Canine adenovirus type-2 and canine distemper virus pulmonary co-infection in two Chow-Chow puppies with Candida sp esophagitis

Abstract

Two three-month-old puppies from the same litter were submitted to necropsy after a clinical history of purulent ocular discharge, diarrhoea and coughing. Grossly, the lungs were filled with fluid, firm and diffusely mottled with red and yellow areas. A clumped white-yellowish material with longitudinal stripes was loosely adhered to the esophagus. The histological analysis of the lungs revealed a suppurative and histiocytic broncho-interstitial pneumonia with fibrin, hemorrhage and myriads of eosinophilic intracytoplasmatic and basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies. The diagnosis was consistent with co-infection by canine adenovirus type-2 and canine distemper virus. Both dogs also had severe proliferative Candida sp. esophagitis. Reports of two concomitant viral diseases and mycotic infection are relatively rare and suggest intrinsic and environmental immunosuppressive factors.