1. ¹Pathology Unit, "L.Sacco" Hospital and Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy
2. ²Institute of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University of Milan, "L. Sacco" Hospital, Milan, Italy
3. ³Pathology Unit, Hospital of Vimercate, Milan, Italy
4. ⁴Infectious Diseases Research Laboratories and Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Pavia—IRCCS, San Matteo, Italy
5. ⁵Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, Atlanta, Georgia

Correspondence: Antonella Tosoni, B.Sc., Anatomia Patologica Ospedale "L.Sacco," Via G.B. Grassi n°74, 20157 Milan, Italy; e-mail: antonellatosoni@virgilio.it; fax: 39-2-38200385.

Accepted 4 February 2002.

Abstract

We report a case of disseminated microsporidiosis in an Italian woman with AIDS. This study was done retrospectively using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens obtained at autopsy. Microsporidia spores were found in the necrotic lesions of the liver, kidney, and adrenal gland and in ovary, brain, heart, spleen, lung, and lymph nodes. The infecting agent was identified as belonging to the genus Encephalitozoon based on transmission electron microscopy and indirect immunofluorescence. Additional molecular studies, including sequence of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer region, identified the agent as E. cuniculi, Genotype III. We believe that this is the first report of a human case of disseminated microsporidial infection involving the ovary.