A high proportion of shrews (14/18 sub-adults; 78%, 2/3 pubescent animals; 67%, 12/22 adults; 55%) exhibited protozoan parasites within vessel walls that could not be further identified ( Table 2 ). These occurred predominantly in kidneys (21/43 shrews; 49%) and myocardium (12/43 shrews; 28%), but also occasionally in the liver, the splenic red pulp, the medulla of the pancreas of Aselli and the wall of the urinary bladder. In general, these cysts did not induce any alterations apart from an occasional slight thickening of the affected vessel wall, or a mild granulomatous inflammatory infiltration. Protozoan cysts with features of Sarcocystis sp. were found within skeletal muscle myocytes of one adult female, without any associated reaction.