Aspergilose sistêmica em potros com broncopneumonia no brejo paraibano

Abstract

Bronchopneumonia is quite common in foals and in cases of mycotic respiratory disease, it is difficult to diagnose it early, increasing the mortality rate of animals at the beginning of their athletic life. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of the fungus Aspergillus spp. in cases of bronchopneumonia in foals and analyze the effectiveness of early diagnosis through tracheal lavage. In this research, 10 horses located in Brejo Paraíba, between 2 months and 2 years of age, 5 males and 5 females with respiratory symptoms, underwent clinical and complementary examinations such as blood count, fibrinogen dosage and microbiological culture through tracheal lavage that were collected by the non-surgical method of transtracheal collection to diagnose and analyze the prevalence of agents. Upon analysis of the results, Aspergillus spp. was diagnosed in 60% (6/10) of the total cases, followed by 20% (2/10) that had culture without microbiological growth and 20% being bacteria such as Escherichia coli (1/10) and Rhodococcus equi (1/10). Of the 60% of positive cases for this fungus, 100% of laboratory parameters such as fibrinogen were outside the normal range, followed by 50% with leukocytosis accompanied by fever. From the clinic of these animals with systemic mycotic infection, all pulmonary auscultations were noisy with a rubbing, crackling and/or rales sound. Evaluating the animals and the results obtained, it is noted that the fungus can be diagnosed through the culture of tracheal washings with a technique that can be carried out in the field and has a considerable prevalence in cases of bronchopneumonia in the Paraíba Brejo.