Amebiasis in a backyard red-foot tTortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaria)
Souto, Erick Platiní Ferreira deCampos, Édipo MoreiraMiranda, Samuel Matheus MedeirosPereira, Joana Kehrle Dantas MedeirosLima, Cinthia Dayanne SenaSouza, Joyce Galvão deGaliza, Glauco José Nogueira deDantas, Antônio Flávio Medeiros
Background: Amebiasis is a parasitic infection caused by obligate or facultative amoeboid protozoans, as well as freeliving forms. The genus Entamoeba includes both pathogenic and commensal species that can affect humans and animals.Entamoeba histolytica is the most important species associated with intestinal and extraintestinal infections in humans,while Entamoeba invadens is considered the most common and serious pathogen to many reptile species, including lizards, snakes and crocodilians. The aim of this manuscript is to report a case of amebiasis in a backyard red-foot tortoisein northeastern Brazil.Case: A 10-month-old male red-foot tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaria) was presented at the Animal Pathology Laboratory of the Veterinary Hospital of Federal University of Campina Grande for necropsy with a 1-week history of anorexia,apathy, and reluctance to move. According to the owner, the animal suffered from heat stress in the backyard, where it washoused with another male red-foot tortoise. At post-mortem examination, there were approximately 1 mL of yellowishviscous transudate in the coelomic cavity. The liver was large, with rounded edges and multifocal to coalescing yellowishareas in the subcapsular surface. When cut, the parenchyma was more friable and yellowish. At the opening of the smallintestine, the mucosa was thickened, reddened, and contained many variably sized, dark red ulcers with depressed andhemorrhagic centers. Histopathology of the liver reveals diffuse macro and microvacuolar degeneration of the hepatocytecytoplasm, often displacing the nucleus peripherally (fatty degeneration). There were extensive and multifocal areas ofnecrosis characterized by shrunken, hypereosinophilic and pyknotic hepatocytes. Amebic trophozoites were seen throughthe areas of necrosis and degeneration and the morphological features were suggestive of the genus Entamoeba. In theportal triads...(AU)
Texto completo