ABSTRACT
I am aware of only one report of clinical toxoplasmosis in a camel. A 6-year-old female camel was admitted to the Iowa State Veterinary Teaching Hospital for evaluation of mild dyspnea of recent duration.623 The camel had become anorectic 1 month earlier and aborted a near-term fetus 4 weeks before admission; the fetus was not examined. Thoracic radiography revealed uid in the ventral half of the pleural cavity. Approximately 24 L of pale yellow, slightly turbid uid was drained from both sides of the pleural cavity. The protein content of the uid was 4.2 g/dl. Smears were made of the fresh pleural uid, using a cytospin, and were air dried, xed in methanol, and stained with Wright-Giemsa. I saw numerous T. gondii-like tachyzoites in the cytoplasm. Results of indirect hemagglutination antibody test for T. gondii, performed at the teaching hospital, were positive at dilutions of 1:256 and 1:1024 for the pleural uid and serum, respectively. Results of the MAT performed in my laboratory were positive at a dilution of 1:20,000 on pleural uid, using formalin-xed tachyzoites, and 1:320, using acetone-xed tachyzoites. Results of the DT on pleural uid were positive at a dilution of 1:8,000.The camel was discharged after 2 days of hospitalization; however, it died in spite of treatment with trimethoprim sulfadiazine for 7 days. A necropsy was not performed, but the nding of numerous tachyzoites and high serologic titers indicated acute toxoplasmosis in the camel.
