Two microsporidia species have been shown to infect Apis mellifera, Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae. This work presents evidence that N. ceranae infection significantly suppresses the honey bee immune response, although this effect was not observed following infection with N. apis. Immune suppression would also increase susceptibility to other bee pathogens and senescence. Despite the importance...

In this survey we examined 87 domestic animal stool samples in order to detect the possible presence of microsporidia in animals in close contact with humans in Galicia (NW, Spain). The detection of Enterocytozoon bieneusi spores was confirmed in faecal samples from two dogs and one goat by polymerase chain reaction. None of the positive samples for microsporidia in the staining method were amp...

A technique for the optimum preparation of microsporidia for scanning electron microscopy is described. Microsporidian-infected tissues were subjected to a triple fixation procedure followed by slow dehydration and critical point drying. Fracturing of the tissue to reveal details of both host and parasite was delayed until immediately before coating of specimens with gold; the exposed parasites...

Veterinarians caring for companion animals may encounter microsporidia in various host species, and diagnosis and treatment of these fungal organisms can be particularly challenging. Fourteen microsporidial species have been reported to infect humans and some of them are zoonotic; however, to date, direct zoonotic transmission is difficult to document versus transit through the digestive tract....

Microsporidiosis is an emerging infectious disease among a rapidly-broadening clinical spectrum of diseases that can cause significant morbidity in immunocompromized and immunocompetent patients, especially in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Acquired infection seems to occur from personto-person transmission or from other sources (eg water, food, and animals). Several m...

Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites that infect a wide range of eukaryotes, causing severe diseases in immunocompromised humans and losses to apiaries, fisheries and silk farms. They have often been considered to be primitive eukaryotes; however, more recent evidence suggests they are more closely related to fungi.

Microsporidia have been known for some time to possess among the smallest genomes of any eukaryote. There is now a completely sequenced microsporidian genome, as well as several other large-scale sequencing efforts, so the nature of these genomes is becoming apparent. This paper reviews some of the characteristics of microsporidian genomes in general, and some of the recent discoveries made thr...

Comparative small subunit rDNA sequence analyses, indicate that Ovavesicula popilliae, a microsporidian parasite of the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, represents a distant sister group to Paranosema and Antonospora. These three genera represent a second major group (the Nosema/Vairimorpha clade representing the first) of Microsopridia which infect terrestrial insects, suggesting independen...