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1 April 2012 Acute Fatal Toxoplasmosis in Three Eurasian Red Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) Caused by Genotype II of Toxoplasma gondii
Pikka Jokelainen, Minna Nylund
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Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii parasites belonging to endemic genotype II caused fatal infection in three (16%) of 19 Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) sent for necropsy in Finland between May 2006 and April 2009. The liver, spleen, and lungs were the organs most affected in all three cases, and high numbers of T. gondii parasites were visualized immunohis-tochemically in all the tissue samples available from them. The genotyping of the parasite strains was based on the results of analysis of length polymorphism at six microsatellite markers (B18, TUB2, TgM-A, W35, B17, and M33). The length of the PCR product at the additional seventh marker (M48) was 233 base pairs from the first two cases that were found dead together, suggesting a common infection source, and 215 base pairs from the third. Eurasian red squirrels may be exceptionally susceptible to T. gondii infection.

Pikka Jokelainen and Minna Nylund "Acute Fatal Toxoplasmosis in Three Eurasian Red Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) Caused by Genotype II of Toxoplasma gondii," Journal of Wildlife Diseases 48(2), 454-457, (1 April 2012). https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-48.2.454
Received: 19 April 2011; Accepted: 1 October 2011; Published: 1 April 2012
KEYWORDS
genotyping
immunohisto-chemistry
proportional mortality rate
squirrel
toxoplasmosis
zoonosis
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