Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Histoplasma fungal infection causing blood cell loss in 32 cats
By Schaefer, Deanna M W et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2019·Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Hemophagocytosis and Histoplasma-like fungal infection in 32 cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 32 cats with respiratory issues and low blood cell counts were found to have a fungal infection similar to Histoplasmosis, which is common in cats. Many of these cats showed signs of hemophagocytosis, where their body was mistakenly destroying its own blood cells. Symptoms included anemia and low platelet counts, which can lead to weakness and increased bleeding. The findings suggest that if a cat shows these symptoms, a fungal infection should be considered as a possible cause. Treatment details were not specified, but addressing the underlying infection is crucial for recovery.
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Abstract
Histoplasmosis is one of the most common systemic fungal diseases in cats from the United States. It commonly causes respiratory or disseminated disease and is often associated with one or more cytopenias. Here, we describe 32 cats in which a Histoplasma-like fungal infection was associated with concurrent hemophagia in at least one sample site, commonly spleen, bone marrow, liver, and/or lymph node. The degree of hemophagia was characterized as moderate or marked in the majority of cases, and in all cases, there was a predominance of phagocytized mature erythrocytes. A few cases also had macrophages with phagocytized erythroid precursors, platelets, and/or neutrophils. Complete blood count results were available for 25 cats, and cytopenias were common (20/25), including solitary anemia (10), anemia and thrombocytopenia (5), solitary neutropenia (2), pancytopenia (2), and anemia and neutropenia (1). Bone marrow samples were only available in a small subset of cases, preventing the further assessment of the causes of the cytopenias. Hemophagocytosis has been previously reported in cats with neoplastic diseases and a cat with calicivirus infection, and likely occurs with other conditions as well, such as hemorrhage or hemolysis. Results of this report suggest that systemic fungal disease is an additional differential to consider when there is hemophagia in a feline cytology sample.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31175684/