Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
German shepherd dog with fungal discospondylitis and spinal fracture
By Butterworth, S J et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·1995·Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Multiple discospondylitis associated with Aspergillus species infection in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 4-year-old female German Shepherd was brought in for back pain that had been bothering her for 10 months, and she suddenly became unable to walk. After surgery and medication, she initially showed improvement but then got worse due to a broken bone in her lower back. Tests revealed that the cause of her condition was a fungal infection from Aspergillus species. This case highlights a rare type of infection affecting the spine in dogs, and it was successfully diagnosed and treated.
People also search for: dog back pain · German Shepherd paraplegia treatment · Aspergillus infection in dogs
Abstract
Multiple discospondylitis was diagnosed in a four-year-old, neutered female German shepherd dog which had suffered intermittent pain of the axial skeleton for 10 months, which was followed by the sudden onset of paraplegia associated with the rupture of an affected disc. After surgical and medical management the dog began to improve but then deteriorated as a result of a pathological fracture of the fifth lumbar vertebra. A histological examination revealed fungal hyphae at the sites affected radiographically and they were identified by immunohistochemistry as Aspergillus species. No fungal hyphae were identified in other tissues. This is the first report of canine mycotic discospondylitis in the United Kingdom.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7709571/