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Table 1 Summary of donkeys with besnoitiosis presented clinically as skin or ocular masses

From: First record of besnoitiosis caused by Besnoitia bennetti in donkeys from the UK

ID

Age and sex

Year

Clinical history

Lesionsd

1c

17-year-old gelding

2013

Dermatitis and skin masses in various sites of body

Small nodules on skin of left eye periorbital area

2c

5-year-old gelding

2016

Lumps on the lip

Nodular mass on the penile sheath skin

3c

5-year-old gelding

2018

Nodular masses in right hand side of abdomen and sheath skin

Nodular mass on the penile sheath skin

4c

7-year-old gelding

2018

Recurrent sarcoids

Nodular masses in skin overlying left mandible

5c

11-year-old gelding

2018

Previously removed mass in skin overlying the left mandible. Recurrent sarcoids in various sites treated with chemotherapy

Mass on the lip

6b

5-year-old female

2018

Corneal ulcer in the eye

Nodules noticed on sclera (Fig. 1). Besnoitia cysts in conjunctiva

7c

7-year-old gelding

2019

Previously removed mass (surgical excision with cutting laser 2016) in skin overlying left mandible

Nodular sarcoid mass in skin overlying left mandible

8a,c

20-year-old gelding

2019

Episodes of conjunctivitis and weight loss

Small mass at the base of right teat and lumps on sheath skin

  1. aBesnoitia bennetti infection was confirmed in a tissue sample by PCR and the tissue fluid of the same sample was reactive to B. besnoiti bradyzoites based on immunoblot results
  2. bBesnoitia cysts were associated with ocular lesions
  3. cNodular masses were removed by surgical excision with a cutting laser (except for donkey no. 1 where surgery was performed using scalpel excision as the hospital did not have access to a surgical laser at this time). Histopathology of the excised mass revealed Besnoitia cysts adjacent to the sarcoid tissue in all donkeys, except for donkey no. 1 where only Besnoitia cysts were detected, without any sarcoid neoplasm as was initially suspected and donkey no. 3 where the histopathology was suggestive, but not definitive of sarcoid for the flank mass and no sarcoid tissue was identified in the penile sheath mass
  4. dHistological examination of surgical biopsies from the 8 donkeys identified 1 to 3 Besnoitia cysts per biopsy surrounded by mild to moderate number of lymphocytes and/or eosinophils