Haematogenous spread of <i>Sporothrix schenckii</i> in cats with naturally acquired sporotrichosis

Abstract

The recovery of Sporothrix schenckii from blood samples is rare, and the diagnosis of systemic sporotrichosis is usually made at necropsy. In this report, S schenckii was isolated from two or more internal organs of nine necropsied cats with naturally acquired sporotrichosis. Haematogenous spread was demonstrated in vivo by the isolation of S schenckii from the peripheral blood of 17 (n = 49, 34.4 per cent) cats. Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) was not detected, and co-infection with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), observed in nine cases (n = 43, 20.9 per cent), apparently did not affect the isolation of S schenckii from peripheral blood or from the internal organs.