Mycotic aneurysm caused by Graphium species in a dog.

A 10-year-old castrated male mixed-breed dog exhibited vomiting, lethargy and anorexia. An abdominal ultrasound examination revealed a focal dilation of the abdominal aorta. The dog died 2 days after examination, and necropsy revealed a ruptured aneurysm at the abdominal aorta between the kidneys. Histological examination revealed severe granulomatous and necrotizing pan-arteritis with fungal organisms. Graphium species was identified through DNA sequence analysis of the PCR product from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples. To our knowledge, this is the first report of aortic aneurysm caused by Graphium species in a dog. Sequence was submitted to the DNA Data Bank of Japan with the accession number LC007972.

Ruptured mycotic aortic aneurysm in a sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys).

Mycotic aortic aneurysm is a local, irreversible dilatation of the aorta associated with destruction of the vessel wall by infection and is a grave clinical condition associated with high morbidity and mortality in humans. Rupture of aortic aneurysms can be spontaneous, idiopathic, or due to severe trauma, and the condition has been associated with bacterial and, rarely, fungal infections in humans and animals. Here, we describe a case of ruptured spontaneous aortic aneurysm associated with zygomycetic infection in a 21-y-old female sooty mangabey. The animal did not present with any significant clinical signs before being found dead. At necropsy, she was in good body condition, and the thoracic cavity had a large amount of clotted blood filling the left pleural space and surrounding the lung lobes. Near the aortic arch, the descending thoracic aorta was focally perforated (diameter, approximately 0.15 cm), and clotted blood adhered to the tunica adventitia. The aortic intima had multiple, firm, pale-yellow nodules (diameter, 0.25 to 0.5 cm). Histopathologically, these nodules consisted of severe multifocal pyogranulomatous inflammation intermixed with necrosis, fibrin, and broad, infrequently septate, thin-walled fungal hyphae. Immunohistochemistry revealed fungal hyphae characteristic of Mucormycetes (formerly Zygomycetes), and PCR analysis identified the organism as Basidiobolus spp. Dissemination of the fungus beyond the aorta was not noted. Spontaneous aortic aneurysms have been described in nonhuman primates, but this is the first reported case of a ruptured spontaneous aortic aneurysm associated with entomophthoromycetic infection in a sooty mangabey.

Pulmonary arterial thrombo-embolism and pulmonary arterial mycotic aneurysms in cattle with vena caval thrombosis: a condition resembling the Hughes-Stovin syndrome.

Sixteen cattle affected by thrombosis of the posterior vena cava were examined post mortem and the various lesions are described. The thrombus was in the hepatic portion in 12 animals and in the intrathoracic part in four. Thrombi had formed as a result of phlebitis in 13 cases in which hepatic or post-diaphragamatic abscesses were present but the aetiology of the other three was not discovered. Embolism from the vena cava thrombus resulted in pulmonary lesions in every case: these included pulmonary arterial thrombo-embolism, pulmonary arteritis, pulmonary endarteritis, chronic suppurative pneumonia and the formation of multiple pulmonary abscesses. The pulmonary arterial lesions had given rise to mycotic aneurysms of that vessel and rupture of these was followed by massive haemoptysis or intrapulmonaary haemorrhage. Pulmonary arterial aneurysms are not common in man and are very rare in animals, except in association with vena cava thrombosis of cattle. However, the "Hughes-Stovin" syndrome of man has some features in common with the condition described in cattle and these are discussed. The different sequelae of posterior vena cava thrombosis and infective endocarditis of the right heart in cattle are also considered.