A 36-year-old man with AIDS develops right-sided weakness involving the lower, but not the upper, limb. MRI scans reveal a ring-enhancing lesion within the white matter of the left frontal lobe. A biopsy showed coagulative necrosis of brain parenchyma with macrophage-rich chronic inflammatory infiltration admixed with microscopic cysts that contain characteristic bradyzoites. Which of the following is the most common source of this type of infection?
Correct Answer: Cats
Description: Clues to the correct answer are the underlying disease (AIDS), which predisposes to oppounistic infections, the typical MRI appearance of the lesion (ring-enhancing mass), and the histopathologic features (presence of encysted bradyzoites). In sho, this patient has cerebral toxoplasmosis, which represents one of the most common oppounistic infections in AIDS. Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan that infects humans who ingest the oocysts from cat feces or incompletely cooked lamb or pork. Only immunosuppressed patients and fetuses are vulnerable to this infection. In the fetus, toxoplasmosis causes extensive damage to brain parenchyma and retina. Toxoplasmosis associated with AIDS manifests with necrotizing lesions surrounded by chronic inflammation. A ring-enhancing lesion is a mass that contains a rim of contrast enhancement (bright signal on MRI) surrounding a dark core corresponding to central necrosis. In AIDS, the most frequent causes of a ring-enhancing lesion are primary brain lymphoma and toxoplasmosis. Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria parasites. Cerebral malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, which is able to adhere to endothelial cells of small cerebral vessels. Vascular occlusion ensues, resulting in numerous small infarcts. Bird droppings represent the vehicle of infection for two of the most common oppounistic fungal infections affecting immunocompromised patients: cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis. Cryptococcus neoformans causes meningoencephalitis, not intracerebral necrotic lesions. Histoplasma capsulatum rarely affects the brain. These fungi can be visualized in tissue sections by silver stains. Cooling systems may harbor Legionella pneumophila, spreading the bacteria in aerosolized form. L. pneumoniae is a gram-negative bacterium that causes Legionnaire's disease, a fatal form of pneumonia that first struck paicipants at a meeting of the American Legion. It has been repoed in immunocompromised patients as well. Ref: Ray C.G., Ryan K.J. (2010). Chapter 50. Sporozoa. In C.G. Ray, K.J. Ryan (Eds),Sherris Medical Microbiology, 5e.
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