In vitro replication of Nosema algerae (Microsporidia), a parasite of anopheline mosquitoes, in human cells above 36 degrees C.
Microsporidia form a large and ubiquitous group of obligately intracellular parasitic eukaryotes, increasingly recognized as pathogens in humans. Transmission of invertebrate microsporidia to mammals has been considered impossible because temperature seemed to be a limiting factor for development. Nosema algerae, a microsporidian of anopheline mosquitoes, was cultured in human muscle fibroblasts at temperatures of 31 degrees C and 38 degrees C. This is the first record of an invertebrate microsporidian developing in human cells at a temperature above 36 degrees C. The ultrastructure of N. algerae growing in human muscle fibroblasts is similar to that of Brachiola vesicularum, a microsporidian species previously described in the muscle of an AIDS patient.
Trammer
T
T
Institute for Medical Parasitology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, Bonn, Germany. ttrammer@parasit.meb.uni-bonn.de
Chioralia
G
G
Maier
W A
WA
Seitz
H M
HM
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D016881:Microsporidiosis / Q000469:parasitology; D016818:Nosema / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013170:Spores / Q000254:growth & development; D013696:Temperature