Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with adrenal failure and Klebsiella infection causing sudden
By L. Cole et al.·Published in Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care·2021·View original on Semantic Scholar →
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Original publication title: Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome in a cat with Klebsiella spp. infection.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 12-year-old male cat was brought in for severe breathing problems and needed help with a ventilator. After some improvement, he developed a serious lung infection caused by Klebsiella bacteria. Unfortunately, just a few days later, his condition worsened dramatically, leading to dangerously low blood pressure and cardiac arrest. A necropsy revealed that he had massive bleeding in his adrenal glands, which caused his sudden death. This case highlights how severe infections can lead to critical adrenal failure in cats.
People also search for: cat breathing problems · Klebsiella infection in cats · cat adrenal gland failure symptoms
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To describe a case of Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome of adrenocortical failure in a cat with Klebsiella spp. infection. CASE SUMMARY A 12-year-old male neutered domestic short-haired cat was referred for respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. The cat remained comatose despite successful weaning from the ventilator and developed a Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia. On day 4 of hospitalization, the cat acutely deteriorated with profound hypotension, azotemia, and hyperkalemia, which rapidly progressed to cardiac arrest. Necropsy findings revealed massive adrenal hemorrhage and intralesional bacteria, termed Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome. Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome was suspected to have been the cause of acquired adrenocortical insufficiency and sudden death of the cat. NEW OR UNIQUE INFORMATION To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of sepsis causing Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome in a veterinary species.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/33949088