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CASE REPORT article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Experimental and Diagnostic Pathology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1427496

Case Report: Localized coloproctitis caused by novel Basidiobolus arizonensis in a dog

Provisionally accepted
Annalise Black Annalise Black 1*Marcellina Wiertak Marcellina Wiertak 2Sylvia Ferguson Sylvia Ferguson 1Kathryn Wycislo Kathryn Wycislo 1Laura Rayhel Laura Rayhel 1Heather Reid Heather Reid 3Nathan Wiederhold Nathan Wiederhold 4Connie Cañete-Gibas Connie Cañete-Gibas 4
  • 1 College of Veterinary Medicine, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona, United States
  • 2 Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (AZCOM), Glendale, Arizona, United States
  • 3 Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, North Grafton, Massachusetts, United States
  • 4 Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    A 6-year-old male neutered boxer mix canine was presented for a one-month history of dyschezia, hematochezia, and constipation. Colonoscopy and endoscopic biopsies revealed non-specific lymphoplasmacytic, eosinophilic colitis. Despite pursuing various therapies over a 3.5-month clinical course (including hypoallergenic diet, antibiotics, prokinetics, laxatives, and anti-inflammatory glucocorticoids), the patient’s condition did not improve. Two and a half months after initial presentation, the patient developed circumferential proctitis with multiple draining tracts and obstipation. Humane euthanasia and postmortem examination were elected. Gross and histological findings revealed locally extensive pyogranulomatous coloproctitis with many intralesional PAS-positive, GMS-negative 30-40 µm in diameter, hyaline, pauciseptate, irregularly branching fungal hyphae, hyphal bodies or chlamydospores and 25-45 µm in diameter thick-walled zygospores. Fungal culture of fluid from the draining tracts was performed, and DNA sequence analysis of the ITS and partial LSU of the nuclear ribosomal RNA genes were used to identify and confirm a novel species, Basidiobolus arizonensis. Basidiobolus spp. are saprobes in the order Basidiobolales and most commonly cause granulomatous infections of the skin, respiratory tract, and gastrointestinal tract in veterinary species and humans. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of novel Basidiobolus arizonensis causing localized coloproctitis in a dog.

    Keywords: case report, Fungal, Basidiobolomycosis, Zygomycosis, Proctitis, Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), canine

    Received: 03 May 2024; Accepted: 12 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Black, Wiertak, Ferguson, Wycislo, Rayhel, Reid, Wiederhold and Cañete-Gibas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Annalise Black, College of Veterinary Medicine, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona, United States

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