Natural fatal Sarcocystis falcatula infections in free-ranging eagles in North America

Three bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and 1 golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) were admitted to rehabilitation facilities with emaciation, lethargy, and an inability to fly. Intravascular schizonts and merozoites were present in 2 bald eagles, mainly in the lung tissue, whereas the third bald e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation 2010-03, Vol.22 (2), p.282-289
Main Authors: Wunschmann, Arno, Rejmanek, Daniel, Conrad, Patricia A, Hall, Natalie, Cruz-Martinez, Luis, Vaughn, Samuel B, Barr, Bradd C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
animal pathogens
Animals
antigens
Aquila chrysaetos
bird diseases
Bird Diseases - epidemiology
Bird Diseases - parasitology
Brain - parasitology
Brain - pathology
case studies
cysts (developmental stages)
disease diagnosis
Eagles
encephalitis
Fatal Outcome
Female
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
immunohistochemistry
Lung - parasitology
Lung - pathology
lungs
Male
mortality
Muscle, Skeletal - parasitology
Muscle, Skeletal - pathology
myocardium
new host records
North America - epidemiology
pathogen identification
Phylogeny
polymerase chain reaction
protozoal infections
Sarcocystis - genetics
Sarcocystis falcatula
Sarcocystosis - mortality
Sarcocystosis - veterinary
signs and symptoms (animals and humans)
skeletal muscle
wild birds
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Summary:Three bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and 1 golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) were admitted to rehabilitation facilities with emaciation, lethargy, and an inability to fly. Intravascular schizonts and merozoites were present in 2 bald eagles, mainly in the lung tissue, whereas the third bald eagle and the golden eagle had lymphohistiocytic encephalitis with intralesional schizonts and merozoites. In all eagles, protozoal tissue cysts were present in skeletal musculature or heart. The protozoal organisms were morphologically compatible with a Sarcocystis sp. By immunohistochemistry, the protozoal merozoites were positive for Sarcocystis falcatula antigen in all cases when using polyclonal antisera. Furthermore, the protozoa were confirmed to be most similar to S. falcatula by polymerase chain reaction in 3 of the 4 cases. To the authors' knowledge, this report presents the first cases of natural infection in eagles with S. falcatula as a cause of mortality.
ISSN:1040-6387
1943-4936
DOI:10.1177/104063871002200222