Criptococose cerebral felina: relato de caso

Abstract

Cryptococcosis is an infectious disease caused by the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, of cosmopolitan and opportunistic character, which affects domestic and wild animals, including man, being the most common systemic mycotic disease in domestic cats. The infectious agent can be found in various organic substrates, especially in pigeon droppings (Columbia livia), being viable in the appropriate environment for up to two years, and can be inhaled, causing the syndromes: respiratory, neurological, ocular and/or cutaneous, which are presented isolatedly or in association. The respiratory syndrome is the most common in cats, affecting mainly the nasal cavity, causing secretion, sneezing and dyspnea, besides subcutaneous nodules in the nasal plane. The present report presents the clinical and anatomopathological findings of cerebral cryptococcosis in a four-year-old male feline treated at the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Paraíba, which presented the neurological syndrome, in which the diagnosis was only possible through histopathological evaluation, with the visualization of extracellular structures compatible with Cryptococcus spp. yeasts.