title: Prevalence of agglutinating antibodies to Sarcocystis neurona in raccoons, Procyon lotor, from the United States.
abstract: Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is the most important protozoal disease of horses in North America and it is caused by Sarcocystis neurona. Natural cases of encephalitis due to S. neurona have been reported in raccoons, Procyon lotor. We examined 99 raccoons for agglutinating antibodies to S. neurona using the S. neurona agglutination test (SAT) employing formalin-fixed merozoites as antigen. Raccoons originated in Florida (N=24, collected in 1996), New Jersey (N=25, collected in 1993), Pennsylvania (N=25, collected in 1999), and Massachusetts (N=25, collected in 1993 and 1994). We found that 58 (58.6%) of the 99 raccoons were positive for antibodies to S. neurona using the SAT; 44 of 99 raccoons (44%) had titers of > or =1:500. This prevalence is similar to the reported seroprevalence of 33-60% for S. neurona antibodies in horses from the United States using the Western blot test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, 1410 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0342, USA. lindsayd@vt.edu
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Rosypal
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cheadle
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Zajac
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rupprecht
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Dubey
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Blagburn
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D015995:Prevalence; D011821:Raccoons / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology*; D012522:Sarcocystis / Q000276:immunology*; D012523:Sarcocystosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan