Feohifomicose cutânea causada por Curvularia sp. em um equino

Abstract

Phaeohyphomycosis include cutaneous, subcutaneous, and systemic diseases that affect humans and animals. The diseases are usually associated with immunocompromised hosts and are caused by fungi whose wall cell contains melanin (dematiaceous). This communication describes clinical, histopathological, and microbiological aspects observed in a case of phaeohyphomycosis affecting a 6-year-old male Crioulo horse. Animal showed two cutaneous nodules with about 4-5 cm of diameter located in the lateral abdominal walls (one in the right, the other in the left). Nodules were excised and submitted to the pathological laboratory SPV-UFRGS. Grossly, one of the cutaneous nodules was ulcerated and had, at the cut surface, multiple circumscript whitish areas containing blackish granules. Microscopically, nodules had piogranulomatous ulcerative dermatitis associated with intralesional septate and pigmented hyphae. Mycological culture, performed at the Mycology Laboratory-UFRGS, yielded fungal growth of Curvularia sp. Those findings support the diagnosis of fungal dermatitis by Curvularia sp. Treatment was complete surgical excision of lesions; however, one year after the procedure, recurrence of lesions was observed in the areas close to that where the previous lesions were.