Pythiosis of the digestive tract in sheep

Abstract

Cutaneous and rhinofacial infections by Pythium insidiosum have previously been reported in sheep in Brazil. In the current study, a new form of pythiosis involving the alimentary tract of 2 nursing lambs from 2 different farms in the semiarid region of Brazil is described. The first lamb showed food regurgitation, lethargy, and anorexia, and died 5 days after the presentation of clinical signs. The second lamb had no history of gastrointestinal disease before death. Necropsy findings were similar in both lambs. The mucosa of the esophagus, reticulum, rumen, omasum, and abomasum showed ulcerated areas covered by yellowish caseous granular exudate. The lesions were transmural and extended to the serosal surfaces, and adhesions were observed between the serosa of the forestomachs and abomasum to the liver and diaphragm. Histologic lesions consisted of pyogranulomatous necrotizing transmural esophagitis, rumenitis, reticulitis, omasitis, and abomasitis with vascular thrombosis and intralesional hyphae. Pythium insidiosum was confirmed as the etiology by immunohistochemistry and culture. The presence of sheep in the vicinity of water ponds during the hot, dry season when forage is not available in the pastures seems to be the main predisposing factor for the occurrence of pythiosis in sheep in the Brazilian semiarid region.

Intestinal intussusception secondary to enteritis caused by Pythium insidiosum in a bitch: case report

“…Pyogranulomatous gastroenteritis caused by Pythium insidiosum has been described in horses (Bezerra Júnior et al, 2010), sheep (Pessoa et al, 2012), cats (Rakich et al, 2005) and dogs (Galiza et al, 2014;Fujimori et al, 2016). However, we did not find any reports of enteric pythiosis resulting in intestinal intussusception in Veterinary Medicine literature.…”

Pythiosis in cattle in Northeastern Brazil

“…The regional habit of maintaining water reserves, in the form of dams where the animals have access, especially during the dry season when pasture around these ponds stays green and the rest of the pasture is dry, favored the occurrence of the disease. In these conditions the animals should stay long periods in the shallow around the dams which are potential sources of infection by Pythium insidiosum (Tabosa et al 2004, Pessoa et al 2012, 2014. The disease was also diagnosed in a region of humid coastal tropical climate of the Brazilian Northeastern, in an area flooded during the rainy season, crosses by an irrigation channel with running water for the all year.…”

“…In a study on skin diseases in horses in the Northeastern of Brazil, pythiosis represented 24.38% of the cases studied (Pessoa et al 2014). In addition, several clinical forms of the disease have also been diagnosed in sheep, including cutaneous (Tabosa et al 2004), nasal (Portela et al 2010) and digestive (Pessoa et al 2012) forms. Cases of cutaneous pythiosis had also been reported in a goat (Do Carmo et al 2015), in three mules (Tabosa et al 1999, Pessoa et al 2014, and recently in a donkey (Maia et al 2016).…”

Cutaneous Pythiosis in calves: An epidemiologic, pathologic, serologic and molecular characterization

“…Pythiosis has three distinct forms of clinical presentation in domestic animals: cutaneous [5], [6], [10], gastrointestinal [15] and rhinofacial [17]. In cattle, the cutaneous form of the disease is sporadic and widely described [16] and usually occurs during the rainy season in subtropical areas [5].…”