Plasmodium Juxtanucleare associated with mortality in black-footed penguins (Spheniscus demersus) admitted to a rehabilitation center.
Five black-footed penguins (Spheniscus demersus) admitted to the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, in Cape Town, South Africa, died from malaria infection. Evidence for malaria as the cause of death included antemortem clinical signs, parasitemia, splenomegaly, pulmonary edema, and the presence of histologically visible schizonts in the reticuloendothelial system. A portion of the malarial small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction from postmortem blood samples from all the birds. A species-specific variable region of this gene was compared with the same region on genes from other known avian malarial organisms, establishing that Plasmodium juxtanucleare was involved.
Grim
K Christiana
KC
Medical Department, The Baltimore Zoo, Baltimore, Maryland 21217, USA.
Van der Merwe
Estelle
E
Sullivan
Margery
M
Parsons
Nola
N
McCutchan
Thomas F
TF
Cranfield
Michael
M
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000469:parasitology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001717:Birds; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis; D006529:Hepatomegaly / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D008289:Malaria, Avian / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary; D013019:South Africa; D013045:Species Specificity; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary
D016054:DNA, Protozoan