Clinical, Cytological and Molecular Evidence ofMesocestoidessp. Infection in a Dog from Italy

Abstract

A 12-year-old, 13 kg, mixed-breed male dog was referred for anorexia and depression. The dog showed discomfort on abdominal palpation. Abdominal ultrasound examination revealed multiple, small, round anechoic cystic structures. Cystic fluid obtained with fine needle aspiration contained several 2-4 mm white motile flecks. Microscopic examination of the fluid revealed numerous irregularly shaped organisms measuring several hundred microns to 3 mm, the morphology of which was suggestive of intact and fragmented acephalic metacestodes of the genus Mesocestoides sp. Molecular analysis confirmed that the peritoneal infection was caused by Mesocestoides sp.

A Case of Diffuse Peritoneal Larval Mesocestoides corti (syn. M. vogae) Cestodiasis in A Dog in Turkey

“…Anemia and leucocytosis observed in the present case are in accordance with previous findings of Bonfanti et al 11 and Wirtherle et al 14 respectively. Nevertheless, there were discrepancies between the previous cases and our case as for the eosinophil, neutrophil and platelet counts, hemoglobin, and serum albumin, globulin, urea, phosphate, creatinine and bilirubin levels.…”

“…The cause of severe peritonitis could be due to the gastric perforation which might have occurred by a sharp angled foreign object, although no foreign body was found during autopsy. Detection of the diffuse ascites together with scintillating following abdominal radiography and ultrasonography suggest that the case could be a larval stage parasitosis as reported previously in related cases 4,11,14 . Due to the fact that parasites belonging to cysticercus, strobilocercus, coenurus, hydatic cysts and acephalic larval stage of mesocestoides cannot be distinguished based on morphology or histopathology at the beginning of developmental stage.…”

“…There are various case reports indicating that the disease caused by larval forms of cestodes belonging to the Mesocestoides genus in cats and dogs are characterized by non-specific signs like abdominal distension, loss of appetite, diarrhea, depression as we observed in the present case 4,5,11,[13][14][15][16][17][18] . Anemia and leucocytosis observed in the present case are in accordance with previous findings of Bonfanti et al 11 and Wirtherle et al 14 respectively.…”

“…Cytologic examination of the mobile masses were obtained during laparotomy established that these structures consisted of larvae of different sizes, at different stages of asexual reproduction, of the Mesocestoides species. The parasitic material sections did not show the scolex and sucker structures expected in tetrathyridia, corresponding to the definition of acephalic metacestodes found in the literature (Fig 2-A, B) [9][10][11] . The larvae were covered by a thick eosinophilic integument.…”

Mesocestoidosis and multivisceral tetrathyridiosis in a European cat

“…While feline infection is usually asymptomatic (Quintavalla et al 1996), in dogs the presence of tetrathyridia can cause serious peritonitis with parasitic chronic ascites and several non-specific clinical signs (Barsanti et al 1979;Bonfanti et al 2004;Wirtherle et al 2007;Papini et al 2010). Therefore, diagnosis of this infection is often an incidental finding during necropsy or laparotomy (i.e., ovariohysterectomy).…”