Encephalitozoonosis is a parasitic disease caused by the microsporidia Encephalitozoon cuniculi, which mainly affects rabbits in Europe. Other strains of the pathogen cause disease in Old World mice and canines. Encephalitozoonosis occurs mainly in immunocompromised animals and is a potential zoonosis. Although very rare, it can also occur in immunocompromised humans. Wright and Craighead first described the disease in 1922. thumb|Encephalitozoonosis with torticollis The pathogen primarily affects the kidneys and brain, causing neurological disorders. The most common symptom is a tilted head.
Encephalitozoonosis is a parasitic disease caused by the microsporidia Encephalitozoon cuniculi, which mainly affects rabbits in Europe. Other strains of the pathogen cause disease in Old World mice and canines. Encephalitozoonosis occurs mainly in immunocompromised animals and is a potential zoonosis. Although very rare, it can also occur in immunocompromised humans. Wright and Craighead first described the disease in 1922. thumb|Encephalitozoonosis with torticollis The pathogen primarily affects the kidneys and brain, causing neurological disorders. The most common symptom is a tilted head. Fenbendazole, an antiparasitic drug, can be used to combat the pathogen and prevent new infections. If clinical symptoms occur, treatment must be extended by administering antibiotics and supportive measures. The prospects of recovery are uncertain.
== Pathogen and occurrence == Encephalitozoon cuniculi is a microsporidian protozoan that is an obligate intracellular parasite. It is closely related to fungi, lacking some cell organelles such as mitochondria, and has a small genome of 2.9 million base pairs encoding just under 2000 proteins. The protozoan parasite infects various organs in mammals, including the kidney and brain cells. When outside of its host, the parasite survives as a 2 μm spore, which is the infectious dauer stage.
Discovered by embedding cosine similarity (sentence-transformers MiniLM, 384-dim).