FELINE LEPROSY - SPONTANEOUS REMISSION IN A CAT

A two-year-old male domestic shorthair with a solitary lesion of the r ight forelimb was presented for fine-needle aspiration biopsy of a sus pected cutaneous, neoplastic process, Neutrophils, lymphocytes, and ac id-fast bacilli packed in the cytoplasm of foamy macrophages and giant cells were seen on cytological examination. Bacteriological culture o f the material from the skin lesion was negative for Mycobacterium spp , Intraperitoneal injection of homogenized material from the lesion re sulted in generalized mycobacteriosis in one mouse after 10 months. Ba sed on these results, a diagnosis of feline leprosy was made, No medic al or surgical therapy was performed, Nonetheless, the lesion showed p rogressive and complete spontaneous remission within 3.5 months from t he time of diagnosis; after 14 months, the cat still is free of diseas e.