Background: Myxozoan parasites pose emerging health issues for wild and farmed salmonid fish. Rainbow trout
(Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a particularly susceptible species to Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Malacosporea), the
etiological agent of Proliferative Kidney Disease (PKD), and to Myxobolus cerebralis (Myxosporea), the etiological
agent of Whirling Disease (WD). The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of myxozoan co-infections
on the pathogenesis of PKD and WD in the rainbow trout.
Methods: Two groups of rainbow trout (96 fish each) were primarily infected with T. bryosalmonae and triactinomyxons
of M. cerebralis; after 30 days half of the fish in each group were co-infected with these parasites vice versa and
remaining half was continued as single infection. Mortalities and clinical signs were recorded at different time points.
Histopathology and immunohistochemistry were performed to assess the extent of each infection and estimate the
parasite burden between groups.
Results: Fish firstly infected with M. cerebralis and co-infected with T. bryosalmonae exhibited exacerbated pathological
changes of both parasitic diseases and elicited a higher mortality rate. A higher kidney swelling index (grade 4) appeared
together with more severe cartilage destruction and displacement, when compared to the pathological changes in fish
upon single infections with T. bryosalmonae or M. cerebralis. Conversely, fish firstly infected with T. bryosalmonae and
co-infected with M. cerebralis also exhibited typical pathological changes of both parasitic diseases, but with a
lower mortality rate, similar as caused by the single T. bryosalmonae or M. cerebralis infection. WD clinical signs were
milder, without skeletal deformities, while kidney swelling index was similar to single infection with T. bryosalmonae
(grade 2 to 3).
Conclusions: In this study, a co-infection with myxozoan parasites was for the first time successfully achieved in the
laboratory under controlled conditions. The impact of co-infections in concurrent myxozoan infections mainly depends
on the primary pathogen infecting the host, which could alter the outcomes of the secondary pathogen infection. The
primary M. cerebralis infection followed by T. bryosalmonae had a much more serious impact and elicited a synergistic
interaction. Contrasting results were instead seen in rainbow trout primarily infected with T. bryosalmonae and then coinfected
with M. cerebralis.