BACKGROUND Encephalitozoon cuniculi infects a wide range of homoeothermic animals, including man. Complications due to this microsporidian have been reported only in immunocompromised patients. Reports on E. cuniculi in immunocompetent humans are lacking, most probably, because it is not linked to any clinical manifestations in such hosts. The present work was carried out with the aim of studyi...

AIMS To detect intestinal microsporidiosis in paraffin wax embedded biopsy specimens using a fluorescence technique incorporating optical brighteners. METHODS Eight HIV infected patients with confirmed intestinal microsporidiosis (six with Enterocytozoon bieneusi, one with Encephalitozoon intestinalis and one with Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection) and 10 without infection were studied. Tiss...

Seven species-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced against Encephalitozoon cuniculi and characterized. The MAbs were immunoglobulin G, and when used for indirect microimmunofluorescence microscopy and Western immunoblot assays, they detected E. cuniculi originating from clinical samples. They did not cross-react with other Encephalitozoon species (E. intestinalis and E. hellem) o...

We have developed a new micromethod to study the effect of drugs on microsporidia, using MRC5 fibroblasts infected by 10(5) spores of Encephalitozoon cuniculi. After 3 days of incubation with various concentrations of drugs, parasitic foci were counted in stained cultures. The inhibition of microsporidial growth exceeding 90% with albendazole (0.005 microgram/ml), fumagillin (0.001 microgram/ml...

Experimental activation of peritoneal macrophages by interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) resulted in the inhibition of Encephalitozoon cuniculi replication. However, E. cuniculi could replicate either in a non-activated cell line of murine macrophages PMJ2-R or in IFN-gamma-activated PMJ2-R cells. Moreover, activation with IFN-gamma led to faster replication of E. cuniculi in these cells. Opsonisation...

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is clinically the most significant of the microsporidia in humans, causing chronic diarrhea wasting and cholangitis in individuals with human immunodeficiency virus infection and AIDS. Little progress on this infection has been made because of the inability to propagate E. bieneusi in vitro and in vivo, which limits the source of parasite spores to the stools of infected...