Hepatozoon sp. Gamonts as an accidental finding in synovial liquid from an injured maned wolf (chrysocyon brachyurus) in southeastern Brazil

Abstract

A free-living, adult male maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) was referred to the Governador “Laudo Natel”-FCAV/Unesp veterinary hospital after being found with skin lesions and a fracture on the right pelvic limb, which had to be amputated due to compromised integrity. Around 20 days later, bilateral accentuated swollen on humerusradius-ulna articulation was observed. The synovial liquid was drained and sent to the laboratory for synovial cytology with Rosenfeld staining that revealed predominantly degenerated neutrophils with karyolytic chromatin associated with intracellular inclusions suggestive of Hepatozoon sp. gametocytes. Blood and synovial liquid samples were submitted to molecular analysis, aiming to amplify the Hepatozoon spp. 18S rRNA gene fragment. Despite the positioning of the found Hepatozoon sequence together with Hepatozoon canis previously detected in domestic carnivores, the BLAST analysis showed only 98% identity with H. canis. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time a Hepatozoon was detected in the synovial liquid by clinical pathology and molecular analyses.