Sarcosporidiosis, Animals

Animals are hosts of Sarcocystis spp. in different ways.

• 1. Predator animals (= carnivorous species) like dogs, cats, reptiles, predator birds, etc. develop the sexual and sporogonic stages in their intestinal cells (lamina propria) and excrete the fully sporulated oocysts (Sarcosporidiasis, Man, Fig. 1) containing 2 sporocysts (each with 4 sporozoites). In general the predator animals do not show symptoms of disease. Sometimes diarrhoea occurs for one day with abdominal pain.

• 2. Prey animals (= plant eater of omnivorous species) are the hosts for the schizogonic phase of the life cycle with schizonts in the endothelial cells of inner organs and later with tissue-cysts in muscle fibres (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, pages 1269–1272) and (in some species) in brain cells (e.g., in S. suicanis and S. suihominisin the case of pigs). The symptoms and their intensity is species-specific. Acute symptoms may occur during schizogony in the blood vessels of the omentum (with 2 penetrations of...