Mycological evaluation of bronchoalveolar lavage in cats with respiratory signs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Twenty-three cats with respiratory signs who had domiciliary contact with cats with sporotrichosis were studied. Sneezing was the predominant extracutaneous sign. Twelve cats had no skin lesions and 11 had ulcerated skin lesions. Mycological culture of material obtained from the nasal cavity, oral cavity, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and skin lesions, when present, was performed for all cats. In the case of autopsy, lung fragments were cultured. Sporothrix schenckii was isolated from four of the 12 cats without skin lesions: BAL (one cat) and oral and/or nasal cavity (three cats). The latter three animals developed nasal and distant skin lesions within the following 2-4 weeks. The cat with S. schenckii isolated from BAL did not develop skin lesions or lower respiratory tract symptoms during the 6 months of follow-up. S. schenckii was isolated from one or more biological samples of all 11 cats with skin lesions: oral cavity (five), nasal cavity (eight), BAL fluid (four), skin lesions (eight), and blood culture (one). No yeast-like structures were observed upon BAL cytology in any of the 23 cats. The results suggest that S. schenckii can cause infection of skin contiguous to the natural facial orifices through colonisation of the mucosal surfaces of the upper airways.

Domestic feline contribution in the transmission of Sporothrix in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil: a comparison between infected and non-infected populations

“…Cutaneous lesions in cats with sporotrichosis were compatible with previously described wounds in different cat populations including crust, ulceration and presence of pus and blood [4, 5, 20, 24], as well as respiratory signs and weight loss [20, 24] with the sneezing being the most frequent. Weight loss could be a result of respiratory distress, which may lead to eating difficulties.…”

“…Since the first report of sporotrichosis zoonotic transmission in 1998, the disease has shown a progressive increase in the number of human and animal cases, most of them admitted at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (IPEC-FIOCRUZ), which is the reference center for diagnosis and treatment of the disease [2, 4, 7, 9, 17, 18, 20]. Thus, the available literature on clinical-epidemiological data of sporotrichosis in the state of Rio de Janeiro is limited to these populations.…”

“…Despite these studies, data on the presence of the fungi on the nails and in the oral cavity of cats that do not carry the disease as well as of those infected are inconclusive. Indeed, the few studies that have addressed this issue in Brazil have been restricted to the states of Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo and also the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro [4–6, 9, 16, 19, 20]. None of these studies included domestic felines inhabiting areas other than the metropolitan region of the state of Rio de Janeiro.…”

Sporotrichosis

“…The outbreak in Rio de Janeiro associated with transmission from infected cats and affecting mainly housewives and children living in the poorer areas of the city has been ongoing since 1998 and has infected over 2000 persons and many thousands of cats [16][17][18][19]. Recent evidence suggests that the strains in this outbreak, which have been identified as S. brasiliensis, are related and likely originated from a common source [17].…”

Clinical and epidemiological characterization of sporotrichosis in dogs and cats (São Paulo, Brazil)

“…The fungus is spread through contact with contaminated soil, penetration of thorns or wood chips, scratching, direct contact with or biting from infected animals or inhalation (LARSSON et al, 1989;LEME et al, 2007). In dogs, sporotrichosis is most common among hunting animals.…”