First report of Caryospora sp. infection in free-living green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Northeastern Brazil

Santos, Elainne Maria Beanes da Silva; Silva, Danielle Nascimento; Perinotto, Wendell Marcelo de Souza; Macedo, Gustavo Rodamilans; Pires, Thaís Torres; Jerdy, Hassan; Silva, Vanessa Bonfim da; Muramoto, Caterina; Estrela‐Lima, Alessandra

doi:10.1007/s00436-022-07573-w

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…6 This is in contrast to other CLO-infected marine turtles in the Southern Hemisphere, such as the most recently reported affected turtles from Northeastern Brazil, in which extra-intestinal lesions were not reported. 8 Additional affected organs and tissues of this clutch of red-eared sliders that have not been reported in marine turtles included the liver, biliary tract, stomach, pancreas, heart, spleen, mesentery, yolk sac remnant, pharynx, and bone marrow. Unlike some infected marine turtles, 6,11 the examined thyroid and adrenal glands were unaffected, and no coccidian organisms were detected with immunohistochemistry in these endocrine tissues of the red-eared slider hatchlings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…34 Since then, sporadic cases have been reported in green loggerhead ( Caretta caretta ) and Kemp’s ridley turtles ( Lepidochelys kempii ) in the southeastern U.S. Atlantic coast, Gulf of Mexico, Central Pacific region (Hawaii), and Northeastern Brazil. 8,34…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…34 Since then, sporadic cases have been reported in green loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Kemp's ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) in the southeastern U.S. Atlantic coast, Gulf of Mexico, Central Pacific region (Hawaii), and Northeastern Brazil. 8,34 The type species of Caryospora within the order Eucoccidioridae, family Eimeriidae is C. simplex, which uses snakes in the genus Vipera as definitive hosts and can use rodents as intermediate hosts. 21 There are at least 81 morphologically described species in the genus, 10 but of these, only five named species have available DNA sequence data, and these do not include the type species.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Systemic Caryospora-like coccidiosis in a clutch of hatchling red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans)

et al. 2023

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Caryospora-like organisms (CLOs) form a clade of at least 11 genotypes of related coccidia that can cause epizootic mortality in marine turtles. The biology, transmission, host species range, and host cell tropism of these organisms are still largely unknown. The goal of this study was to characterize the host cell tropism, pathologic and ultrastructural features, and phylogeny associated with the first report of a mortality event due to CLO in the freshwater red-eared slider turtle ( Trachemys scripta elegans). Sudden mortalities within a clutch of captive-raised red-eared slider hatchlings ( n = 8) were recorded, and deceased animals had severe segmental to diffuse, transmural, fibrinonecrotic enterocolitis and multifocal to coalescing hepatic necrosis, among other lesions associated with numerous intracytoplasmic developing stages of intralesional coccidia. Among the different developmental stages, merozoites were ultrastructurally characterized by an apical complex. A pan-apicomplexan polymerase chain reaction (PCR) yielded a 347 bp-amplicon matching the Schellackia/ Caryospora-like clade with 99.1% identity to the US3 strain from green sea turtles ( Chelonia mydas) and 99.1% identity to Schellackia sp. Isolate OC116. Surviving hatchlings were treated with toltrazuril sulfone (ponazuril) but were subsequently euthanized due to the risk of spreading the parasite to other chelonids in the collection. The ponazuril-treated hatchlings ( n = 4) had mild proliferative anterior enteritis, with few intraepithelial coccidia in one hatchling confirmed as CLO by PCR. This is the first report of Caryospora-like coccidiosis in non-cheloniid turtles, highlighting the relevance of this disease as an emerging highly pathogenic intestinal and extra-intestinal form of coccidiosis of turtles with potential cross-species infectivity.

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