Aspectos clínicos e citológicos de esporotricose conjuntival primária em felinos domésticos

Abstract

Sporotrichosis is a subacute or chronic mycosis usually associated with the traumatic implantation, from the skin, of the fungus of the complexSporothrix schenckii. In Brazil, it is the most frequent subcutaneous mycosis and the severity of the clinical manifestation of the disease in cats may be directly related to the virulence of the fungi, the species involved and the different susceptibilities of individuals.The extracutaneous form is uncommon and may affect the eye without cutaneous involvement.Ocular manifestations have been described in human patients, including several cases of primary conjunctivitis caused by direct inoculation of the fungus. Some authors relate the ophthalmic clinical presentation to a disseminated infection or in immunocompromised, diabetic or chronically treated patients with corticosteroids. There are no previous reports of primary ocular sporotrichosis in cats. The definitive diagnosis is the isolation and identification of the agent in an adequate culture medium and may include the correlation of clinical, epidemiological and laboratory data with the direct examination of the lesions, through the cytology of the exudate aspirated from the lesions. The objective of this work was to analyze clinical and cytological aspects of the Sporothrix spp. in conjunctival samples from domestic felines (felis catus) in order to add relevant information that helps in the diagnosis and awareness of professionals about the possibility of this type of primary conjunctival infection. The animals used in this project were cats (felis catus) with clinical suspicion of conjunctivitis Sporothrix spp. attended at the outpatient Clinic of Felines of the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) submitted to cytological examination of the conjunctiva and isolation and identification of the agent in a culture medium.