CANDIDA PARAPSILOSIS AS VERO CELL CULTURE CONTAMINANT IN NEOSPORA CANINUM ANTIGEN PRODUCTION

Abstract

Neospora caninum has been identified as an important cause of infectious in cattle and dogs. The parasite is successfully established in continuous passage in VERO cell cultures. Cell culture contamination may present itself in two mainly forms: contamination with other cell line or with microorganisms. In this paper we report a VERO cell culture of Neospora caninum antigen production contaminated with Candida parapsilosis. Sequencing of the ITS amplicons showed 99% similarity with deposited sequences of Candida parapsilosis at GenBank. It should be noted through this report the possibility of contamination by Candida parapsilosis in cell cultures, thus care in handling cultures should be redoubled.