Acremonium strictumpulmonary infection in a horse

Abstract

A 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding was admitted to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of the University of California-Davis with a 2-week history of intermittent fever and acute onset of lethargy, anorexia, and ataxia. Although the clinical signs were nonspecific, the results of initial hematologic and biochemical analysis were consistent with a chronic inflammatory process. Thoracic radiographs revealed an increased fine reticulonodular interstitial opacity throughout the dorsal caudal lung fields. Cytologic examination of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid showed mixed inflammation with many mononuclear phagocytes containing single, spherical, intracytoplasmic fungal organisms. Four mold species were cultured in low numbers from the BAL fluid. One of the fungal elements observed on the culture plates was identified as Acremonium strictum by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A diagnosis of fungal pneumonia due to A strictum was made based on the results of thoracic imaging, cytologic evaluation, culture, and PCR testing. The horse made an uneventful recovery with supportive treatment and was disease-free based on normal physical, radiographic, and cytologic findings at 21 days after presentation. To our knowledge, this is the first report of isolation of A strictum from the BAL fluid of a horse with interstitial pneumonia.

Acremoniumkeratomycosis in a cat

“…Acremonium was also recently reported in the normal conjunctival flora of donkeys 27 . Reports of clinical disease attributable to Acremonium in companion animal species are rare, but include a case of disseminated and ocular disease in a German Shepherd, keratoconjunctivitis in a German Shepherd, and pulmonic infection in a horse 21,28,29 …”

“…27 Reports of clinical disease attributable to Acremonium in companion animal species are rare, but include a case of disseminated and ocular disease in a German Shepherd, keratoconjunctivitis in a German Shepherd, and pulmonic infection in a horse. 21,28,29 Corneal cytology, bacterial, and fungal culture and bacterial susceptibility profiles are historically the standard for identifying and treating infectious keratitis in veterinary medicine. [30][31][32][33][34][35] While fungal culture is often performed, the lag time of incubation for fungal culture often results in empiric antifungal therapy in high risk species (e.g.…”

Systemic Acremonium species infection in a dog

“…In veterinary medicine, only few cases of clinical disease associated with Acremonium spp. have been reported: systemic infections in two dogs (10,33), fungal keratokonjunctivitis in a dog (22), keratitis in a cat (3), fungal pneumonia in a horse (30), abor-tion in a cow (6), and a case of fescue toxicosis in a horse (4). In these veterinary reports, A. killiense was detected twice (6,22), A. strictum in one case (30), and A. hyalinum in another case (10).…”

The polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of infectious diseases

“…One of the most frequent diagnostic applications of PCR is in the detection of infectious agents. Several recent publications in Veterinary Clinical Pathology describe the use of PCR to successfully detect DNA from a variety of pathogens, including bacteria, 3–5 viruses, in which PCR detected the proviral DNA of feline retroviruses, 6,7 protozoa, 8–10 and fungi 11 …”

“…PCR also has the advantage of being applicable to a variety of clinical samples. Recent articles in VCP report the use of blood, 6,12 ascitic fluid, 8 cytologic smears and culture specimens, 4 and bronchoalveolar lavage samples 11 for successful DNA extraction for PCR. Paraffin‐embedded fixed tissues may also be used, particularly for real‐time PCR due to the small amplicon size, limiting the influence that any structural damage to the DNA has on subsequent PCR amplification 14 .…”