Pathology of nasal infection caused by Conidiobolus lamprauges and Pythium insidiosum in sheep

Abstract

Conidiobolomycosis and pythiosis are important diseases of sheep in midwestern Brazil. Veterinary practitioners consider it difficult to differentiate between these diseases because they have similar clinical features. In this study, 186 sheep were subjected to necropsy examination over a 6-year period. Thirty (16.1%) cases of rhinitis in sheep that were caused by Conidiobolus lamprauges (n = 15) or Pythium insidiosum (n = 15) were investigated further. The lesions of C. lamprauges infection were mainly rhinopharyngeal (86.7%), localized to the ethmoidal region and associated with exophthalmos. The lesions appear as a white to yellow, firm mass that microscopically appears as a granulomatous inflammatory reaction with numerous giant cells. In contrast, P. insidiosum infection is associated with rhinofacial (93.3%) lesions that mainly involve the frontal region and hard palate and appear as an irregular, friable, yellow to red mass. Microscopically, pythiosis presents as diffuse necrotizing eosinophilic rhinitis. Immunohistochemistry using polyclonal antisera raised specifically against the two organisms was used to confirm the identity of the infectious agent in each disease. This study reports the first immunohistochemical diagnosis of conidiobolomycosis and the first description of a rhinopharyngeal lesion caused by P. insidiosum in sheep.

Keywords: fungal infection; granulomatous rhinitis; immunohistochemistry; sheep.