Paratuberculosis with special reference to cattle. A review

Paratuberculosis is a chronic, granulomatous enteritis caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis affecting domestic and wild ruminants. The symptoms of clinical paratuberculosis are chronic diarrhoea and progressive weight loss while subclinically infected animals mainly have decreased production. The infection is widespread throughout the world and causes substantial financial losses for the farming industry. One of the major obstacles in the control of this disease, is the difficulty of identifying subclinically infected animals. This review gives a summary of several aspects of paratuberculosis including clinical importance, pathology, immunology and properties of the infectious agent. Special emphasis will be on the available diagnostic methods, their use and limitations.     

Q fever antibody titer--follow-up study in cattle with special reference to pregnancy]

In 290 Q fever positive cattle from three 2000 head dairy farms in the former district of Erfurt (Thüringen) the course of titers was examined serologically over several months by means of the complement fixation test (CFT). In 47.2% of the cows serologically observed for 2 up to 28 months complement fixing antibodies against Coxiella burnetii could be demonstrated til the end of the investigation period. Repeated tests during pregnancy showed increase of antibody titers in the first 4 months and after a short decrease again from the 5. til the 7. month. By observing the antibody titers during several pregnancies each time a new increase comparable to a booster immunisation could be found. This may explain the persistence of Q fever antibodies in cows for several years. The results of this investigation suggest that from a high antibody titer it can not be concluded an abortion in a positive cow being caused by a Coxiella burnetii infection.     

Fetotomy in cattle with special reference to postoperative complications--an evaluation of 131 cases

In the course of this retrospective study on fetotomy of cattle 131 operations were evaluated. The case studies put the cattle 2 to 96 hours into labour (average 13 hours). The cows that exhibited post-operative complications were on average 19.2 hours into labour prior to the operation. Those which had a normal puerperium however were only 8.4 hours, on average, in labour. 79% of the animals showed depressed general health on admission, 8% of which were unable to stand. The main cause of the dystocia was the incorrect position/orientation of the dead foetus (38.9%) as well as relative or absolutely too large calves (25.2%). In 14.5% of the cases the offspring were malformed causing the dystocia. 28 of the protracted births were due to both maternal as well as foetal causes. Mortality of the cows lay by 6.9%, irregularities in the puerperal period ran at 67.2%. The age of the mother did not seem to influence the post operative events. The most common complication was retained placenta (n = 49; 37.4%) followed by lochiometra (n = 21; 16%), vaginal wounds and pelvic phlegmons (each n = 16; 12.2%) and neurotripsy (n = 6; 12.2%). Of these puerperal complications the pelvic phlegmon required the longest post-operative care (14.3 days, retention secundinarum was cured in 13 days, lochiometra in 8.8, cows without complaint were treated for 3.8 days after the operation). The most important factors for the post-operative prognosis are the time in labour and any trauma of the soft birth canal which influence the forming of pelvic phlegmons.     

Estimation of ochratoxin A in poultry feed and its ingredients with special reference to temperature conditions

1. The present study was designed to analyse ochratoxin A (OTA) in poultry feed samples (mixed types) along with different poultry feed ingredients collected from different farms and market of Lahore, Pakistan.

2. The whole year (2012–2013) was divided into three sub-periods depending upon environmental conditions, that is, July–October (hot and humid), November–February (winter) and March–June (moderate). During each sub-period 120 samples were collected for each feed and each ingredient constituting a total of 840 samples (120x7 of feed and feed ingredients in each sub-period).

3. The results of this study indicated that the incidence of OTA-positive samples was highest in July–October followed by that during March–June while the incidence was minimum during November–February. Similarly, the largest number of samples was below the maximum tolerable level (MTL) during November–February followed by March–June while the least number of samples was below MTL during hot weather (July–October).

4. This is the first elaborative study regarding the levels of OTA in poultry feed and its ingredients collected from Lahore, Pakistan.