Subcutaneous and muscular lagochilascariasis in a cat from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

A domestic cat was submitted to necropsy with a small abscess within the subcutaneous tissue and skeletal muscles dorsal to the left ear. It contained multiple 0.8 to 1.2 cm-long adult nematodes and was drained by two cutaneous fistulae. On histopathology, multiple cavitary areas within the skeletal muscles and subcutaneous tissue contained adult nematodes and were surrounded by thick fibrotic and chronic-active inflammatory reaction. The parasites were externally lined by a smooth cuticle and had two prominent lateral alae. They contained an intestinal tract and a pseudocoelom. A prominent polymyarian-coelomyarian musculature and two large lateral chords were identified, and some sections contained a uterus with multiple non-operculated eggs. Lagochilascariasis should be considered a differential diagnosis for cervical skin abscesses in domestic cats from Southern Brazil. This article brings important contributions to the clinical and anatomopathologic diagnosis of this rare zoonotic disease.