Paecilomycosis in two Australian dogs

CASE REPORT Paecilomyces variotti, a common environmental saprophytic mould, is one of several fungal genera associated with hyalohyphomycosis. An emerging disease of immunocompromised human patients, paecilomycosis is rarely reported in veterinary species. Here we describe contrasting presentations of P. variotti infection in two Australian dogs. Case 1 was a 3-year-old pregnant female German Shepherd Dog presenting with anorexia and generalised pain subsequently localised to the cervical vertebrae. Postmortem revealed destructive pyogranulomatous discospondylitis, meningitis and osteomyelitis at C5-C6 and disseminated granulomatous disease with intralesional fungi. Case 2 was a 10-year-old female spayed Australian Silky Terrier that presented with chronic lameness and multicentric osteolytic lesions in the fore- And hindlimb. Amputation of the hindlimb and draining lymph nodes was performed and histopathology revealed multicentric granulomatous osteomyelitis and synovitis and granulomatous lymphadenitis, with intralesional fungi. This dog was treated with itraconazole and survived to 14 years of age. Cultures confirmed P. variotti in both cases. CONCLUSION Although rare, paecilomycosis may be under-recognised in Australia.