Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Neorickettsia helminthoeca infection causes gut and lung damage
By Headley, Selwyn Arlington et al.·Published in Transboundary and emerging diseases·2020·Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Neorickettsia helminthoeca associated lymphoid, enteric, and pulmonary lesions in dogs from Southern Brazil: An immunohistochemical study.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs in Southern Brazil showed signs of illness related to a bacterial infection called Neorickettsia helminthoeca, which is linked to salmon poisoning disease. These dogs had symptoms like swollen lymph nodes and chronic breathing problems, along with digestive issues. Tests revealed that the bacteria were causing damage to their lungs and intestines, but there was no evidence of other common viruses like parvovirus or distemper. Understanding this infection is important because it may be mistaken for other diseases, leading to underdiagnosis.
People also search for: dog salmon poisoning symptoms · chronic pneumonia in dogs · Neorickettsia helminthoeca treatment
Abstract
Neorickettsia helminthoeca (NH), the agent of salmon poisoning disease or canine neorickettiosis (CN), is a bacterial endosymbiont of the nematode Nanophyetus salmincola, and infections are spreading among specific fish-eating mammalians. This article describes the pathologic and immunohistochemical findings associated with spontaneous NH-induced infections in dogs from Southern Brazil. The principal pathologic findings were hypertrophy of Peyer patches and lymphadenopathy with lymphocytic proliferation, chronic interstitial pneumonia, and chronic enteritis associated with positive intralesional immunoreactivity to antigens of NH within macrophages and histiocytes. Positive immunoreactivity against canine parvovirus-2 (CPV-2) or/and canine distemper virus was not detected in the evaluated intestinal segments or in the samples from the cerebellum and lungs, respectively, from the dogs evaluated. These findings demonstrated that NH was involved in the enteric, pulmonary, and lymphoid lesions herein described, and provide additional information to confirm the occurrence of this bacterial endosymbiont within this geographical location. It is proposed that chronic pneumonia should be considered as a pathologic manifestation of NH-induced infections. Additionally, our results show that the occurrences of CN seem to be underdiagnosed in Southern Brazil due to the confusion with the incidence of CPV-2.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31232527/