between these 2 stages. Toxoplasma PCR assays using gDNA as a template have been unable to discriminate between an increase or decrease in SAG1 and BAG1 expression between the active tachyzoite stage and the latent bradyzoite stage. In the present study, real-time RT-PCR assay was used to detect the expression of bradyzoite (BAG1)- and tachyzoite-specific genes (SAG1) during bradyzoite/tachyzoite stage conversion in mice infected with T. gondii Tehran strain after dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DXM) administration. The conversion reaction was observed in the lungs and brain tissues of experimental mice, indicated by SAG1 expression at day 6 after DXM administration, and continued until day 14. Bradyzoites were also detected in both organs throughout the study; however, it decreased at day 14 significantly. It is suggested that during the reactivation period, bradyzoites not only escape from the cysts and reinvade neighboring cells as tachyzoites, but also converted to new bradyzoites. In summary, the real-time RT-PCR assay provided a reliable, fast, and quantitative way of detecting T. gondii reactivation in an animal model. Thus, this method may be useful for diagnosing stage conversion in clinical specimens of immunocompromised patients (HIV or transplant patients) for early identification of tachyzoite-bradyzoite stage conversion.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.439-445
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• 2015

A survey of intestinal helminths was undertaken in riparian people in Xieng Khouang Province, Lao PDR. Fecal specimens were collected from 643 people (289 males and 354 females) residing in 4 districts (Nonghet, Kham, Phoukout, and Pek) and were examined by the Kato-Katz technique. The overall helminth egg positive rate was 41.2%, and hookworms revealed the highest prevalence (32.7%) followed by Trichuris trichiura (7.3%) and Ascaris lumbricoides (5.6%). The positive rate for small trematode eggs (STE), which may include Opisthorchis viverrini, heterophyids, and lecithodendriids, was 4.4%. For recovery of adult helminths, 12 STE or nematode/cestode egg-positive people were treated with 40 mg/kg praziquantel and 15 mg/kg pyrantel pamoate, and then purged. Mixed infections with 2 Haplorchis species (H. pumilio and H. taichui), Centrocestus formosanus, Opisthorchis viverrini, a species of cestode (Taenia saginata), and several species of nematodes including hookworms and Enterobius vermicularis were detected. The worm load for trematodes was the highest for H. pumilio with an average of 283.5 specimens per infected person followed by C. formosanus, H. taichui, and O. viverrini. The worm load for nematodes was the highest for hookworms (21.5/infected case) followed by E. vermicularis (3.2/infected case). The results revealed that the surveyed areas of Xieng Khouang Province, Lao PDR are endemic areas of various species of intestinal helminths. The STE found in the surveyed population were verified to be those of heterophyids, particularly H. pumilio.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.583-593
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• 1997

Indirect fluorescent antibody test(IFAT) and enzyme-linked imuunosorbent assay (IgG-ELISA) as serological diagnostic tools were conducted to evaluate the usefulness for diagnosis of canine babesiosis infected with Babesia gibsoni in domestic various dog breeds, american pit bullterrier, military shepherd, and mongrel dogs. The results obtained from this study were abstracted as follows. The nonionic detergent Triton X-100 and absorbent bio-bead $SM_2$ were useful reagents for the preparation of pure merozoite antigen of B gibsoni to be used in ELISA. The optimum reaction in ELISA was shown when the protein concentration of ELISA antigen was measured as 625ng/ml and the conjugate concentration was diluted into 1/6000 fold. The average OD value of ELISA in sera determined with negative responses in IFAT was measured as $0.255{\pm}0.051$(490nm) and the cut - off value of OD was determined as 0.399(490nm). The serum antibodies in both of IFAT and ELISA were detected on one week after artificially infected with B gibsoni and these high antibody titers, 512X in IFAT and 1024X in ELISA, were long lasted until 15 weeks after infection. The reproducibility of reaction and stability of the antigen absorbed microtitration polystyrene plate preserved in $4^{\circ}C$ refrigerator and $-20^{\circ}C$ freezer, respectively could be lasted until 135 days after storage. The positive rates in IFAT by dog breeds were shown 8.1%(60/744 heads) in mongrel dogs, 81.3%(78/96 heads) in american pit bullterrier and 15.6%(15/96 heads) in military shepherd, while the positive rate in ELISA shown 17.6%(131/744 heads) in mongrel dogs, 83.3%(80/96 heads) in american pit bullterrier and 36.5%(35/96 heads) in military shepherd, respiectively. In the total of 936 heads surveyed with IFAT and ELISA the positive rates in IFAT and ELISA were 16.4%(153/936 heads) and 26.3%(246/936 heads), respectivily. Agreement of reactions between IFAT and ELISA was shown 82.4% in 936 dog sera. The specificity and sensitivity of ELISA reaction were 83.5% and 76.5%, respectively. From the conclusion obtained in this study it was evaluated that IFAT and ELISA were useful as highly specific, sensitive and stable serelogical tools for the diagnosis of canine babesiosis in Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.729-733
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• 2006

Cryptosporidium is a waterborne pathogenic parasite which causes diarrhea. Immunomagnetic separation-immunofluorescent assay (IMS-IFA) has been a widely adopted for Cryptosporidium detection as standard method. However, this method does not provide information about viability or infectivity of Cryptosporidium. Therefore, many researchers have studied viability or infectivity analyses of Cryptosporidium with various methods such as vital staining, in vitro excystation, RT-PCR, cell culture, and mouse infection assay. In this study, two direct RT-PCR methods, cell culture RT-PCR and cell culture IFA were compared for sensitivity and other characteristics. The results showed that direct RT-PCR method with HSP70 genes had the highest sensitivity with detection up to 1 viable cell of Cryptosporidium. The infectious Cryptosporidium were detected up to 10 to 25 cells by cell culture methods in combination with RT-PCR and IFA. The infectious Cryptosporidium were apt to be quantified by cell culture IFA.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.88-93
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• 2016

Dirofilaria immitis is a filarial nematode parasite that causes cardiopulmonary dirofilariasis in dogs. The purpose of this study was the development of real-time PCR assays for efficient detection of D. immitis. The D. immitis-specific primers confirmed in our previous study and a newly designed TaqMan probe were used for quantitative diagnostics. First, SYBR Green real-time PCR was performed using the specific primers and serially diluted genomic DNA or plasmid DNA, and melting curve analyses were performed after amplification. The melting curve showed one specific peak in each of the genomic and plasmid DNA reactions, suggesting that the primers specifically amplify the D. immitis cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene. Comparison of SYBR Green and TaqMan real-time PCR using serially diluted plasmid DNA showed higher efficiency and specificity with TaqMan real-time PCR. The real-time PCR assays developed in this study will provide improved diagnostic methods to overcome the limitations of conventional diagnostic tools and facilitate more rapid and accurate diagnoses.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.229-238
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• 1988

In vitro culture of Toxoplasma gondii in HL-60 cells and cell-mediates immunity against Toxoplasma in dimethylsulfoxide(DMSO) -induced HL-60 cells, i.e., differentiation into granulocytes, were pursued. HL-60 calls were treated with various concentrations of DMSO, and 1.3%(v/v) for 3 day incubation was chosen as the optimal condition icy differentiation into granulocytes. The degree of differentiation was assayed in physiological and functional aspects in addition to morphological point. When treated with 1.3% DMSO for 3 days, HL-60 cells did not synthesiar DNA materials beyond background level, and showed active chemotactic response to chemotactic peptide, formal-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine(FMLP). Morphologically promyelocytes of high nuclearlcytoplasmic(NIC) ratio changed to granulocytes of relatively low WJC ratio. The relationships between HL-60 cells or DMSO-induced HL-60 cells and Toxoplasma were examined after stain with Giemsa and Buorescent dye (acridine orange). HL-60 cells did not show any sign of torso- plasmacidal activity but showed intracellular proliferation of Texoplasma to form rosette for 72 hr co-culture. In contrast, OMSO-induced HL-60 cells phagocytosed Toxoplasma within 1 hr, and performed a process of intracellular digestion of Toxoplasma thereafter. With the above results, it is suggested that phagosome-Iysosome fusion is one of the critical events for the parasitism by Toxoplasma or for susceptibility of host cells. The in vitro culture system of this study has offered a defined condition to study the protozoan parasite-host cell interactions.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 1997

It is generally accepted that parasite-specific IgE plays a crucial role in host defense against helminthic parasites. However, the role of high levels of nonspecific IgE in helminthic infections is still controversial. To investigate the role of nonspecific IgE in primary infections with P. westemani the effect of anti-lgE mAb treatment on serum IgE, $Fc{\varepsilon}RII/CD23$ expression and worm burden in Parcgonimus-infected mice were examined. In mice treated with anti-lgE antibody, the total IgE levels were not detectable ($1{\;}{\mu\textrm{g}/ml}$) throughout the experiment compared with untreated infected mice. The mean percentages of $Fc{\varepsilon}RII/CD23$ positive splenic B cells in anti-lgE treated mice (ridge: 20.3 - 30.5) were also decreased throughout the experiment compared with untreated infected mice (range: 35.7-44.4). Reduction of the total IgE and expression of $Fc{\varepsilon}RII/CD23$ on splenic B cells resulted in decreased worm burden six weeks post infection. These results suggest that high levels of nonspecific IgE in mice with primary infections of P. westemnni play a harmful, rather than beneficial, role for the host, perhaps by interfering with CD23-dependent cellular pathways.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.259-270
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• 2008

Disease surveillance was performed to monitor the prevalence of fish pathogens in wild marine fish caught in coastal offshore water in Korea. A total of 333 of fish samples were collected at set net or fish market at landing port in Pohang (East Sea), Taean (Western Sea), Goseong and Tongyeong (Southern Sea) and 21 species of pathogens causing clinical infections to farmed fish were investigated. The detection rates of fish pathogens from Mugili formes, Tetraodontiformes, Pleuroneciformes, Sorpaeniformes, erciformes and Clupeiformes were 90.9, 61.1, 47.6, 43.6, 37.2 and 11.8%, respectively. Comparing with prevalence of diseases seasonally, both the detection rates of bacteria and parasite were higher than those of virus in April but the detection rates of parasites were distinctively higher than those of bacteria in August with high water temperature. Virus were detected in fish samples caught in the Western and Southern Sea in April. The detected parasites were Trichodina, Ichthyophthirius, Dactylogyrus, Microcotyle, Bivagina, Caligus, Alella and Myxobolus. Among the bacterial pathogens, Vibrio, Streptococcus, Photobacterium, Psuedomonas were predominant. Viral nervous necrosis virus (VNNV) and flounder lymphocystis disease virus (FLDV) were detected from the 6 species of fish virus examined in this study.