Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Equine pythiosis: report in crossed bred (Criole Venezuelan) horses.
- Journal:
- Mycopathologia
- Year:
- 2012
- Authors:
- Salas, Y et al.
- Affiliation:
- Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
This report discusses a type of infection called pythiosis, caused by a microorganism known as Pythium insidiosum, which affects horses. Seven samples of this organism were taken from Venezuelan horses that had lumps on their hind legs and a growth on their eyelids, which made it hard for them to work. The researchers used various methods, including looking at the tissue under a microscope and genetic testing, to confirm the presence of P. insidiosum. This type of infection has been seen more often in horses from several countries in the Americas, including Brazil and the United States. The study highlights the importance of recognizing and diagnosing this infection in horses.
Abstract
Pythium insidiosum is a pathogenic oomycete known since 1890 that causes pythiosis in mammals. In this report, seven P. insidiosum isolates were recovered from Venezuelan horses and were characterized. The strains were recovered from biopsied tissues and kunkers collected from granulomatous masses located on the hind limb and from a nodular lesion in the left upper eyelid, which decrease the ability of the horses to be used for working purposes. The methods used to identify P. insidiosum isolates were based on the production of sporangia and zoospores, histopathology and PCR assay. To further characterize these strains, portions of the 18S rRNA genes of the seven isolates were sequenced. The sequences showed high homology to previously described P. insidiosum DNA sequences available in GenBank. Similar studies based on the morphological, histological and molecular data identified the etiological agent in samples of granulomatous lesions in these equines as P. insidiosum. In America, the infection has been diagnosed more frequently in equines of Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and the United States of America.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22772508/