Multisystemic corynebacteriosis caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis in a captive Brazilian porcupine...

A captive, 3-year-old, male Brazilian porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) was found dead in its enclosure at a wildlife facility in the USA, with no prior clinical signs reported. At necropsy, the animal was in poor body condition with malocclusion of the maxillary incisors. Numerous tan-to-white, firm nodules, ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, were present in the lungs, heart, pancreas and right kidney. Histologically, multifocal to coalescing pyogranulomas composed of foamy macrophages, multinucleated giant cells and peripheral lymphoplasmacytic infiltrates surrounded central areas of caseous necrosis containing degenerate neutrophils and colonies of pleomorphic coccobacilli. The bacteria stained gram positive with Brown and Hopps Gram stain. Aerobic bacterial culture of affected lung tissue yielded Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, and identification was confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of corynebacteriosis in a Brazilian porcupine, expanding the known host range of this pathogen and highlighting the importance of including C. pseudotuberculosis as a differential diagnosis for multisystemic nodular disease in exotic and wild mammalian species.