Miocardite granulomatosa em cavalo por Halicephalobus gingivalis (H. deletrix): relato de caso

Abstract

Infections by free-living nematodes are uncommon in domestic animals. The infection by Halicephalobus gingivalis has been described in humans, horses, zebras and cattle. The most commonly affected areas are the central nervous system and kidneys, where the parasite causes granulomatous inflammation. This report describes a case of myocardial infection by H. gingivalis in a horse. The clinical signs, as told by the history, consisted of incoordination, falling and recumbency followed by paddling and head movements until death, four days after the start of symptoms. There was no macroscopic finding in other organs at necropsy, only a greyish spot in the myocardium, with irregular limits and 1.5 cm in diameter, histologically described as a granuloma with nematodes morphologically compatible with H. gingivalis. The study aims to describe the first case of myocarditis in horse caused by free-living nematodes in Brazil.