Recent evidence supports a role for RNA as a common pathogenic agent in both the 'polyglutamine' and 'untranslated' dominant expanded repeat disorders.
This case report describes RIOMV as a highly pathogenic agent of HPS in Brazil.
In Latin American cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs, T. evansi is generally considered as a low pathogenic agent.
Moreover, PrV can infect a broad range of vertebrates resulting in a uniform lethality but it is generally considered as a non-pathogenic agent for man [ 3].
In a study comparing the effects of expanded coding CAG/CAA repeats and untranslated CAG repeats, only constructs expressing polyglutamine at the protein level were shown to cause neurodegeneration [39], thus ruling out a role for CAG RNA as the pathogenic agent.
The isolation of fungi (especially yeasts) as the pathogenic agent is controversial, so determining the prevalence and management of these infections has been difficult.
As the pathogenic agent had not been isolated yet, the patient was started on ertapenem, linezolid and anti-tuberculosis (antiTB) therapy.
Finally, the presence of fungal elements in blood and several organs, the failure of the antibiotic therapy administered, as well as typization by PCR of the fungal species found as unique pathogenic agent (test was performed twice on samples obtained from different tissues, lung and gizzard), confirmed the diagnosis of candidiasis, underlining the rarity of etiology by L. scottii.
In 1985, use of natural GH was halted in the United States and several other countries because of the possibility that the hormone was contaminated with a type of pathogenic agent known as a prion, which causes a fatal condition called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Considering the progressive nature of neurodegenerative disorders as well as the defined, step-wise spreading of Lewy body pathology in PD, the idea of extracellular aSyn as a pathogenic 'prion-like' agent is extremely appealing.
