BioOne.org will be down briefly for maintenance on 17 December 2024 between 18:00-22:00 Pacific Time US. We apologize for any inconvenience.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 November 2004 An Analysis of the Microsporidian Genus Brachiola, with Comparisons of Human and Insect Isolates of Brachiola algerae
ANN CALI, LOUIS M. WEISS, PETER M. TAKVORIAN
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The genus Brachiola is the newest microsporidian genus established for a human infection with the type species being B. vesicularum in skeletal muscle. Subsequently, the microsporidium, Nosema algerae, identified from mosquitoes, was added to this genus because of morphological and physiological similarities. The present report illustrates a confirmed case of Brachiola algerae infecting skeletal muscle in a 56-year-old woman who was being treated for rheumatoid arthritis with immunosuppressive drugs. In the following study, these two human-infecting microsporidian species are ultrastructurally compared from human biopsy tissue. Additionally, Brachiola algerae from mosquitoes as reference B. algerae, was grown in athymic mice and compared to the human isolate in vivo, and in culture. B. algerae is morphologically identical in the host situations presented and different from B. vesicularum in human skeletal muscle. B. algerae has a consistently, slightly longer spore that typically contains one row of polar filament coils, while B. vesicularum typically contains two rows of polar filament coils and occasionally, one or three rows. In proliferative development, B. vesicularum forms protoplasmic extensions which do not occur on B. algerae, nor have they been reported on any other microsporidium. This report demonstrates that B. vesicularum and B. algerae are two different species of Brachiola that infect human skeletal muscle.

ANN CALI, LOUIS M. WEISS, and PETER M. TAKVORIAN "An Analysis of the Microsporidian Genus Brachiola, with Comparisons of Human and Insect Isolates of Brachiola algerae," The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 51(6), 678-685, (1 November 2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1550-7408.2004.tb00608.x
Received: 11 August 2004; Accepted: 1 October 2004; Published: 1 November 2004
JOURNAL ARTICLE
8 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
Human myositis
Microspora
microsporidia
opportunistic infections
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top