Pulmonary Blastomycosis in an Indian Fruit Bat (<i>Pteropus Giganteus</i>)

Abstract

Blastomycosis, caused by the dimorphic fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis, has been reported in a wide variety of mammalian species, including wolves, a ferret, a deer, a polar bear, an African lion, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, and a Stellar’s sea lion. Blastomycosis is usually manifested by granulomatous inflammation of the lungs but can also involve the skin, bone, eyes, central nervous system, mammary tissue, and male reproductive tract. In this report, we describe a case of pulmonary blastomycosis in an Indian fruit bat (Pteropus giganteus). A pregnant adult female Indian fruit bat was found dead in its enclosure on October 4, 1995. The fruit bat was obtained from a rookery in India during November 1979, at which time it was estimated to be 1 month of age. It was moved from the Riverbanks Zoological Park in South Carolina to the Mesker Park Zoo in Indiana on May 4, 1994. It was housed with 14 other fruit bats in an exhibit consisting of a black galvanized metal back wall with 20.lx 0.4-m doors, black concrete block walls, a glass viewing window, poured concrete floor, and a ceiling of 1.3x 1.3-cm expanded metal. The fruit bats were fed a diet consisting of primate diet, diced apples, oranges (ascorbic acid source), bananas, and seedless grapes with yogurt or cottage cheese supplementation on alternating days. At necropsy, numerous firm, white-gray, coalescing nodules of various sizes (1-6 mm diameter) were disseminated