Pythiosis in cattle in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The epidemiological, clinical and pathological aspects of cutaneous pythiosis occurring in cattle from three farms in the Northeastern of Brazil are described. A biopsy of the lesions of one bovine from each farm was performed. In two cases, the affected cattle had contact with water accumulated in dams during the dry season in the semiarid region. Another case occurred in the coastal tropical region in cattle grazing around irrigation channels. Clinically, lesions were observed mainly on the skin of the thoracic and/or pelvic limbs, characterized by flat and irregular ulcerated areas or nodules of varying sizes, some with fistulous tracts penetrating deep into the subcutaneous tissue. In one case the regional lymph nodes were affected. Histologically, in all cases, pyogranulomatous dermatitis associated with negative hyphae images, in hematoxylin-eosin stained sections, were observed. In sections stained by Grocott methenamine silver, the hyphae measured 2-8μm and had irregular ramifications and rare septations. Immunohistochemistry technique demonstrated strong immunolabeling for Pythium insidiosum. Pythiosis should be included in the differential diagnosis of dermatopathies in cattle in the Northeastern of Brazil.

Global Distribution and Clinical Features of Pythiosis in Humans and Animals

“…Animals with pythiosis predominantly manifested with a cutaneous/subcutaneous infection at the face, limb, thorax, or abdomen (n = 3082; 89.8% of all affected animals; Table 3) [138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148][149]. To a much lesser extent, some affected animals (n = 350; 10.2%) came with clinical manifestations associated with gastrointestinal (n = 249; 7.3%), disseminated (n = 25; 0.7%), pulmonary (n = 4; 0.1%), or other organ (n = 5; 0.1%) infection (Table 3).…”