Renal Encephalitozoon (Septata) intestinalis infection in a patient with AIDS. Post-mortem identification by means of transmission electron microscopy and PCR

Virchows Arch. 1998 Jun;432(6):535-9. doi: 10.1007/s004280050202.

Abstract

We describe the occurrence of renal Encephalitozoon (Septata) intestinalis infection in a 35-year-old AIDS patient who died with disseminated tuberculosis. The patient did not complain of specific symptoms involving the kidney or lower urinary tract during life, but at autopsy, light microscopic examination of the kidney revealed numerous small round or oval bodies in the tubules and tubular cell cytoplasm that were interpreted as intracellular protozoa. Transmission electron microscopy of tissue retrieved from paraffin-embedded samples identified these organisms as microsporidia belonging to the Encephalitozoonidae family, but did not allow definitive identification of the species of infecting parasite. This was made possible only by means of Southern blot hybridization after the polymerase chain reaction, which recognized the micro-organism as E. intestinalis.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / diagnosis
  • AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / parasitology*
  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / complications
  • Adult
  • Animals
  • Autopsy
  • Blotting, Southern
  • DNA, Protozoan / analysis
  • Encephalitozoon / genetics
  • Encephalitozoon / isolation & purification*
  • Encephalitozoon / ultrastructure
  • Encephalitozoonosis / complications
  • Encephalitozoonosis / diagnosis*
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Humans
  • Kidney Diseases / complications
  • Kidney Diseases / parasitology*
  • Male
  • Microscopy, Electron
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • DNA, Protozoan