Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with cryptococcal infection had antigen for 3.5 years
By Ikeda, R et al.·Published in Medical mycology·2000·Department of Microbiology, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Persistence of cryptococcal antigenemia in an infected dog and uninfected rabbits.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old mixed-breed dog was diagnosed with cryptococcosis, a fungal infection, and underwent antifungal treatment. Although the dog showed some improvement, it took nearly 3.5 years for the tests to show no signs of the infection in its blood. The slow recovery suggests that the fungus may have been hiding in the dog's tissues, making it difficult to completely eliminate. With long-term treatment, the dog eventually tested negative for the infection, indicating a successful outcome after a challenging battle.
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Abstract
A case of cryptococcosis in a dog is reported. The titers of polysaccharide antigen in sera were monitored by latex agglutination (LA) tests during and after treatment with antifungal therapy. Although the LA titers decreased in response to therapy, it took about 3.5 years to achieve a negative LA test. To model the persistence of cryptococcal polysaccharides, we examined the clearance of antigen from the blood of rabbits injected with sterile, cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide isolated from culture supernatant. The distribution half-lives were between 2.6 and 3.9 days and the elimination half-lives were between 10.4 and 39 days. These results suggest that polysaccharide antigen may be stored in tissues. However, we think that slow clearance of antigen cannot explain the extraordinarily slow clearance found in this dog, and that prolonged survival of Cryptococcus neoformans is a more plausible explanation.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10746233/