LARVAL NEODIPLOSTOMUM AMERICANUM IN THE LUNG OF A SUGAR GLIDER (PETAURUS BREVICEPS)

摘要

Postmortem examination of an 8-year-old intact female sugar glider euthanized for end-stage neoplasia revealed a large mass in the mammary gland, masses in the liver, and a few small masses in the lung. Histologic evaluation of the lesions revealed hepatocellular carcinoma, mammary gland adenocarcinoma, and pulmonary granulomata associated with a trematode larva. Ribosomal RNA gene sequencing identified a diplomastid fluke, Neodiplostomum americanum. This parasite utilizes snails as first intermediate hosts and birds of prey as definitive hosts, but the complete life cycle is not known; the hosts of the intervening life stages had not been previously reported. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of N. americanum in a sugar glider. Copyright 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.