Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with fungal heart infection and fluid around the heart
By Ribas, Thibault et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology·2015·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Fungal myocarditis and pericardial effusion secondary to Inonotus tropicalis (phylum Basidiomycota) in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old female spayed French bulldog was brought in for exercise intolerance, fluid buildup in the abdomen (ascites), and weight loss. After tests, the vet found that the dog had a rare fungal infection causing fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis). The infection was identified as coming from a fungus called Inonotus tropicalis, likely due to the dog's long-term use of steroids for skin allergies. Unfortunately, despite the diagnosis, the dog did not survive, as the infection had severely affected the heart.
People also search for: dog heart problems · French bulldog exercise intolerance · fungal infection in dogs · pericardial effusion treatment in dogs
Abstract
Fungal disease is a rare cause of pericardial effusion in dogs. This report describes the first case of fungal pericardial effusion and myocarditis secondary to the fungal organism Inonotus tropicalis. A 9-year-old female spayed French bulldog with a multi-year history of treatment with glucocorticoids for management of atopy was presented for exercise intolerance, ascites and weight loss. Physical examination and thoracic imaging revealed enlarged peripheral and cranial mediastinal lymph nodes, left ventricular thickening and cardiac tamponade secondary to pericardial effusion. Fine needle aspiration of the cranial mediastinal lymph node showed pyogranulomatous inflammation with short, thin and poorly septated hyphae. Culture of the aspirate yielded a fungal isolate identified as Inonotus tropicalis based on morphologic features and rRNA gene sequencing. Postmortem examination showed myocardial thickening with multifocal to coalescing, firm, white, ill-defined nodules. Histology confirmed the presence of disseminated fungal infection with extensive myocardial involvement. Inonotus tropicalis is an opportunistic poroid wood-decaying basidiomycete. Infection in this dog was likely the result of chronic immunosuppressive therapy.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26003903/