STUDIES ON NOSEMA (=ENCEPHALITOZOON) CUNICULI INFECTION IN MAN.
Abstract
Nosema (=Encephalitozoon) cuniculi is found parasitic in variety of mammals and only a few cases of infection in man so far have been reported. As this parasite is an agent of encephalitis in animals, it is possible that it can be a cause of some of encephalitis-like disorders of unknown etiology of man. The main purpose of this work is to make clear how often man may be infected with this parasite. For the detection of the parasite, the spinal fluid of urine of suspected cases should be inoculated into animals or tissue culture. Most of laboratory animals, however, are very often infected with this parasite and what is the worse, their infections are mostly latent. Endoxan, an anti-tumor substance found to be effective in promoting the growth of N. cuniculi, was tested for the provocation of the latent infection. It was successful in some cases and not in others. Endoxan, therefore, cannot be used for the selection of uninfected animals. N. cuniculi grows in HeLa cell cultures. However, it was not possible to get a constant positive growth even though the parasites were inoculated into the culture. Much improvement must be accomplished before the tissue culture can be used for this purpose. Under these conditions, it was not possible to start the experiment to detect the parasite from human beings in this first year period. Morphological details of the parasite in successive developmental stages from the proliferative form to the mature spore were studied by electron microscope. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0660282
Entities
People
- Hisakichi Matsubayashi
Organizations
- Keio University