A Case of Bovine Eosinophilic Myositis (BEM) Associated with Co-Infection by Sarcocystis hominis and Toxoplasma gondii

Bovine eosinophilic myositis (BEM) is a specific inflammatory myopathy, often associated with spp., with multifocal gray-green lesions leading to carcass condemnation with considerable economic losses. Here is described a peculiar case of BEM that occurred in an adult (16 month) cattle, born in France, bred, and slaughtered in Italy at the end of 2021. On inspection, muscles showed the typical multifocal gray-green lesions that were sampled for, cytological, histological, and molecular investigations, while meat juice was subjected to IFAT for IgG. Genomic DNA was extracted from lesions, portions of healthy muscle and from meat juice pellet and analyzed by PCR targeting 18S rDNA, COI mtDNA and B1 genes, and sequenced. The cytology showed inflammatory cells mostly referable to eosinophils; at histology, protozoan cysts and severe granulomatous myositis were observed. A BEM lesion and meat juice pellet subjected to PCR showed, concurrently, sequences referable both to and . Meat juice IFAT resulted negative for IgG. Our findings highlight the first detection of DNA in association with in a BEM case, suggesting a multiple parasite infection associated with this pathology, although the actual role of infection in the pathophysiology of the diseases should be clarified.