Pathologic, histochemical, and immunohistochemical findings in pulmonary and encephalitic cryptococcosis in a goat

Abstract

Brief Communication Cryptococcosis is a mycosis of humans and other animals that is caused by the Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii species complex of organisms. To date, this complex is divided into C. neoformans and C. gattii; C. neoformans has 5 known molecular types (VNI-IV, VNB), and 4 distinct lineages (VGI-IV) are identified in C. gattii. 3,12 However, 2 major reorganizations of the Cryptococcus complex of organisms have been proposed. In the first proposal, C. neoformans var. grubii and C. neoformans var. neoformans are to be considered as separate species, with the inclusion of 5 species within C. gattii. 8 The second proposal suggested a simpler reorganization containing only groups of organisms: the Cryptococcus neoformans species complex (var. grubii and neoformans) and the C. gattii species complex. 12 Cryptococcosis is not often reported in goats, although cryptococcosis has been described in goats with meningitis, 1 pneumonia, 1 and mastitis. 20 In most of these cases, the species definition of Cryptococcus was not confirmed. 7,21 C. neoformans var. gattii (C. gattii species complex) was identified in 5 goats with pulmonary, hepatic, and encephalitic disease in Spain. 1 Cryptococcomas (cryptococcal granulomas) are spaceoccupying granulomatous reactions within parenchymatous organs. 18 Cryptococcomas have been described in the cow, 15,16 dog, 9 cat, 2 horse, 17 and sheep, 19 with a few descriptions in goats. 14,21 We describe herein the pathologic, histochemical, and immunohistochemical findings associated with pulmonary and encephalitic cryptococcosis in a goat, and add to the documentation of encephalitic cryptococcomas in goats. A 3-y-old, mixed-breed, nanny goat from the rural region of the city of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, central-west Brazil, was presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Universidade de Cuiabá (VTH-UC). The owner reported that the goat demonstrated progressively abnormal behavioral changes during the 30 d prior to clinical evaluation. The animal was reared semi-extensively in a herd of 15 goats without a previous history of disease. No other goats 816358V DIXXX10.1177/1040638718816358Pulmonary and encephalitic cryptococcosis in a goatHeadley et al.

Disseminated melanized fungal infection due to Cladosporium halotolerans in a dog coinfected with canine adenovirus-1 and canine parvovirus-2

“…Blastomycosis ventriculitis in dogs is considered as the manifestation of a systemic disease [36], with associated lesions occurring in the lungs, pituitary gland, and lymph nodes [44]. Additionally, in both cases of cryptococcal ventriculitis, there were disseminated involvement at several anatomical regions of the brain [45,46], with associated pulmonary disease in one of these ruminants [46]. In the case herein described, cladosporiosis was systemic.…”

“…Although we have not identified other cases of mycotic ventriculitis associated with the Cladosporium complex of organisms in domestic animals, human cerebral cladosporiosis is a rare disease with predilection for the frontal lobe resulting in meningitis, ventriculitis, and obstructive hydrocephalus [41]. Nevertheless, mycotic ventriculitis in domestic animals was associated with infections due to B. dermatitidis in the dog [36,37,44] and Cryptococcus neoformans v. grubii in ruminants, [45,46] which were confirmed by diagnostic imaging [37] and routine autopsy with histopathologic evaluations [44][45][46]. Blastomycosis ventriculitis in dogs is considered as the manifestation of a systemic disease [36], with associated lesions occurring in the lungs, pituitary gland, and lymph nodes [44].…”

Cryptococcus in Wildlife and Free-Living Mammals

“…Similarly, autochthonous cryptococcosis was described in small ruminants reared semi-extensively [ 95 ] or extensively in the Mediterranean area [ 96 , 97 ]. In goats, cryptococcosis developed as pulmonary and neurological disease mostly.…”

Nasal Cryptococcosis Caused by Cryptococcus gattii in Sheep in Bahia, Northeastern Brazil

“…Em ruminantes, a criptococose pode cursar com alterações neurológicas [5,14,18,19,30,39], respiratórias [8,14,16,36,40] e mastites [22,24,34,37].…”

“…No Brasil, a criptococose tem sido descrita nos estados de Mato Grosso [14], Minas Gerais [19], Paraíba [30], Pernambuco [36], Rio de Janeiro [15,23] e São Paulo [17,35], com apenas 2 descrições referindo-se a ovinos [15,36]. Casos de criptococose por C. gattii [1,3,18,35,40] foram descritos apenas em caprinos na Espanha, Itália e Brasil.…”