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.
Medical Department, The Baltimore Zoo, Baltimore, Maryland 21217, USA.
K Christiana
KC
Grim
Estelle
E
Van der Merwe
Margery
M
Sullivan
Nola
N
Parsons
Thomas F
TF
McCutchan
Michael
M
Cranfield
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