Protozoal myositis

Question 1

What are the protozoa that can cause this?

Answer 1

• neospora
• toxoplasma

Question 2

What do the parasites cause?

Answer 2

• focal inflammatory pathology within either the CNS (encephalomyelitis) or muscle (myositis)

Question 3

Presentation

Answer 3

• likely to be progressive and in many cases may be multifocal

Question 4

In adult onset cases what is the clinical progression a result of? What does this mean?

Answer 4

• in adult onset cases the clinical progression is resultant from the site of the pathology, and so doesn’t follow a predictable or pathognomonic course

Question 5

In puppies

Answer 5

• rare
• probably resultant from in utero transmission
• presents with progressive hindlimb stiffness resultant from myositis affecting the quadriceps muscles