RESUMO Este artigo tem como objetivo relatar um caso de infecção por Mycobacterium bovis em um gato doméstico, com seis meses de idade, enfatizando seus aspectos clínicos e terapêuticos. O felino apresentava como histórico a ingestão de leite de vaca não fervido e posteriormente desenvolveu sinais de anorexia, tosse não produtiva e linfadenomegalia. Para elucidação do diagnóstico, foram realizados exames complementares de imagem, hematológicos, citológicos e reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR). Diante da confirmação de infecção por Mycobacterium, o tratamento foi instituído por meio da associação de três antimicrobianos (enrofloxacino 5mg/kg, claritromicina 10mg/kg e rifampicina 15mg/kg), por via oral, a cada 12 horas, aos quais o animal respondeu positivamente, apresentando significativa diminuição dos sinais clínicos; entretanto, após 60 dias de tratamento, foi a óbito devido a um atropelamento. Conclui-se que a realização do tratamento em gatos com tuberculose pode ocasionar melhora dos sinais clínicos e que, embora de ocorrência rara no Brasil, essa enfermidade deve ser incluída como diagnóstico diferencial das enfermidades infecciosas nessa espécie.

ABSTRACT This article aims to report a case of Mycobacterium bovis infection in a six-month-old domestic cat, emphasizing its clinical and therapeutic aspects. The feline presented as history the intake of unboiled cow's milk and later developed signs of anorexia, non-productive cough and lymphadenomegaly. Additional imaging, hematological, cytological and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed to elucidate the diagnosis. In the presence of Mycobacterium infection, treatment was instituted by the combination of three antimicrobials (Enrofloxacin 5mg/kg, Clarithromycin 10mg/kg, and Rifampicin 15mg/kg) orally every 12 hours, to which the animal responded positively, presenting significant decrease of the clinical signs, however after 60 days of treatment the cat died accidentally, hit by a car on the street. It is concluded that the treatment in cats affected by tuberculosis can cause improvement of clinical signs and that although rare in Brazil, this disease should be included as a differential diagnosis of infectious diseases in this species.

ABSTRACT A 6-month-old female, 1.0kg, uncastrated female Persian cat was brought to the Veterinary Hospital at State University of Ceara, with a history of dyspnea, prostration, hyporexia and progressive weight loss for a month. On physical examination, systolic cardiac murmur, cyanosis and dyspnea were detected. Unfortunately, the cat died during oxygen therapy. Necropsy examination revealed an increase in cardiac silhouette and ventricular septal defect of 2cm in diameter. Macroscopically the lungs were collapsed, with absent and diffusely reddish blackish crepitus, and the liver with blackish red coalescent multifocal areas, interspersed with lighter areas and lobular pattern with irregular brownish multifocal areas intercepted by brownish areas. Thus, the necropsy results together with the history and physical examination of the animal confirmed the diagnosis of Eisenmenger Syndrome, becoming the report of the first case, in a cat, in Brazil.

This study aimed to describe the association of Borrelia burgdorferi s.s. with ixodid tick cell lines by flow cytometry and fluorescence and confocal microscopy. Spirochetes were stained with a fluorescent membrane marker (PKH67 or PKH26), inoculated into 8 different tick cell lines and incubated at 30°C for 24 h. PKH efficiently stained B. burgdorferi without affecting bacterial viability or motility. Among the tick cell lines tested, the Rhipicephalus appendiculatus cell line RA243 achieved the highest percentage of association/internalization, with both high (90%) and low (10%) concentrations of BSK-H medium in tick cell culture medium. Treatment with cytochalasin D dramatically reduced the average percentage of cells with internalized spirochetes, which passed through a dramatic morphological change during their internalization by the host cell as observed in time-lapse photography. Almost all of the fluorescent bacteria were seen to be inside the tick cells. PKH labeling of borreliae proved to be a reliable and valuable tool to analyze the association of spirochetes with host cells by flow cytometry, confocal and fluorescence microscopy.