<i>Sarcocystis</i> sp. meningoencephalitis in a captive bobcat

A geriatric captive bobcat (<i>Lynx rufus</i>) was euthanized due to progressive anorexia and lethargy. Meningoencephalitis with intralesional apicomplexan organisms was identified histologically. With immunohistochemistry, the organisms were immunolabeled by anti-<i>Sarcocystis neurona</i> antibodies. PCR targeting the ITS region of the parasite yielded an amplicon with >99.6% identity to several <i>Sarcocystis dasypi</i>, <i>S. neurona</i>, and <i>S. speeri</i> sequences. Amplification of the 18S region yielded a sequence that was 99.9% similar to sequences of both <i>S. neurona</i> (MN169125) and <i>S. speeri</i> (KX470746). Inflammatory disease of the CNS due to <i>Sarcocystis</i> sp. infection is uncommonly reported in felids and has not been reported previously in bobcats, to our knowledge. Here, we briefly review <i>Sarcocystis-</i>associated CNS disease in other felids, confirm that it can affect bobcats, and highlight the challenges of species-level identification of <i>Sarcocystis</i> sp. in routine diagnostic work.