The cestode
Taenia crassiceps
parasitizes in the intestine of domestic and wild carnivores, especially in red foxes. Usually, the metacestode stage, also known as Cysticercus longicollis, is located in muscles, peritoneal and pleural cavity of wild rodents. In this case, larval stages were found in a female Cape fur seal, which lived in a German zoo since June 1998. In January 2019, the animal presented clinical signs in terms of inappetence and reduced mobility and, within a short time, it developed dyspnoea and died. Pathological and parasitological examinations were performed. In a large mass of the right thoracic wall and in nodular lung lesions, metacestodes with numerous protoscoleces were identified. Morphological and molecular analyses led to the diagnosis of a
Taenia crassiceps
infection. Probably, the urban fox population was the source of infection. Thus, regarding the zoonotic potential of this cestode, a regularly performed parasitological examination of pet dogs is recommended.
To the authorsʼ knowledge there is only one report in the literature,
dealing with paramedullary plasmacytomas in horses as so-called “break
out lesions”, originating from the bone marrow of a vertebra and
invading the epidural space (Drew and Greatorex 1974). Our case report
describes the clinical and patho-morphological findings of such a case.
The affected 8-month-old warmblood weanling colt exhibited acute
tetraparesis thus, a spinal cord lesion in the cervical column was
suspected. Computed tomography revealed osteolytic lesions in C1 and a
heterogeneous mass within the respective segment of the vertebral canal.
By means of patho-morphological examination, with the aid of
transmission electron microscopy, a plasmacytoma was identified, that
had grown out of the bone marrow of C1 into the epidural space, locally
compressing the spinal cord. In tetraparetic, young horses traumatic
spine cord injuries, cervical vertebral malformations and infectious
diseases of the central nervous system represent common differentials.
However bone-dissolving tumours such as paramedullary plasmacytomas
should be considered as a further possible cause in the presence of
severe neurological deficits.
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