Experimental ocular cryptococcosis. Preliminary studies in cats and mice.

Ocular cryptococcosis was produced in cats by the intracarotid injection of Cryptococcus neoformans. Infected eyes developed a progressive, multifocal chorioretinitis which was comparable to that found in the naturally occurring feline disease. The severity of the ocular disease, the development of infection in the fellow eye, and the degree of systemic involvement were shown to be related to the number of organisms inoculated. Mice infected intracerebrally with the same organism developed optic nerve meningitis. The pathogenesis of the ocular lesions thus produced is discussed.

Canine discoid lupus erythematosus.

Two dogs were found to have clinical, histopathological and immunofluorescent findings compatible with a diagnosis of canine discoid lupus erythematosus. The primary lesions included erythema and depigmentation of the nasal planum. Both dogs responded favorably to systemic corticosteroid therapy.

Onchocerca cervicalis infection in horses from the western United States.

In a study of Onchocerca cervicalis infection in a sample of 100 horses from the western United States, 48 were infected. Infection was more common in older horses and occurred in both sexes equally. Data about the distribution and the concentration of microfilariae within the skin are presented. The only cutaneous pathologic change that could be attributed to microfilariae was minimal perivascular inflammatory cell infiltrate. Invasion of the eye with microfilariae occurred in 60 percent of the infected horses. An attempt was not made to relate microfilarial invasion of the eye with ocular pathologic changes.