Fatal infection with Taenia martis metacestodes in a ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) living in an Italian zoological garden

Liberato, Claudio De; Berrilli, Federica; Meoli, Roberta; Friedrich, Klaus G.; Cerbo, Pilar Di; Cocumelli, Cristiano; Eleni, Claudia

doi:10.1016/j.parint.2014.05.008

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…T . martis has recently been considered to be an emerging infectious disease since it has been recognized to rarely cause infections of the eye and the brain in humans [56, 57] and to cause severe to fatal infections in non-human primates [58, 59]. The ITS-2 sequences obtained from four specimen here show a remarkably high diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small rodents as paratenic or intermediate hosts of carnivore parasites in Berlin, Germany

et al. 2017

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Rodents are important intermediate and paratenic hosts for carnivore parasites, including the important zoonotic agents Toxoplasma, Echinococcus and Toxocara. Monitoring of such parasites in rodents can be used to detect increasing risks for human and veterinary public health. Rodents were trapped at four sites in Berlin, two near the city center, two at the periphery. PCRs were conducted to detect Coccidia (target ITS-1) and specifically Toxoplasma gondii (repetitive element) in brain and ascarids (ITS-2) in muscle or brain tissue. During necropsies, metacestodes were collected and identified using ITS-2 and 12S rRNA PCRs. An ELISA to detect antibodies against Toxocara canis ES antigens was performed. Within the 257 examined rodents, the most frequently observed parasite was Frenkelia glareoli predominantly found in Myodes glareolus. T. gondii was only detected in 12 rodents and Microtus spp. (although strongly underrepresented) had a significantly increased chance of being positive. Neither Echinococcus nor typical Taenia parasites of dogs and cats were found but Mesocestoides litteratus and Taenia martis metacestodes were identified which can cause severe peritoneal or ocular cysticercosis in dogs, primates and humans. Using PCR, the ascarids T. canis (n = 8), Toxocara cati (4) and Parascaris sp. (1) were detected predominantly in muscles. Seroprevalence of T. canis was 14.2% and ELISA was thus more sensitive than PCR to detect infection with this parasite. Non-parametric multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis revealed that parasite communities could be grouped into an urban and a peri-urban cluster with high frequency of ascarid-positive rodents in urban and high frequency of F. glareoli in peri-urban sites. Prevalence rates of parasites in rodents with potential impact for human or veterinary public health are considerable and the monitoring of transmission cycles of carnivore parasites in intermediate rodent hosts is recommended to estimate the health risks arising from wild and domesticated carnivores.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small rodents as paratenic or intermediate hosts of carnivore parasites in Berlin, Germany

et al. 2017

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“…Rare cases of carnivore-transmitted cysticercosis caused by, for example, T. crassiceps ( Heldwein et al., 2006 , Flammer et al., 2014 ) and T. martis ( Brunet et al., 2015 , Eberwei et al., 2013 ), have been documented in people in Europe. Furthermore, several lethal T. martis ( Brunet et al., 2014 , De Liberato et al., 2014 ) and T. crassiceps infections were reported recently for lemurs in zoos ( Luzon et al., 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of taeniid ( Taenia spp., Echinococcus spp.) eggs contaminating vegetables and fruits sold in European markets and the risk for metacestode infections in captive primates

Federer

Armúa-Fernández

Gori

et al. 2016

International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife

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Due to frequent cases of alveolar echinococcosis (AE) in captive primates in Europe, 141 samples of food, which consisting of vegetables and fruits, were investigated for contamination with egg-DNA of taeniids. Each sample consisted of at least 40 heads of lettuce as well as various vegetables and fruits. The samples were purchased at different times of the year: either from September to November (autumn), originating from greenhouses or fields in the Basel region in the North of Switzerland, or in April and May (spring) when fruit and vegetables are sourced from throughout Europe from various wholesalers. Each sample was washed, and the washing water sieved through mesh apertures of 50 μm and 21 μm, respectively. The debris, including taeniid eggs, collected on the 21 μm sieve were investigated by a multiplex PCR-analysis followed by direct sequencing. In 17 (18%) of the 95 samples collected in autumn, taeniid-DNA was detected (Taenia hydatigena in four, Taenia ovis in three, Taenia polyacantha in two and Hydatigera (Taenia) taeniaeformis in five cases). Similarly, in 13 (28%) of the 46 samples collected during spring taeniid-DNA was detected (Echinococcus granulosus s.l. in two, Taenia crassiceps in one, T. hydatigena in two, Taenia multiceps/Taenia serialis in two, Taenia saginata in one and H. taeniaeformis in five cases). Although DNA of Echinococcus multilocularis was not found specifically in this study, the detection of other fox taeniids reveals that vegetables and fruit fed to the primates at the Zoo Basel at different times of the year and from different origin are contaminated with carnivore's faeces and therefore act as a potential source of AE infections.

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“…Especially in such anatomical sites, molecular parasite species identification should be attempted, as different larval tapeworm species (especially as the morphologically similar T. crassiceps) have different disease prognoses. 6 In addition to human cases, two nonhuman primate infections with T. martis larvae have been described very recently in an Italian zoo 9 and in a French primate center. 10 In the animals (a ring-tailed lemur that died of the infection and a macaque that survived, respectively), peritoneal infection had developed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Diagnosis of Human Taenia martis Eye Infection

Koch¹,

Schoen²,

Muntau³

et al. 2016

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Abstract. Taenia martis, a tapeworm harbored in the intestine of mustelids, is a rarely encountered zoonotic cysticercosis pathogen. The larval stage closely resembles the Taenia solium cysticercus, but the natural host and thus the epidemiology of the disease is different. We here report a human eye infection diagnosed molecularly in a previously healthy female German patient. The case represents the third human infection described worldwide; the two previous cases were also European, involving eye and brain.

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Fatal infection with Taenia martis metacestodes in a ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) living in an Italian zoological garden

Cited by 22 publications

References 10 publications

Small rodents as paratenic or intermediate hosts of carnivore parasites in Berlin, Germany

Small rodents as paratenic or intermediate hosts of carnivore parasites in Berlin, Germany

Detection of taeniid ( Taenia spp., Echinococcus spp.) eggs contaminating vegetables and fruits sold in European markets and the risk for metacestode infections in captive primates

Molecular Diagnosis of Human Taenia martis Eye Infection

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