Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with fungal mass on hind paw caused by Exophiala attenuata
By Overy, David P et al.·Published in Mycopathologia·2015·Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Cutaneous Phaeohyphomycosis Caused by Exophiala attenuata in a Domestic Cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 7-year-old female domestic short-haired cat was brought to the vet with a mass on her hind paw. Tests showed that the mass was caused by a type of fungus called Exophiala attenuata, which led to a skin infection known as phaeohyphomycosis. The vet performed surgery to remove the mass and prescribed an antifungal medication called itraconazole, but unfortunately, this treatment did not eliminate the infection. This case is notable as it is the first confirmed instance of this particular fungal infection in cats in North America.
People also search for: cat paw mass · cat skin infection treatment · Exophiala attenuata in cats · itraconazole for cat fungus
Abstract
A 7-year-old female-spayed, domestic short-haired cat was presented to her veterinarian with a mass on the hind paw. Histopathologic examination of a tissue biopsy revealed nodular pyogranulomatous panniculitis with intralesional pigmented fungal hyphae. A dematiaceous fungal isolate was isolated with a micromorphological phenotype consistent with the anamorphic genus Exophiala: budding cells, torulose mycelium and annellidic conidiogenesis from simple conidiophores consisting of terminal and lateral cells that tapered to a short beak at the apex. Sequence homology of the internal transcribed spacer region of the rDNA gene confirmed the identification of the isolate as Exophiala attenuata. Reported here is the first confirmed case of feline phaeohyphomycosis caused by E. attenuata in North America. Similar to historical cases of feline phaeohyphomycosis caused by Exophiala spp., there was no history or postmortem evidence to suggest the patient was in an immunocompromised state (e.g., suffering from FeLV or FIV). Although aggressive surgical excision of local lesions is recommended prior to drug treatment when dealing with subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis, surgery followed by itraconazole treatment did not resolve the E. attenuata infection in this cat.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26088340/