Crypotococcosis?

[hoofinitnorth]

Goat Medicine says that cryptococcosis is caused by a fungus and there is no known treatment for goats. It causes cough and a runny nose. I was reading up on things that can cause cough and familiarizing myself with the new books that finally arrived, and came across this. The book also says that the fungus is found in bird droppings and soil. So far that's all I know as far as it pertains to livestock.

A quick Google showed that in humans it can cause pneumonia (especially in people with depressed immune systems, such as HIV/AIDS patients) and there is an anti-fungal medication that can be administered.

So, has anyone dealt with cryptococcosis in their animals? What are your experiences with it? What have you learned about it?

It's a matter of curiosity for me since there are a few herds here that have very healthy animals but often have coughs in weanlings that do not respond to any treatment whatsoever. The animals do not suffer or appear ill in any other way and they seem to just age out or get over it on their own. I am wondering if cryptococcosis could be the reason (and of course I'd need some tests to confirm) but this is interesting to me, especially considering that the goats might just get over it when the weather gets cold because the fungus might die off. Healthy goats do not seem to be reinfected the next season, either, and not every goat in the herds gets the cough, just the new babies.

Thoughts?

[LMonty]

Heather

Interesting thoughts. One thing I'd look at is the distribution pattern of the fungus. In humans at least, the geographic location of infection really matters when trying to find a diagnosis. Some fungi require arid conditions, some moisture levels, some certain temps to persists in the soil or other surroundings.

I'd guess its an esoteric enough infection that few diagnosticians would even think to add it to their differential diagnosis list unless it was a known and recognized pathogen in their area. That doesnt mean it isnt there, just that it isnt likely to get diagnosed if noone thinks to look for and test for it.

So if you want to check further into the possibility, my best suggestion would be to research if the pathogen is known to be able to survive and then transmit in your area. Its one I really know nothing about. If its not known, but you think there might be apossibility that its an unrecognized pathogen, then learning how an where to test for it ight come next. Then actually testing indovidulas that have the symptoms attributed to the pathogen in the right conditions that it would appear on testing is important to confirm or deny its existence. How many and how often it would take to truly exlcude it would depend on several factors, such as how reliable the test itself is, and how many false negtives it can give. High reliability anbd few false negatives or false positives of the test means you can be more confident the the results are true.

Love this kinda stuff! Its enquiring minds that break outside the usual patterns that make great discoveries! Thanks for sharing this with us.

[hoofinitnorth]

LMonty - thanks for the response. I'm learning a LOT from books and discussions with others and sometimes it is fun to find something that no one has thought of (in a while at least) and investigate it. Very rarely do my newbie ideas pan out but sometimes it leads to neat findings.

I plan to ask my vet about this, and possibly another vet locally, to see if they've run across it and what they think. As a newbie, sometimes we find things that we think are so obvious but with such a basic understanding of the issues at hand, we are missing the reasons why this or that wouldn't make sense. Anyway, I haven't talked to anyone yet that has a familiarity with this fungus. I think part of the issue with why the "mystery" of the kid cough hasn't been solved is because it's just not serious - everyone is otherwise healthy and seems to "age out" of it.

[LMonty]

You got me researching

http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/reprint/36/5/445.pdf

http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factshe...tococcosis.pdf

those articles looked interesting. I scanned quite a few more and the info was basicly just repeated. I'd venture a guess that it is not a recognized pathogen of mild respiratory disease. Most of the references I looked at said that many cases went on to have disseminated disease, and neurological symptoms. I couldnt find anything that indicated it clears in the majority of cases, which is what we would expect if its a cause of kid cough.

But that doesnt mean it isnt happening, just that it isnt recognized. It does sound like a candidate to test for in some of the neurological cases that dont respond to thiamine or treatment for meningeal worm, or the usual neurological culprits. It would be very interesting to see if there is a much larger distribution than currently recognized.

I know what you mean, sometimes a fresh outlook and someone who isnt as formally educated to a topic will see things differently and find answers that others have missed. I like that too , its the way my head works. Doesnt always pan out, but every so often, it makes a difference. I love it when that happens

[hoofinitnorth]

Hey neat! Thanks for sharing these links! I'll let you know what I find out (if anything) from the vets.