Soares Carla, Cardoso Manuela, Mestre Ana, Crisi Paolo Emidio
Vetlamaçães, Small Animal Clinic, A. D. João II, no.139 r/c Nogueiró, 4715-303 Braga, Portugal.
Small Animal Clinic de Pereira, Pereira do Campo, 3140-314 Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.
J Parasit Dis. 2017 Dec;41(4):976-980. doi: 10.1007/s12639-017-0921-7. Epub 2017 May 2.
The cat lungworm is the most common respiratory parasite of cats. This nematode has a worldwide distribution and is considered an emerging pathogen. Respiratory signs overlap with those of other pathologies, and some agents which co-exist in the same animal may concur in the clinical scenario. Nonetheless, feline verminous bronchopneumonia is underestimated by practitioners and is not commonly included in differential diagnosis in routine practice. The present report describes the clinical presentation of a 6-month old stray cat from central Portugal, which developed respiratory distress. A clinical improvement of lower respiratory signs was achieved after a course of doxycycline and prednisolone course. However, a relapse with a progressive decline in the respiratory functions occurred two weeks later. A further investigation led to the identification of an infection that was treated with fenbendazole. Ten days after the treatment the cat became negative for and further analyses performed in the followings 2 months showed improvement of the animal's pulmonary condition and negative results at the faecal examinations. These findings indicate that veterinarians should include aelurostrongylosis in the differential diagnosis of feline respiratory distress even in non-endemic regions and should perform appropriate diagnostics procedures in the presence of compatible signs.
猫肺线虫是猫最常见的呼吸道寄生虫。这种线虫在全球范围内都有分布，被认为是一种新出现的病原体。其呼吸道症状与其他病症的症状重叠，并且同一动物体内共存的一些病原体可能在临床症状中共同起作用。尽管如此，猫蠕虫性支气管肺炎仍未得到从业者的重视，在常规实践中也通常不被列入鉴别诊断范围。本报告描述了一只来自葡萄牙中部的6个月大流浪猫出现呼吸窘迫的临床表现。在使用强力霉素和泼尼松龙治疗一个疗程后，猫的下呼吸道症状有了临床改善。然而，两周后病情复发，呼吸功能逐渐下降。进一步检查发现了一种感染，并使用芬苯达唑进行了治疗。治疗十天后，该猫的检测结果转为阴性，在接下来的两个月里进行的进一步分析显示，该猫的肺部状况有所改善，粪便检查结果也呈阴性。这些发现表明，即使在非流行地区，兽医在猫呼吸窘迫的鉴别诊断中也应考虑猫圆线虫病，并在出现相关症状时进行适当的诊断程序。
