Isolation of Encephalitozoon cuniculi from urine samples. Laboratory Animals 11,233234

Encephalitozoon cuniculi was isolated from the urine of infected rabbits using human and canine tissue cultures. The organism was isolated from 7 of 11 contaminated urines from seropositive animals. The advantages of urine over tissue as a source of E. cuniculi are that it is obtainable from living animals, can be examined for the presence of organisms, and is essentially free of cells likely to overgrow the tissue cultures used for isolation. Encephalitozoon (Nosema) cuniculi is an intracellular protozoon parasite which is a frequent cause of chronic infection in laboratory animals, especially rabbits. Infections are usually latent, but loss of condition and occasional overt central nervous system involvement with high mortality may b