Endomyocarditis, meningoencephalitis and septic shock due to disseminated protothecosis in a dog

A case of protothecosis causing endocarditis and septic shock in a dog is described. A four year-old male Labrador retriever was referred to the hospital with a history of two years of chronic diarrhea and several weeks of vestibular signs. The dog was started on antibiotic treatment but continued to deteriorate and was again presented within 3 weeks with multifocal neurological signs involving the central vestibular system and the forebrain. Several hours after admission to the hospital intensive care unit, the dog died due to cardiac arrest. Post mortem examination revealed infective endocarditis and myocarditis with the presence of prototheca species, and disseminated protothecosis. To the best knowledge of the authors this is the first report of disseminated prototheca infection in Israel in dogs.