Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Mortierella wolfii keratomycosis in a horse.
- Journal:
- Veterinary ophthalmology
- Year:
- 2011
- Authors:
- Wada, Shinya et al.
- Affiliation:
- Racehorse Hospital · Japan
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A thoroughbred filly had a painful right eye for two days, and a veterinarian found a superficial ulcer on her cornea, along with some cloudy spots. Samples from the eye were taken for testing, which showed the presence of a specific fungus called Mortierella wolfii. The filly was treated with a combination of antifungal medication, antibiotics, and her own serum, and she recovered completely within two weeks. This case is notable because it's the first time this particular fungus has been linked to eye infections in horses, even though it has been known to affect cattle.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To describe a case of superficial keratomycosis caused by Mortierella wolfii (M. wolfii) in a horse. METHODS: A thoroughbred filly was presented with painful right eye of 2 days' duration. A superficial corneal ulcer was observed ventrally together with multifocal punctuate opacities axially. Samples were collected by swabbing and scraping the ulcerated lesion and submitted for microbiologic and cytologic examination. RESULTS: Microscopic evaluation of debrided corneal tissue revealed the presence of nonseptate fungal hyphae, and culture of a corneal swab yielded fungal growth. Medical treatment with topical antifungal, antibiotic and autogenous serum and systemic anti-inflammatory resolved the problem within 2 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Cytologic evaluation of a corneal scraping was useful to make a clinical diagnosis of keratomycosis. Based on the mycological characteristics, the fungus isolated from the corneal lesion was identified as M. wolfii. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case report of equine keratomycosis associated with this fungus, although the organism is known to infect various organs of cattle.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21733069/