Toxoplasmosis in ferrets

Abstract

Extract

In 1986 I described an epidemic of congenital Toxoplasma-like disease in ferrets ⁽¹⁾ . The protozoan was subsequently confirmed immunohistochemically as Toxoplasma (Dubey, personal communication) but this was not reported. I wish to report this fact now in light of the recent discovery of the protozoan Neospora caninum, which is morphologically similar to Toxoplasma gonii, but which can be distinguished immunohistochemically ⁽²⁾ . The life cycle of Neospora caninum is not yet known so it is of interest to establish the fact that the ferrets in our report were confirmed as having toxoplasmosis.