Malassezia pachydermatis fungemia has been reported in patients receiving parenteral nutrition. Biofilm formation on catheters may be related to the pathogenesis of this mycosis. We investigated the biofilm-forming ability of 12 M. pachydermatis strains using a metabolic activity plate-based model and electronic microscopic evaluation of catheter surfaces. All M. pachydermatis strains developed biofilms but biofilm formation showed variability among the different strains unrelated to their clinical origin. This study demonstrates the ability of M. pachydermatis to adhere to and form biofilms on the surfaces of different materials, such as polystyrene and polyurethane.

The distribution of canine distemper virus (CDV) antigen was examined in the brains of 14 dogs with chronic nervous distemper using a monoclonal antibody against a major viral protein. In ten of these dogs, neutralizing anti-CDV antibody titers were determined in serum and unconcentrated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In 19% of the inflammatory demyelinating lesions, large amounts of CDV antigen were found; in 34% of these lesions only residual traces of virus were seen and in almost half of the lesions (47%) no CDV could be demonstrated. In four dogs neutralizing antibodies were found in the serum only; in one dog in the CSF only and in 5 dogs both in serum and CSF. Because of the correlation between the presence of inflammation, intrathecal antiviral antibodies and disappearance of CDV from the lesions, it was concluded that the inflammatory response in distemper is associated with viral clearance from the lesions. Associated immune-mediated cytotoxic reactions could explain exacerbation of the initial virus-induced demyelinating lesions. Despite the presence of an apparently effective intrathecal antiviral immune response, fresh non-inflammatory lesions as a result of viral replication and spread in the white matter coexisted with inflammatory ones in which viral clearance had taken place. The role and mechanism of such virus persistence are discussed.

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A detailed macroscopic and histological description is given of tuberculous-like lesions in mandibular lymph nodes obtained from wild boar (Sus scrofa) collected in Italy during the 1995/1996 hunting season, as well as a correlation with results obtained from a Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex target amplified test system. According to macroscopic appearance, lesions were largely represented by caseous-necrotic-calcified granulomata (n = 272/285; 95.4%), while histological investigations showed mainly necrotic-calcified (n = 82/218; 37.6%) and fibronecrotic-calcified (n = 81/218; 37.2%) lesions. When tested with a target rRNA amplification/hybridization technique to detect M. tuberculosis complex, 112 (43.6%) samples out of 275 tested gave positive results.

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