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Encephalitozoon cuniculi, an obligate intracellular protozoan, infects rabbits, mice and man. Encephalitozoonosis caused by E. cuniculi is characterized by granulomatous encephalitis and interstitial nephritis in the rabbits. Rabbits infected with E. cunieuli rarely express clinical signs, so that lesions or phenomena resulted from E. cuniculi infection have mistakenly been attributed to the condition of the experiment. Recently, Encephalitozoonosis has been recognized new opportunistic pathogen in AIDS and immunosuppressive disease. Fifty male New Zealand White Rabbits aged 5-13 month-old were used to survey spontaneous encephalitozoonosis of laboratory rabbits in Korea. Granulomatous encephalitis was mainly observed in cerebral cortex and also, observed interstitial nerphritis. Differential stain with toxoplasmosis and leptospirosis confirmed that these lesions are caused by Encephulitozoon cuniculi. Encephalitozoon cuniculi by direct avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex immunohistochemistry are observed in brain and in kidney. These result did not represent all of rabbits in Korea but considering these or result and importance of encephalitozoonosis, encephalitozoonosis in laboratory rabbits need to be controled and more extensive survey should be done in the future. In addition, our study suggests that direct avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex immunohistochemistry is useful diagnostic foul to detect in E. cuniculi in the tissues, such as brain and kidney.
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