Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Disseminated Cryptococcus deuterogattii (AFLP6/VGII) infection in an Arabian horse from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
- Journal:
- Revista iberoamericana de micologia
- Year:
- 2017
- Authors:
- Kinne, Jörg et al.
- Affiliation:
- Central Veterinary Research Laboratory
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A case was reported involving an 11-year-old Arabian gelding that developed a serious infection caused by a type of yeast called Cryptococcus deuterogattii. This horse had been imported from South Africa to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Researchers studied tissue samples from the horse to understand the infection better and found that it was closely related to another case of the same infection in a human from the Middle East. This suggests that the horse likely contracted the infection while in the region. Unfortunately, the outcome of this case was fatal.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: During the past decades there has been an increase in cryptococcal infections caused by the basidiomycetous yeast species Cryptococcus gattii sensu lato, among humans and animals that live in endemic regions in Australia, Europe and the Americas. Unlike human cryptococcosis, little epidemiological data are available about C. gattii sensu lato infections in horses. CASE REPORT: A fatal case of a disseminated C. gattii sensu lato infection in an 11-year-old Arabian gelding imported from South Africa into the United Arab Emitares is reported. Tissue samples were studied by conventional mycology procedures and the obtained cryptococcal isolate was molecularly characterized by mating-type determination, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting, and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Phylogenetic analysis was performed to investigate the geographic origin of the cryptococcal isolate. The isolate was identified as Cryptococcus deuterogattii (AFLP6/VGII), mating-type α. Phylogenetic analysis showed that it was closely related to another C. deuterogattii isolate from the Middle East. CONCLUSIONS: A second case of a C. deuterogattii infection in the Middle East is described. It is likely that the horse acquired the infection in the Middle East, as the isolate is closely related to that of a recent human case from that region.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28595777/