Necrotizing Mycotic Vasculitis with Cerebral Infarction Caused by Aspergillus niger in a Horse with Acute Typhlocolitis

Abstract

An 18-year-old Morgan mare was presented to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, University of Illinois, with a 10-day history of watery diarrhea, depression, and dysphagia. On admission, the animal was severely dehydrated, depressed, and unable to swallow and had no clinical signs of diarrhea. The respiratory and heart rate and body temperature were within normal limits. Following fluid therapy, the mare developed severe watery diarrhea and continued to be depressed, incoordinated, and dysphagic. The animal died on the fourth day after admission and was sent to the Laboratories of Veterinary Diagnostic Medicine for necropsy. Gross postmortem findings were consistent with an acute cerebral infarction in the right cerebral hemisphere, an acute necrotizing typhlocolitis, multifocal petechial and ecchymotic hemorrhages, enlarged and congested pars intermedia of the pituitary gland, and marked bilateral adrenocortical hyperplasia with multifocal areas of necrosis and hemorrhage. Histologic evaluation of the affected brain demonstrated an area of coagulative necrosis of the gray matter, with hemorrhage, vasculitis, and thrombosis. There were many fungal hyphae 3.5–6.0 μm, pale basophilic, septate, and occasionally branching at 45° present in the arterial walls and throughout the necrotic tissue. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed Aspergillus niger as the etiologic agent responsible for the mycotic vasculitis and infarction in the brain. Bacteria culture and immunohistochemical staining of the colon and cecum failed to demonstrate specific pathogens.