Microsporidia are a large group of parasites that cause death and disease in humans many agriculturally important animal species. To fully understand the diverse properties these parasites, we curated species reports from last 160 years.

Oxidative stress has been implicated as an important pathogenic factor in the pathophysiology of various life-threatening diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. It occurs when the production of free radicals (generated during aerobic metabolism, inflammation, and infections) overcome the antioxidant defences in the body. Although previous studies have implied that oxidat...

The microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites that were previously thought to be ‘‘primitive’’ eukaryotes, but which are now recognized to be either related to or a sister group to the Fungi [1]. These protists are relatively common enteric pathogens that usually result in self-limited or asymptomatic infections in humans. Microsporidia were initially recognized as pathogens causing pé...

Marssoniella elegans Lemmermann, 1900, a parasite of ovarial tissues of the copepod Cyclops vicinus Uljanin, 1875, was studied as a representative of aquatic-clade microsporidia which form "heteroinfectious spores" (spores not infective to the original host as opposed to "homoinfectious spores" which are infective for the original host) and which thus should require an alternate host. Several s...

Two microsporidia species have been shown to infect Apis mellifera, Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae. This work presents evidence that N. ceranae infection significantly suppresses the honey bee immune response, although this effect was not observed following infection with N. apis. Immune suppression would also increase susceptibility to other bee pathogens and senescence. Despite the importance...

In this survey we examined 87 domestic animal stool samples in order to detect the possible presence of microsporidia in animals in close contact with humans in Galicia (NW, Spain). The detection of Enterocytozoon bieneusi spores was confirmed in faecal samples from two dogs and one goat by polymerase chain reaction. None of the positive samples for microsporidia in the staining method were amp...

A technique for the optimum preparation of microsporidia for scanning electron microscopy is described. Microsporidian-infected tissues were subjected to a triple fixation procedure followed by slow dehydration and critical point drying. Fracturing of the tissue to reveal details of both host and parasite was delayed until immediately before coating of specimens with gold; the exposed parasites...

Veterinarians caring for companion animals may encounter microsporidia in various host species, and diagnosis and treatment of these fungal organisms can be particularly challenging. Fourteen microsporidial species have been reported to infect humans and some of them are zoonotic; however, to date, direct zoonotic transmission is difficult to document versus transit through the digestive tract....

Microbial pathogens impose selective pressures on their hosts, and combatting these pathogens is fundamental to the propagation of a species. Innate immunity is an ancient system that provides the foundation for pathogen resistance, with epithelial cells in humans increasingly appreciated to play key roles in innate defense. Here, we show that the nematode C. elegans displays genetic variation ...