A 1‐year‐old dog was presented for persistent neck pain and circling. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large, space‐occupying, intra‐axial mass with extensive surrounding vasogenic oedema affecting the left thalamus and hippocampus. Postmortem histopathology of the brain lesion identified fungal hyphae with significant local brain reaction. Fungal sequencing confirmed Cladophialophora bantiana. Magnetic resonance imaging findings can look similar to other inflammatory processes or even neoplasia. While histopathology of the lesions may not always identify fungal hyphae, it will often confirm necrosis, pyogranulomatous inflammation and perivascular cuffing with lymphocytes. Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis should be included in the differential diagnosis list in a young dog with intracranial neurologic deficits.
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause disease in many species, including humans, livestock, and wildlife. Increased interactions via shared habitats may promote pathogen transmission among these groups. Our objectives were to evaluate the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study diagnostic data to characterize and compare L. monocytogenes–induced lesions and comorbidities in gray foxes and wild turkeys, and to describe cases of listeriosis in 2 cervids. From 1991–2020, 8 gray foxes, 8 wild turkeys, a neonatal elk, and a white-tailed deer fawn from several eastern states in the United States were diagnosed with listeriosis. All 8 foxes had hepatitis and/or hepatic necrosis with intralesional gram-positive bacilli, and concurrent canine distemper virus (CDV) infection; 2 of the foxes had been vaccinated recently for CDV. L. monocytogenes was cultured from the liver (6 of 8) or lung (2 of 8) of foxes. Lesions in wild turkeys included hepatocellular necrosis (3 of 8), heterophilic hepatitis (1 of 8), heterophilic granulomas (1 of 8), intrasinusoidal gram-positive bacilli without hepatic lesions (1 of 8), granulomatous dermatitis (1 of 8), and/or granulomatous myocarditis (2 of 8). Lymphoproliferative disease viral DNA was detected in 5 of 6 turkeys tested; reticuloendotheliosis viral DNA was detected in 2 of 3 turkeys tested. Both cervids had systemic listeriosis, with L. monocytogenes isolated from liver. Immunohistochemistry for Listeria spp. on select cases revealed immunolabeling in affected organs. Listeriosis was thus established as a cause of morbidity and mortality in 3 wildlife species, which often suffered from concurrent infections and likely immunosuppression.
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