Compressive myelopathy in a free-ranging red brocket (Mazama americana) caused by a lumbar paraspinal abscess with accompanying spondylodiscitis

ABSTRACT

Background: Spondylodiscitis is an inflammation that is characterized by the involvement of one and more intervertebral discs and adjacent vertebral bodies. The clinical manifestations of spondylodiscitis are nonspecific and vary with the site and extent of injury, however this kind of lesion is poorly known between free-ranging cervids. In this sense, the presente study aimed to describe the occurrence, clinical, radiographic and anatomopathological findings related to a lumbar abscess accompanied by spondylodiscitis in a free-ranging female red brocket (Mazama americana) from Eastern Brazilian Amazon. Case An approximately five-month old, 3,7 kg, female red brocket (Mazama americana), was received at the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal Rural University of Amazônia, in the municipality of Belém, in the State of Pará (Northern Brazil) for clinical care. The animal was rescued from the wild by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural and presented lethargy, pelvic limb paralysis with proprioceptive deficits. The clinical signs observed suggested a spinal cord injury in the thoracolumbar region and the animal was sent to radiographic examination and myelography performed on the ventrodorsal and lateral projections of the vertebrae and spinal cord. The hemogram revealed anemia (8.74 × 106 cells/mm3) and leukocytosis (29.65 × 103 cells/mm3) with...