Laboratory Diagnosis of Microsporidiosis

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Abstract
The most robust and widely practicable technique for the diagnosis of microsporidial infection is light microscopic morphological demonstration of the organisms themselves. Evaluation of patients with suspected microsporidiosis should begin with light microscopic examination of stool specimens and urine or cytological examination of other body fluids. The most common clinical finding of ocular microsporidiosis is keratoconjunctivitis. In patients with suspected ocular microsporidiosis, urine and respiratory secretions also should be examined for microsporidia. In patients with ocular microsporidiosis, urine and respiratory secretions should also be examined for the presence of microsporidial spores. Serologic assays (including carbon immunoassay [CIA], IFAT, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA], and Western blot [WB]) have been applied in detecting specific IgG antibodies directed to Encephalitozoon intestinalis spores in humans and to Encephalitozoon cuniculi spores in humans and several animal species. Aside from studies on ocular microsporidiosis in presumably otherwise healthy persons, detailed histopathologic investigation of human microsporidial infection has been performed only in immunodeficient individuals. One clue that microsporidiosis may be present is based on the observation that infected epithelial cells containing mature spores are often shed intact into the lumen from the underlying basement membrane. Upper and lower respiratory tract infections due to microsporidia are associated almost exclusively with disseminated disease produced by all three members of the genus Encephalitozoon. Microsporidia have been found in almost every organ system. Molecular techniques have been used to compare microsporidial isolates obtained from humans and animals in order to study possible sources of infection and reservoir hosts.

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