Hafnia paralvei ISOLATED FROM AN EMPHYSEMATOUS PYOMETRA IN A BITCH

Abstract

We report the case of a 9-year-old female Labrador retriever, presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital with a history of bloody/purulent and malodourous vulvar discharge, decreased appetite and progressive abdominal enlargement for about 20 days. Clinical examination showed a distended and painful abdomen and tympanic sounds on percussion. The patient also presented systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and a leukemoid reaction with leukocyte count of 77.9 x 10 9 /L due to 62.32 x 10 9 /L lymphocytes. The abdominal radiography showed distended tubular structures occupying most of the abdomen; dorsal displacement of the colon in the left-right lateral projection was also found. The ultrasonographic study also revealed tubular structures in the mid-abdomen that contained flowing fluid presenting mixed echogenicity and hyperechoic particles in suspension. The exploratory celiotomy showed that the uterine horns were distended and contained a mixture of gas and liquid, hence an ovariohysterectomy was performed. The uterine fluid was collected with aseptic technique into a syringe and submitted to the clinical pathology laboratory for aerobic and anaerobic culture and antibiotic sensitivity. Hafnia alvei (now classified as Hafnia paralvei) was identified as the causative bacterial agent. Pyometra caused by gas-producing bacteria is a rare condition and is known as emphysematous pyometra. There are only six reports in the literature of this condition in bitches. A wide range of vaginal bacteria has been found in dogs with pyometra, but to our knowledge this is the first report of emphysematous pyometra caused by Hafnia paralvei in dogs.

First report on clinical aspects, blood profiles, bacterial isolation, antimicrobial susceptibility, and histopathology in canine pyometra in Thailand

“…Another reason was that anaerobic bacteria were excluded from the bacterial culture panel. A report on Hafnia paralvei (formerly Hafnia alvei), a Gram-negative, mobile, rod-shaped facultative anaerobe isolated from canine emphysematous pyometra in a Labrador Retriever bitch, was noted [33].…”

First Characterization of a Hafnia Phage Reveals Extraordinarily Large Burst Size and Unusual Plaque Polymorphism

“…It is normally isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of animals and humans and from food (Osuka et al, 2011). There are a number of reports on diseases associated with H. alvei and H. paralvei involved in a variety of animal and human infections (Real et al, 1997;Casagrande Proietti et al, 2004;Casanova-Román et al, 2004;Janda and Abbott, 2006;Osuka et al, 2011;Padilla et al, 2013;Orozova et al, 2014;Jayol et al, 2017;Litrenta and Oetgen, 2017;Rodríguez-Alarcón et al, 2019;Yin et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2019;Cutuli et al, 2021). The main symptoms of H. alvei diseases included hepatosplenomegaly, multifocal nectrotizing hepatitis, and splenitis (Real et al, 1997;Casagrande Proietti et al, 2004;Orozova et al, 2014).…”