Toxoplasmosis in piglets

자돈의 톡소플라즈마증 발생

Suckling piglets and weaned pigs showed anorexia, dehydration, severe abdominal breathing, emaciation and paresis from Oct. 1993. to Nov. 1993. Five 2-week-old piglets were submitted for diagnosis in Kangwon National University. At necropsy, the pin-point well demarcated yellowish white foci were scattered on the surface of the lung, heart, liver, spleen and kidney. Histologically, multifocal areas of necrosis with mononuclear cells infiltration were found in the lung, heart, liver, lymph node, spleen, kidney and small intestine. These lesions tended to be associated with blood vessels. Variable round to ovoid tachyzoites were located at the periphery of the lesions. The organisms were demonstrated as Toxoplasma gondii by immunohistochemical staining method. Ultrastructurally, this parasite was surrounded with parasitophorous vacuole in alveolar macrophage. The parasite was crescent-shaped and $6{\sim}8{\times}1{\sim}2{\mu}m$ in size. It was enclosed by an thick outer membrane and an underlying thin inner membrane. Several club-shaped paired organelles and conoids lay in the cytoplasm at the anterior. Numerous round body and one to several mitochondria were presented in the cytoplasm. Based on the gross findings, histopathology, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic findings, this case was diagnosed as toxoplasmosis in piglets.