Figure 3: Sediment smear of pleural fluid in a cat with dyspnea

There was a mixed, mostly neutrophilic or suppurative, inflammatory response with moderate numbers of macrophages. Many macrophages, including distended lightly vacuolated variants (arrow) and more “inactive” forms, contained moderate to many non-staining bacterial rods, compatible with Mycobacteria species (arrow). A few bacilli were also seen within neutrophils (arrowhead). An erythrophage indicates concurrent hemorrhage (modified Wright’s stain, 50x objective)

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