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First detection of acalculous cholecystitis associated with Sarcocystis infection in a patient with AIDS

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Abstract

Acalculous cholecystitis and cholangitis are increasingly being recognized as complications of AIDS. The opportunistic parasites that have been most commonly associated with these disorders are Cryptosporidium species, Isospora belli, Cyclospora cayetanensis and Enterocytozoon bieneusi. The authors performed a parasitological survey on the gallbladder tissue sections of patients underwent cholecystectomy due to chronic acalculous cholecystitis at the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Light microscopic investigation in more than three hundred archived histopathological slides revealed the presence of sexual stages (i.e., mature sporocysts) of a coccidial protozoan in a patient with AIDS who developed acalculous cholecystitis as confirmed by histological, parasitological and molecular tests in which Sarcocystis species was the only identifiable pathogen in gallbladder sections. In the best of our knowledge it’s the first documented case of chronic non-calculous cholecystitis due to Sarcocystis parasite in an Iranian AIDS patient from worldwide.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran

    Mahmoud Agholi

  2. Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Hamid Reza Heidarian

  3. HIV/AIDS Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Mohsen Moghadami

  4. Basic Sciences in Infectious Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Gholam Reza Hatam

Authors
  1. Mahmoud Agholi
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  2. Hamid Reza Heidarian
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  3. Mohsen Moghadami
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  4. Gholam Reza Hatam
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Correspondence to Gholam Reza Hatam.

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Agholi, M., Heidarian, H.R., Moghadami, M. et al. First detection of acalculous cholecystitis associated with Sarcocystis infection in a patient with AIDS. Acta Parasit. 59, 310–315 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-014-0243-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-014-0243-1

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