Meningitis in a dog caused by Cryptococcus neoformans. Clinicopathological case report.

The authors describe the clinicopathological case study of cryptococcosis in a 2.5 years old Hungarian vizsla dog. The dog was in good general condition at the beginning with only mild clinical signs like conjunctivitis. Later swelling of the periorbital tissues occurred. There was not any improvement with antibiotic treatment and rhinitis, sinusitis, finally leptomeningitis developed, causing sudden death of the dog. The pathological examination of the abnormal tissue proliferation showed Cryptococcus neoformans infection. The pathogen causes illness typically only in immune suppressed animals and the description of the disease is rare in the veterinary literature. The pathogen can be detected from aspiration cytology samples of the proliferated tissues or from the cerebrospinal fluid. Based on the diagnosis, antifungal therapy can be attempted.