Entamoeba invadens
| Entamoeba invadens | ||||||||||||
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| Entamoeba invadens | ||||||||||||
| Rodhaim, 1934 |
Entamoeba invadens is a parasitic protozoon thatcausesa serious, invasive infectious diseasein reptiles . Its life cycle and disease-causing mechanisms arevery similar tothe amoeba Entamoeba histolytica in humans and other mammals , which is why Entamoeba invadens is used as a model organism for research into human amoebic dysentery and invasive amoebic diseases. Entamoeba invadens commonly infects snakes , lizards, and turtles in captivity. Unclean keeping of several animals promotes transmission.
illness
Entamoeba invadens causes amebiasis (also called intestinal rot ) in reptiles; in privately held snakes it is responsible for 5 to 10% of deaths. The pathogen has a different degree of pathogenicity depending on the strain . The pathogens enter the intestine as a four-nucleus cyst , where they develop into mobile trophozoites . These penetrate the intestinal wall and spread to other organs. Animals, especially turtles, can be latently infected with no signs of disease, with the trophozoites remaining in the intestine as commensals without invasion . New infections and a further spread of the pathogen can always come from these animals.
A few days after infection, refusal to eat and possibly vomiting appear as the first symptoms. It can colicky cramps, a enteritis and bloody tinged chairs come with a necrotic inflammation of the colon. A blood-smeared cloaca is a typical sign of illness in snakes. In the course of the disease, other organs such as the kidneys and liver are affected, sometimes abscesses and severe necroses are found in the liver and myositis of the skeletal muscles. Secondary bacterial infections often occur . Death occurs after three to six weeks.
transmission
The transmission takes place by fecal-oral smear infection , partly indirectly via ants , cockroaches , flies or contact surfaces (hands, feeding places, tongs) or as direct fecal-oral transmission by ingesting contaminated faeces. If transmission is not prevented in a population, an enzooty with a pathogenic strain can lead to the death of all animals in a holding. The quaduclear amoebic cysts are infectious. Before bringing in new animals, a quarantine of eight weeks is necessary, during which preventive drug treatment may be recommended.
Diagnosis and therapy
The diagnosis can be made by microscopic evidence of the quaduclean cysts in the cloacal swab. Direct detection of the pathogen using PCR from stool and tissue samples is possible. The infection can be treated with metronidazole as the drug of choice for a period of 10 to 12 days (until all remaining trophozoites die). Dimetridazole can be used as an alternative . The treatment must extend to all animals in a facility and be carried out under strict hygienic conditions in order to prevent constant re-infection.
literature
- P. Zwart: Snakes , subchapter amebiasis . In: K. Gabrisch, P. Zwart (ed.): Diseases of the Heimtiere , Hannover (Schlütersche) 3rd edition 1995, pp. 770–772 ISBN 387706325X
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ P. Zwart, 1996, p. 770
- ↑ CM Bradford et al .: Development of a polymerase chain reaction test for Entamoeba invadens . J. Zoo Wildl. Med. (2008) 39 (2): pp. 201-207 PMID 18634210