Coliform myositis in a calf

Coliform myositis was diagnosed in a young calf with signs of pain, swelling, and edema of the right hind limb. Diagnostic methods included bacteriologic culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The organism isolated was a gas-producing Escherichia coli. The infection responded to administration of trimethoprim/sulfadiazine, to which the organism was susceptible in vitro.     

新生犊牛大肠杆菌性关节炎的诊断与治疗

犊牛大肠杆菌性关节炎是威胁犊牛的一种严重的传染病。该病造成犊牛死亡，球关节、腕关节和跗关节损伤，造成犊牛跛行，关节功能丧失，最后被迫淘汰。通过改造犊牛岛和圈舍地面，加强饲养管理与及时采取有效治疗措施，控制了本病在我区各牛场的流行，提高了犊牛的成活率。     

Treatment of mastitis

Extract

Since penicillin came into common use, mastitis is no longer as serious a problem as it was formerly. It is still an important disease, however, and questions on methods of treatment are often asked. This paper discusses recent work in this field.     

Larvae and mastitis

Extract

Sir,—I wish to report an unusual case of mastitis in a two-year-old Jersey heifer calved three months.     

Naturally Occurring Acute Coliform Mastitis in Holstein Cattle

Physical examination and clinicopathologic findings from 44 adult Holstein cows with naturally occurring coliform mastitis were studied. The cattle were grouped for comparison by stage of lactation and survival. Cattle within the first 4 weeks of lactation maintained higher median mature neutrophil counts (1,200 versus 300/μL) in peripheral blood than cattle later in lactation. Nonsurviving cows had higher median creatinine concentration (2.5 versus 1.6 mg/dL) and anion gap (25 versus 20 mEq/L), and lower serum protein (7.1 versus 7.6 gm/dL) and total CO₂ (19.8 versus 25 mEq/L) concentrations than surviving cows (P < .05). These findings indicate that cattle with uremia and metabolic acidosis are less likely to survive the infection. Bacteriologic blood cultures were performed on 34 of the 44 cows studied. Esche-richia coli was isolated from the blood in 11 (32%) cows. Clinical presentation and clinicopathologic data were compared in bacteremic versus nonbacteremic cows to evaluate these data as predictors of bacteremia. Bacteremic cows were sick longer prior to admission (2 versus 1 days), maintained higher median counts of total nucleated cells (6.6 versus 2.4 × 10³ cells/μL), myelocytes (0.2 versus 0 × 10³ cells/μL), metamyelocytes (0.5 versus 0.02 × 10³ cells/μL), band neutrophils (0.7 versus 0.1 × 10³ cells/μL), and lymphocytes (2.1 versus 1.4 × 10³ cells/μL) than nonbacteremic cows, and had higher plasma fibrinogen concentration (600 versus 500 mg/dL) (P < .05). There were no differences between the physical or serum biochemical measurements. Four of 11 bacteremic cows and 5 of 23 nonbacteremic cows died or were euthanized (P > .05). The high prevalence of bacteremia seen in cows with coliform mastitis has not been reported previously, and may have been due to the duration of disease, severity of signs, or culture technique. These findings suggest that systemic antibiotic therapy may be beneficial in some severe cases of coliform mastitis. J Vet Intern Med 1996;252–257. Copyright©1996 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.