Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with chronic diarrhea diagnosed with intestinal histoplasmosis
By Schumacher, Loni L et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2013·Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Canine intestinal histoplasmosis containing hyphal forms.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 12-year-old Miniature Schnauzer was brought to the vet because he had chronic diarrhea that didn't get better with standard treatments. After surgery to take biopsies of his intestines, tests showed he had a severe infection caused by a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum. This fungus can appear in different forms, which made the diagnosis tricky. The dog was treated with an antifungal medication called itraconazole for six months, and he showed significant improvement.
People also search for: dog chronic diarrhea treatment · Miniature Schnauzer fungus infection · itraconazole for dogs
Abstract
A 12-year-old intact male Miniature Schnauzer dog with chronic diarrhea that was unresponsive to empirical treatment was presented to a referring veterinarian. A laparotomy was performed, and formalin-fixed biopsies of duodenum, jejunum, and colon were sent to Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory for evaluation. Histologic examination revealed a severe, diffuse, granulomatous enteritis and colitis with intralesional yeast and hyphal forms. Grocott methenamine silver stains revealed short, aseptate hyphae co-mingled with 2-8 µm, oval to round yeast organisms consistent with Histoplasma capsulatum. The atypical presentation of both yeast and hyphal forms prompted identification of the organism. Direct sequencing of a polymerase chain reaction product from paraffin-embedded intestinal samples confirmed the presence of Ajellomyces capsulatus with a homology over 99% to several sequences in GenBank. Ajellomyces capsulatus is the holomorphic name for H. capsulatum. Therefore, the mycelial form of a dimorphic fungus such as H. capsulatum can coexist with yeast cells within lesions of histoplasmosis. Following diagnosis, the dog was treated with itraconazole for 6 months and has improved.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23512926/