Increasing Incidence of Geomyces destructans Fungus in Bats from the Czech Republic and Slovakia

BACKGROUND: White-nose syndrome is a disease of hibernating insectivorous bats associated with the fungus Geomyces destructans. It first appeared in North America in 2006, where over a million bats died since then. In Europe, G. destructans was first identified in France in 2009. Its distribution, infection dynamics, and effects on hibernating bats in Europe are largely unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We screened hibernacula in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for the presence of the fungus during the winter seasons of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010. In winter 2009/2010, we found infected bats in 76 out of 98 surveyed sites, in which the majority had been previously negative. A photographic record of over 6000 hibernating bats, taken since 1994, revealed bats with fungal growths since 1995; however, the incidence of such bats increased in Myotis myotis from 2% in 2007 to 14% by 2010. Microscopic, cultivation and molecular genetic evaluations confirmed the identity of the recently sampled fungus as G. destructans, and demonstrated its continuous distribution in the studied area. At the end of the hibernation season we recorded pathologic changes in the skin of the affected bats, from which the fungus was isolated. We registered no mass mortality caused by the fungus, and the recorded population decline in the last two years of the most affected species, M. myotis, is within the population trend prediction interval. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: G. destructans was found to be widespread in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with an epizootic incidence in bats during the most recent years. Further development of the situation urgently requires a detailed pan-European monitoring scheme

Small terrestrial mammals (Insecta, Rodentia) of aluvial ecosystems in the Odra River, the Morava River and the Dyje River lowlands

Paper summarizes knowledge about small terrestrial mammals in segments of alluvial landscape that are only marginaly affected by human. It is based on published as well as unpublished data obtained during monitoring of communities of rodents and insectivores in Odra, Morava, and Dyje rivers floodplains

18F-FDG positive colorectal polyp mimicing metastasis of advanced melanoma treated with ipilimumab

Given its high diagnostic accuracy, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) has often been used as initial staging and follow-up imaging in patients with malignant melanoma. In the majority of cases, the primary tumour and its metastases show high metabolic activity, and even small subclinical lesions can thus be detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT scanning. In 2010, an important step forward was made in the treatment of malignant melanoma – the era of modern immunotherapy began, and ipilimumab represented one of the first effective drugs. Herein, we present a case of a women with recurrent, metastatic melanoma with persistent increased 18F-FDG accumulation in the abdominal cavity. The lesion could not be identified on exploratory laparotomy and remained unchanged during ipilimumab treatment. Surprisingly, repeated PET/CT examination localized the FDG uptake to an asymptomatic colon polyp histologically corresponding to adenocarcinoma in situ arising in villous adenoma

18F-FDG PET/CT pattern of Erdheim-Chester disease – a group of Czech patients

Introduction: Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare unit of histiocytic diseases. The goal of our work was to assess 18F-FDG PET/CT presentation of this disease in patients from the Czech Republic. Methods: We analyzed overall 44 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations in 6 patients with this disease. We assessed 18F-FDG accumulation in staging examinations of these 6 patients at usual localizations, i.e. bones, brain, orbit, paranasal sinuses, periaortal space, heart, lungs, perirenal space and skin. Results: Bone 18F-FDG accumulation was detected in all patients; in 5 mostly in lower extremities. Maxillar sinuses were involved in 5/6 patients. Vascular and perirenal involvement was detected in 4/6 patients. Two patients had involved skin and hypophysis, one patient also orbits and heart. Lung involvement was not detected in any patient. Conclusions: 18F-FDG avid involvement of skeleton was the main and regular characteristic of PET/CT presentation of Erdheim-Chester disease. Also other localizations of 18F-FDG avid involvement (cardiovascular, CNS, paranasal sinuses, orbitis, skin, perirenal space) confirm known observations in ECD.