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Coccidioides immitis isolated from armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the state of Piauí, northeast Brazil

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Abstract

Natural infection of armadillos with Coccidioides immitis was studied in the state of Piauí, northeast of Brazil, endemic for coccidioidomycosis. In 1998, 26 nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) were captured in 4 different counties. The animals were sacrificed under deep anesthesia with ether. At necropsy fragments of spleen, liver, lungs and heart were homogenized and seeded onto Sabouraud dextrose agar with and without cycloheximide (BBL, USA). Part of each organ was also processed for histological examination. Suspected colonies of filamentous fungi observed after the second week of incubation at room temperature, exhibiting barrel-shaped arthroconidia alternating with empty spaces, were inoculated intraperitoneally into mice. Three armadillos proved to be infected with C. immitis. Mice inoculated with suspected colonies obtained from homogenized spleen of three and liver of two armadillos developed disseminated coccidioidomycosis and immature and mature spherules of C. immitis were disclosed in several organs. For the first time armadillos (D. novemcinctus) were found naturally infected with C. immitis, adding new data on the ecology and on a possible role of these ancestral mammals in the evolutionary life cycle of this fungus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hospital de Doenças Infecto Contagiosas-HDIC, Federal University of Piauí-UFPI, Teresina, Piauí

    Kelsen Dantas Eulalio, Maria do Amparo Salmito Cavalcanti & Liline Maria Soares Martins

  2. Laboratory of Mycology, Centro de Pesquisas, Hospital Evandro Chagas, Fundaçáo Oswaldo Cruz-FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Regina Lima de Macedo, Márcia dos Santos Lazéra & Bodo Wanke

Authors
  1. Kelsen Dantas Eulalio
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  2. Regina Lima de Macedo
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  3. Maria do Amparo Salmito Cavalcanti
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  4. Liline Maria Soares Martins
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  5. Márcia dos Santos Lazéra
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  6. Bodo Wanke
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Eulalio, K.D., de Macedo, R.L., Salmito Cavalcanti, M.d.A. et al. Coccidioides immitis isolated from armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the state of Piauí, northeast Brazil. Mycopathologia 149, 57–61 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007273019647

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