Proliferative peritoneal and pleural cestodiasis in a cat caused by metacestodes of Mesocestoides sp. Anatomohistopathological findings and genetic identification

A 10-year-old female cat was brought to Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana for post-mortem examination. The animal used to live, together with 26 other cats, in the big terrace of an apartment at the 8th floor in Rome; and was always fed with industrial pet food. Anamnesis referred balance troubles, vomit and convulsions, during a couple of days, followed by sudden death. At necropsy, the cat presented mucoid rhinitis, purulent tracheitis, small areas of pneumonia, dark spots in the liver, catarrhal-hemorrhagic gastritis, fibrinous enteritis and meningeal hyperemia. Thoracic and abdominal cavities were completely invaded by hundreds of larval stages of cestodes. The same parasites were also included in nodules in pancreatic, lung and kidney parenchyma. Microscopic examination of parasites allowed their identification as larval stages (metacestodes) of cestodes of the genus Mesocestoides. The molecular genotyping of the metacestodes indicates a close relationship with members of the genus Mesocestoides, although a significant variation was found with respect to the available sequences of other species of the genus.