Haematogenous spread of Sporothrix schenckii in cats with naturally acquired sporotrichosis

The recovery of Sporothrix schenckii from blood samples is rare, and the diagnosis of systemic sporotrichosis is usually made at necropsy. In this report, S schenckii was isolated from two or more internal organs of nine necropsied cats with naturally acquired sporotrichosis. Haematogenous spread was demonstrated in vivo by the isolation of S schenckii from the peripheral blood of 17 (n=49, 34·4 per cent) cats. Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) was not detected, and co-infection with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), observed in nine cases (n=43, 20·9 per cent), apparently did not affect the isolation of S schenckii from peripheral blood or from the internal organs.