Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Boxer dog with heart inflammation caused by protothecosis infection
By Wesselowski, S et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology·2022·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Pancarditis as the sole clinical manifestation of protothecosis in a Boxer dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 4-year-old male Boxer was brought to the vet with severe heart problems, including arrhythmias and congestive heart failure. Unfortunately, he died suddenly shortly after tests showed very high levels of cardiac troponin, indicating heart damage. A necropsy revealed a rare condition called protothecosis, where algae infected his heart, causing severe inflammation. This case is unique because protothecosis usually affects multiple organs, but in this dog, it was only found in the heart. Sadly, despite the vet's efforts, the dog could not be saved.
People also search for: Boxer heart problems · protothecosis in dogs · sudden dog death causes
Abstract
A 4.2-year-old, male castrated Boxer was diagnosed with a dilated cardiomyopathy phenotype, complex arrhythmias and left-sided congestive heart failure, but died suddenly shortly after initial diagnostics were complete. Ultrasensitive cardiac troponin I was markedly elevated (9.345 ng/mL [reference range: 0-0.06 ng/mL]), and a Trypanosoma cruzi immunofluorescent antibody titer was positive at 1:80. Necropsy revealed a severe, necrotizing, histiocytic, lymphoplasmacytic pancarditis with intralesional algae consistent with protothecosis, as well as evidence of left-sided congestive heart failure. Algal organisms were found only in the heart. Acute Chagas disease was not thought to play a role given the lack of T. cruzi amastigotes on postmortem and negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing on formalin fixed, paraffin embedded myocardium, however a possible contribution of chronic Chagas disease to the clinical picture could not be ruled out. Canine protothecosis is typically a disseminated disease. This case represents the first report of canine protothecosis limited solely to the heart.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35349851/