Cryptococcosis in domestic mammals.

After a brief review of cryptococcosis in dogs and cats from the literature from 1980 to 92, three cases in dogs (two epidemiologically strictly connected) and two in cats are reported. In the three dogs and in one of the two cats lesions were seen in many sites, but only one dog and one cat had a central nervous system localization. The cutis was affected in the three dogs and in one cat; in two of the dogs it was probably the primary lesion, and in the cat it was the only lesion. An unidentified genetic defect was probably the predisposing factor in two of the dogs of the same litter, exposed to soil cryptococcal contamination (from pigeon guano); a third dog, of different breeding, was not infected. Steroid treatment was predisposing in one cat. Flucytosine treatment was initially successful in two dogs, but in both relapses were reported; in one dog fluconazole treatment was successful. The isolates, before and after treatment, demonstrated a large increase in flucytosine MIC, strictly connected with the relapse.