Isolation and molecular characterisation of Halicephalobus gingivalis in the brain of a horse in Piedmont, Italy

A fatal case of meningoencephalitis was reported in a 13-year-old Koninklijk Warmbloed Paard Nederland stallion, suspected of West Nile virus (WNV) infection, in the Piedmont region of Italy. Clinical signs included right head tilt and circling, depression alternated with excitability, fever and lat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasites & vectors 2017-03, Vol.10 (1), p.135-135, Article 135
Main Authors: Pintore, Maria Domenica, Cerutti, Francesco, D'Angelo, Antonio, Corona, Cristiano, Gazzuola, Paola, Masoero, Loretta, Colombo, Corrado, Bona, Roberto, Cantile, Carlo, Peletto, Simone, Casalone, Cristina, Iulini, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bayesian analysis
Brain
Brain - parasitology
Brain - pathology
Cholesterol
Dexamethasone
Disorders
Eggs
Encephalitis
Epidemiology
Excitability
Fatal Outcome
Female
Fever
Geographical distribution
Halicephalobus gingivalis
Horse Diseases - epidemiology
Horse Diseases - parasitology
Horses
Incidence
Infections
Infectious diseases
Italy - epidemiology
Larvae
Lesions
Lymphocytes
Male
Meningitis
Meningoencephalitis
Meningoencephalitis - epidemiology
Meningoencephalitis - parasitology
Meningoencephalitis - veterinary
Molecular biology
Necropsy
Neurological diseases
Nucleotide sequence
Organs
Parasites
PCR
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Polymerase chain reaction
Public health
Rhabditida - classification
Rhabditida - isolation & purification
Rhabditida Infections - epidemiology
Rhabditida Infections - pathology
Rhabditida Infections - veterinary
Short Report
Skin diseases
Strabismus
Sulfonamides
Viruses
West Nile virus
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A fatal case of meningoencephalitis was reported in a 13-year-old Koninklijk Warmbloed Paard Nederland stallion, suspected of West Nile virus (WNV) infection, in the Piedmont region of Italy. Clinical signs included right head tilt and circling, depression alternated with excitability, fever and lateral strabismus. Combined treatment consisting of dimethylsulfoxide, dexamethasone, sulphonamides and sedative was administered, but because of the poor conditions the horse was euthanatized and submitted for necropsy. At post-mortem examination no skin lesions were observed, all organs appeared normal on gross evaluation and only head and blood samples were further investigated. Neuropathological findings consisted of granulomatous meningoencephalitis and larvae and adult females of Halicephalobus gingivalis were isolated and identified from the digested brain. Frozen brain was submitted to PCR amplification and 220 bp multiple sequence alignment was analysed by Bayesian phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic inference revealed that the isolate belongs to H. gingivalis Lineage 3. WN surveillance can help to deepen our knowledge of horse neurological disorders investigating their causes and incidence. Moreover, it can help to understand the geographic distribution of the H. gingivalis, to unravel epidemiological information, and to estimate risk for humans.
ISSN:1756-3305
1756-3305
DOI:10.1186/s13071-017-2070-3