Oral therapy for nasal cryptococcosis in a cheetah
Beehler, B.A.
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 181(11): 1400-1401
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-1488 PMID: 6294037 Document Number: 194829
A case of nasal cryptococcal granuloma is reported in a 5-yr-old female cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), who had had a 1 cm diam. mass excised from the right nostril and then developed a mucopurulent discharge. Cryptococcus neoformans was cultured from the discharge and a cryptococcal granuloma was diagnosed on histological examination. Treatment for 6 months with levamisole (184 mg orally every other day) and flucytosine [5-fluorocytosine] (1 g orally, 3 times a day), followed by therapy for 6 months with 5-fluorocytosine alone (750 mg in the morning and 1000 mg in the evening) was unsuccessful. The cheetah was then treated with oral ketoconazole (300 mg twice daily) for 38 days. Side effects developed, the cheetah was diarrhoeal and anorectic and vomited once. Treatment was stopped for 3 days, then resumed at a lower dose (200 mg twice daily) for 4 months. The cheetah recovered.