Rabies, microbesnoitiosis and sarcocystosis in a lion

Abstract

A 7-year-old lioness was found in the Nairobi National park in January 1990 paralysed from the neck down. The lioness was destroyed and PM examination revealed congested spleen and lungs, chronic interstitial nephritis and hyaline degeneration of nephrons and the intestinal mucosa covered in thick creamy matter and diffusely infiltrated by lymphocytes. Two roundworms, Toxocara canis and a mass of entangled tapeworms, Taenia gonyami were present in the small intestine. Numerous cysts of Microbesnoitia leoni measuring 22 to 32 by 43 to 88 µm were present in the cardiac and skeletal muscles. Numerous sarcocysts measuring 113 to 114 by 730 to 760 µm were present in skeletal muscles. Negri bodies were present in the cytoplasm of neurones in the caudate nucleus, hippocampus, around the third ventricle in the mesencephalon, pons and medulla oblongata. They were larger and more numerous in the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum than in the hippocampus. A mild lymphocytic meningitis was seen over the cerebellum. This is thought to be the first report of rabies in the lion.