Myxobolus cerebralis is a myxosporean parasite of salmonids (salmon,
trout, and their allies) that causes whirling disease, an important
condition in both salmon and trout farming and wild fish populations.
It was first described from rainbow trout in Germany a century ago,
but its range has spread, and it has now been reported from most of
Europe (including Russia), the United States, South Africa and other
countries. In the 1980s, it was discovered that M. cerebralis needs to
infect a tubificid oligochaete (a kind of segmented worm) to complete
its life-cycle. The parasite infects its hosts by injecting them with
some of its cells after piercing them with polar filaments ejected
from nematocyst-like capsules. Though not transmissible to humans, it
is one of the most economically important myxozoans in fish as well as
one of the most pathogenic. It was the first myxosporean whose
pathology and symptoms were described scientifically.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxobolus_cerebralis
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1756:
A British garrison was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta)
1789:
577 Deputies of the French Third Estate (commoners) took the Tennis
Court Oath, starting the French Revolution.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_Court_Oath)
1837:
Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom)
1947:
A Mafia hitman murdered gangster Bugsy Siegel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugsy_Siegel)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions."
-- Lillian Hellman
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lillian_Hellman)