Pulmonary Zygomycosis with Cunninghamella bertholletiae in a Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)

An adult female killer whale (Orcinus orca) was transported to the Port of Nagoya public aquarium in June 2010. While the animal was being maintained in the aquarium there was a gradual decrease in body weight. On October 1st, 2010 the whale exhibited signs of gastrointestinal disease and died on Ja...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of comparative pathology 2012-07, Vol.147 (1), p.94-99
Main Authors: Abdo, W., Kakizoe, Y., Ryono, M., Dover, S.R., Fukushi, H., Okuda, H., Kano, R., Shibahara, T., Okada, E., Sakai, H., Yanai, T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antifungal Agents - therapeutic use
Cetacea
Cunninghamella - isolation & purification
Cunninghamella bertholletiae
Female
Hematologic Tests - veterinary
killer whale
Lung Diseases, Fungal - drug therapy
Lung Diseases, Fungal - pathology
Lung Diseases, Fungal - veterinary
Marine
Mucormycosis - drug therapy
Mucormycosis - pathology
Mucormycosis - veterinary
Orcinus orca
Proteus mirabilis
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
pulmonary zygomycosis
Rhizomucor
Whale, Killer
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An adult female killer whale (Orcinus orca) was transported to the Port of Nagoya public aquarium in June 2010. While the animal was being maintained in the aquarium there was a gradual decrease in body weight. On October 1st, 2010 the whale exhibited signs of gastrointestinal disease and died on January 14th, 2011. At necropsy examination the gastric compartments were filled with a large number of variably-sized rocks (total weight 81.4 kg) and there was marked ulceration in the third compartment. There were multifocal tubercle-like nodules within the lungs and on sectioning there were numerous abscesses and pulmonary cavities. Microscopically, there was severe suppurative pneumonia associated with fungal hyphae that were infrequently septate and often branched. Numerous bacterial colonies were also present. The hyphae demonstrated immunohistochemical cross-reactivity with Rhizomucor spp. and Cunninghamella bertholletiae was cultured. Bacteriological culture revealed the presence of Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas oryzihabitans. This case represents the first documentation of zygomycosis associated with C. bertholletiae in a marine mammal.
ISSN:0021-9975
1532-3129
DOI:10.1016/j.jcpa.2011.08.012