Muscular sarcocystosis in wild carnivores in Honshu, Japan.
A total of 65 free-living carnivores collected on Honshu Island, Japan were examined for muscular Sarcocystis species infections. Among them, 12 Japanese raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus), one Japanese red fox (Vulpes vulpes japonica), three Japanese martens (Martes melampus melampus), and two Japanese badgers (Meles meles anakuma) were found to have sarcocysts in their muscles. No inflammatory reactions associated with sarcocysts were observed. Ultrastructurally, the sarcocysts detected in the Japanese raccoon dogs, Japanese red fox, and Japanese martens were similar to each other, with the sarcocyst wall being thin and exhibiting minute undulations. On the other hand, the sarcocysts detected in the Japanese badgers had a thick cyst wall with numerous finger-like protrusions which contained microtubules. The species of Sarcocystis in Japanese carnivores remain to be determined. This is the first published report on muscular sarcocystosis in Japanese carnivores.
Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan.
Masahito
M
Kubo
Tsukasa
T
Okano
Keiko
K
Ito
Toshio
T
Tsubota
Hiroki
H
Sakai
Tokuma
T
Yanai
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000469:parasitology; D002335:Carnivora / Q000469:parasitology*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008853:Microscopy; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D009132:Muscles / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D012523:Sarcocystosis / Q000453:epidemiology*