Diseases of the nasal cavity have a diverse etiology and cause severe disorders in animals. Conidiobolomycosis is a type of zygomycosis caused by the fungus Conidiobolus spp., occurring more frequently in sheep. The objective of this study is to describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics, as well as microbiological and histopathological findings, of an outbreak of conidiobolomycosis in sheep. A total of 12 animals out of a herd of 70 were affected, representing a morbidity of 17.1%; mortality and lethality were 11.4% (8/70) and 66.6% (8/12), respectively, of which 4 sheep died spontaneously and 4 were euthanized for diagnostic purposes due to the severity of the clinical condition. Necropsy was performed on 4 (33.3%) of the 12 affected animals, and after opening the skull in the sagittal section, a friable mass with coloration ranging from whitish-yellow to gray-green, as well as areas of necrosis, were evident in regions such as the nasal meatus, conchae, nasopharynx, hard palate, cribriform plate, meninges, and frontal lobe of the brain. Conidiobolus lamprauges was isolated from samples collected from 6 animals from nasal discharge, fungal granuloma, and intranasal swab. Reproductive structures consistent as kind of zygospores with C. lamprauges and C. incongruus were also identified. Regarding the clinical form, animals 1, 2, 3, and 4 presented manifestations of the nasopharyngeal form, with the first three progressing to the rhinocerebral form; in animal 5, the clinical form found was rhinofacial. It is concluded that clinical signs may vary with the presentation of the disease as well as the involved agent. Early diagnostic alternatives such as fungal isolation from material collected from intranasal swabs can be useful and employed in affected herds, enabling earlier intervention.
AQUINO et al. (Fri,) studied this question.