SOUSA, D. E. R.; SOUSA, Davi Emanuel Ribeiro de.
Abstract:
We describe a case of nasal pythiosis in sheep with metastasis to the encephalon. It was a female, three-year-old female, from the municipality of São José do Bonfim-PB, who presented nystagmus, blindness, opisthotton, decreased mandibular tone and spasticity of the pelvic limbs. The next day the animal died and was sent to necropsy. The sagittal cut of the nasal cavity was observed bilateral, multifocal and symmetrical nodular lesions, irregular borders, hemorrhagic surface and depressed center. There was hyperemia of the vessels of the leptomeninges in the region of brainstem and cerebellum. In the dorsal region of the cerebellar worm there was focal area, yellowish distending the leptomeninges and covered by whitish material. On the floor of the fourth ventricle, there was yellowish and slightly granular material, which protruded toward the obex and displaced the cerebellum dorsolaterally. The microscopic lesions were of rhinitis and marked piogranulomatous meningitis, multifocal to coalescent, associated with intralesional hyphae. The hyphae were impregnated by the methenamine silver nitrate of Grocott and strongly immunolabelled for Pythium insidiosum. The diagnosis was made based on the characteristics of the anatomopathological lesions and confirmation of the etiology by immunohistochemistry. Through these data, it can be concluded that nasal pythiosis in sheep can occur hematogenously and affect the brain, causing various neurological signs, depending on the location and extent of the lesion.
