Pythium insidiosum is an oomycete, a fungal like microorganism, which infects mammals, causing
pythiosis in animals and humans, especially in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The treatment for this
infection is very difficult, and therapeutic options commonly comprise surgery,
immunotherapy and antimicrobial drugs. The present report describes the clinical healing of a dog with gastrointestinal
pythiosis by treatment with a combination of antifungals and
immunotherapy, as well as reviews the cases reported in the literature that used some type of
therapy for canine
pythiosis. A 2.5-year-old male beagle initially showed sporadic
vomiting episodes, and this symptom became more frequent 5 months after the onset of clinical signs. Celiotomy procedure found thickness of the stomach wall extending to the pylorus and duodenum. A biopsy was performed, and the diagnosis of
pythiosis was made by mycological, histopathological analyses and molecular identification.
Therapy was based on an association of
terbinafine plus
itraconazole during 12 months and
immunotherapy for 2.5 months. The healing of the dog reported here allows us to propose the use of
immunotherapy associated with antifungal
therapy to treat canine gastrointestinal
pythiosis. However, additional studies should be performed on a larger number of patients to establish a standard treatment protocol for canine
pythiosis.