Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Fungal testing of lung wash in cats with breathing problems in Rio
By Leme, L R P et al.·Published in Mycoses·2007·Serviç, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Mycological evaluation of bronchoalveolar lavage in cats with respiratory signs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 23 cats with respiratory issues, mainly sneezing, were examined after being in contact with other cats that had a skin infection called sporotrichosis. Some of these cats had skin lesions, while others did not. Testing revealed that four cats without skin lesions had the fungus Sporothrix schenckii in their nasal or oral cavities, and they later developed skin problems. However, one cat that had the fungus in its lungs did not show any skin or breathing issues over the next six months. This suggests that the fungus can infect the skin through the upper respiratory tract.
People also search for: cat sneezing causes · sporotrichosis in cats · cat respiratory infection treatment
Abstract
Twenty-three cats with respiratory signs who had domiciliary contact with cats with sporotrichosis were studied. Sneezing was the predominant extracutaneous sign. Twelve cats had no skin lesions and 11 had ulcerated skin lesions. Mycological culture of material obtained from the nasal cavity, oral cavity, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and skin lesions, when present, was performed for all cats. In the case of autopsy, lung fragments were cultured. Sporothrix schenckii was isolated from four of the 12 cats without skin lesions: BAL (one cat) and oral and/or nasal cavity (three cats). The latter three animals developed nasal and distant skin lesions within the following 2-4 weeks. The cat with S. schenckii isolated from BAL did not develop skin lesions or lower respiratory tract symptoms during the 6 months of follow-up. S. schenckii was isolated from one or more biological samples of all 11 cats with skin lesions: oral cavity (five), nasal cavity (eight), BAL fluid (four), skin lesions (eight), and blood culture (one). No yeast-like structures were observed upon BAL cytology in any of the 23 cats. The results suggest that S. schenckii can cause infection of skin contiguous to the natural facial orifices through colonisation of the mucosal surfaces of the upper airways.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17472619/