Rare human parasite found in U.S. horse for the first time
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A rare, potentially fatal species of parasite never before found in North America has been identified in a Florida horse.
University of Florida veterinarians identified the parasite, called Leishmania siamensis, in summer 2011. This particular species of parasite previously had been found only in Thailand and parts of Europe. No Leishmania infections of any species had been previously reported in a horse native to the United States.
The UF discovery raises awareness of how widespread the parasite is and suggests a need for watchfulness regarding potential transmission to humans, the researchers said.
"We now know the parasites that cause this disease also exist here in the U.S. and that we have some insect, presumably the sandfly, that is capable of transmitting the disease," said Sarah Reuss, a clinical assistant professor of large animal medicine at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. Reuss, UF colleagues and a private practice clinical pathologist described the findings in the September issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Our findings raise several potential avenues of further investigation, including the prevalence of this disease in horses in the U.S., a better understanding of the sandfly life cycle and the potential of this leishmaniasis species to be transmitted from animals to humans," Reuss said.
Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection spread through the bites of infected sandflies. The disease shows up most commonly in two forms: cutaneous, which causes sores on the skin and is self-healing; and visceral, the most severe form, which affects the entire body and is almost always fatal if left untreated.
Смотрите видео Rare human parasite found in U.S. horse for the first time онлайн без регистрации, длительностью часов минут секунд в хорошем качестве. Это видео добавил пользователь UF Health 15 Ноябрь 2012, не забудьте поделиться им ссылкой с друзьями и знакомыми, на нашем сайте его посмотрели 11,432 раз и оно понравилось 25 людям.