CASE REPORT article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Clinical, Anatomical, and Comparative Pathology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1587810
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Approaches in Veterinary Pathology: Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Zoonotic ThreatsView all 12 articles
Necrotizing E. coli Pneumonia with Subsequent Pneumothorax in a Dog: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
- 2Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
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Necrotizing pneumonia is a poorly described and rarely reported phenomenon in veterinary medicine. The objective of this case report is to describe the successful management of a case of necrotizing pneumonia in a dog requiring medical and surgical management. This case describes a 9-year-old male neutered Siberian Husky mix that presented to an emergency center for a chronic cough not responsive to antibiotics including doxycycline and amoxicillin – clavulanate. Diagnostic imaging studies were consistent with severe multilobular pneumonia, pleural effusion and secondary pneumothorax. Aerobic culture of a bronchoalveolar lavage sample isolated Escherichia coli that was susceptible to enrofloxacin. A median sternotomy was performed when antibiotics alone were unable to fully clear the infection and the cranial segment of the left cranial lung lobe was removed. Histopathology of this lung lobe indicated subacute suppurative and fibrinohemorrhagic bronchopneumonia with parenchymal and pleural necrosis. The dog survived to discharge with resolution of pneumonia based on thoracic radiographs after 38 days. Necrotizing pneumonia can potentially be adequately treated with appropriate escalation of medical and surgical management.
Keywords: Necrotizing, Pneumonia, dog, Eschericha coli, Pneumothorax, aspiration
Received: 19 May 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Vazin, Huebner, Deforge, Wood and Mitropoulou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Victoria Vida Vazin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
Athanasia Nancy Mitropoulou, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 70808, Louisiana, United States
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