Pulmonary adiaspiromycosis due to Emmonsia crescens was diagnosed in three of six Franklin's ground squirrels (Spermophilus franklini) captured in Rochester, central Alberta, Canada in the summer of 1971, and in one of 240 pikas (Ochotona princeps) collected in southwestern Alberta in 1969. Granulomas measuring 0.5 to 1 mm in diameter were found in both lungs. These granulomas contained adiaspores measuring 60 to 400 μm in diameter. The disease was not found in six Franklin's ground squirrels collected in 1964, nor in 10 white-footed mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), one porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), and 270 snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) from the Rochester area. Lungs from an additional 17 hares from Alaska and 25 from New Brunswick and 96 pikas from Colorado were also examined but no adiaspores were found.
Author notes
This study was conducted as part of the University of Wisconsin-Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) research and training program and was financed in part by grant CB-12631 of the National Science Foundation and by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin.
Present address: Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad de Anioquia, Medellin, Colombia.
Send reprint requests to T. M. Yuill.