Experimental Neospora Caninum Infection in Pregnant Dairy Heifers Raises Concentrations of Pregnancy‐Associated Glycoproteins 1 and 2 in Foetal Fluids

Plasma concentrations of PAG‐1 are used for pregnancy diagnosis and as a marker of placental/foetal well‐being, while those of PAG‐2 may be an indicator of abortion risk in Neospora caninum‐infected cows. Studies have shown that N. caninum infection modifies PAG‐1 and PAG‐2 patterns in maternal blood plasma. However, no prior work has examined the effects of N. caninum infection on concentrations of PAGs in foetal fluids. In this study, PAG‐1, PAG‐2 and pH levels were determined in the amniotic and allantoic fluids of foetuses collected at 152 days of gestation from control uninfected dams and from dams experimentally infected with N. caninum on Day 110 of gestation. Foetal fluids from infected foetuses had significantly higher PAG‐2 concentrations (p = 0.026) and pH values (p = 0.02) than fluids from non‐infected foetuses. In infected foetuses, significantly higher concentrations of PAG‐1 (p < 0.001) and PAG‐2 (p < 0.001) were detected in fluid samples showing antibodies against N. caninum than those without antibodies. Moreover, pH values were significantly higher (p = 0.011) in foetal fluid samples with antibodies than in samples from non‐infected foetuses. In conclusion, this is the first report on the effect of N. caninum infection on PAG levels in foetal fluids. Our results indicate that following the experimental infection of dams with N. caninum on Day 110 of gestation, foetal fluids collected from the infected foetuses of these dams featured higher PAG‐1 and PAG‐2 levels and pH values than fluids from non‐infected controls, provided that the samples tested showed the presence of antibodies. The clinical implications of these findings are that following infection with N. caninum, most cows will experience some level of placental damage and that this injury correlates with foetal fluid PAG levels and pH.     

Pregnancy Loss in Dairy Cattle: Relationship of Ultrasound,Blood Pregnancy‐Specific Protein B,Progesterone and Production Variables

Objectives were to determine associations between percentage pregnancy loss (PPL) in dairy cattle and: (i) pregnancy diagnosis by ultrasonography; (ii) pregnancy diagnosis by serum pregnancy‐specific protein B (PSPB) concentrations, with or without serum progesterone concentrations; and (iii) production and environmental factors. This study included 149 822 pregnancy diagnoses conducted over 13 years in Holstein‐Friesian cows in Hungarian dairy herds. The following were determined: PPL in cows diagnosed pregnant by transrectal ultrasonography 29–42 days after artificial insemination (AI; n = 11 457); PPL in cows diagnosed pregnant by serum PSPB 29–35 days after AI (n = 138 365); and PPL and its association with serum progesterone concentrations, PSPB and production/environmental variables. The definition of PPL was percentage of cows initially diagnosed pregnant based on ultrasonography or PSPB, but not pregnant when examined by transrectal palpation 60 –70 days after AI. The PPL was lower (p < 0.001) in cows following ultrasonographic vs PSPB diagnosis of pregnancy at 29–35 days (8.1 vs 19.3%, respectively), but was higher in cows following ultrasonographic pregnancy diagnosis on 29–35 vs 36–42 days (8.1 vs 7.1%, respectively, P < 0.05). Furthermore, 72.9% of pregnancies with ultrasound‐detected morphological abnormalities resulted in pregnancy loss. As a subset of PSPB data, a fully quantitative PSPB assay was used for 20 430 samples; PPL in cows with a high PSPB concentration (>1.1 ng/ml) was lowest (15.0%), whereas cows with low concentrations of both PSPB and progesterone (0.6–1.1 and <2 ng/ml, respectively) had the highest PPL (76.3%; p < 0.0001). Furthermore, PPL was higher in cows with advanced parity and with high milk production, when ambient temperatures were high, although body condition score (BCS) had no effect on PPL. Finally, there were no significant associations between serum PSPB and environmental temperatures or number of post‐partum uterine treatments.     

Liver pathology and immune response in experimental Fasciola hepatica infections of goats

The relationship between the immune response and the pathogenesis of the disease was studied in different primary and secondary experimental Fasciola hepatica infections of goats. The establishment of the infection, measured as percentage of recovered flukes at the necropsy, was similar in primarily and secondarily infected animals (between 19.7% and 24.3%), but the hepatic damage was much more severe in secondarily infected goats, as revealed by the levels of serum hepatic enzymes GGT and LDH. Primary infection evolves to chronic fasciolosis that did not induce the development of resistance, since goats were highly susceptible to secondary infection, showing severe acute and chronic hepatic lesions that led to the death of some animals in each group. The immune response to the infection was proved by the production of specific IgG antibodies to ESP of F. hepatica and the involvement of CD3+ T lymphocytes and lambda IgG+ plasma cells in the hepatic infiltrate. Secondary infection did not induce any difference in either IgG response or in the cellular composition of the infiltrate of hepatic lesions, although this was much more extended. However, neither antibodies nor cell-mediated response were protective: there was no correlation between IgG levels and fluke burden and there was no evidence of cell-mediated killing of the parasite. This suggests the existence of some immune evasion mechanisms in goat infection with F. hepatica. The parasite may depress the local inflammatory and immune response, as suggested by the scarcity of CD3+ T cells in the infiltrate surrounding acute migratory tunnels. Moreover, in secondary infected goats can be suspected an immunological damage of the liver, since a very severe infiltrate of immune cells replaced wide areas of hepatic parenchyma and an immune-mediated damage of hepatocytes could occur.     

Serotypes of Pasteurella haemolytica and Pasteurella trehalosi isolated from farm animals in Hungary.

The biochemical and serological characteristics of 486 P. haemolytica and 31 P. trehalosi strains (517 in total) isolated from different lesions of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry were examined. A total of 476 P. haemolytica strains (97.9%) showed the characteristics typical of the former biotype A of P. haemolytica, while 10 isolates (2.1%), all from poultry, could not be biotyped. A total of 481 strains (93.0%) could be assigned to one of the 17 serotypes of P. haemolytica-P. trehalosi and 36 strains (7.0%) could not. The majority (83.6%) of the cattle isolates were serotypes A1 and A2. Among strains isolated from sheep all serotypes of P. haemolytica could be identified with the exception of A14, but serotypes A1, A2, A6, A8 and A5 were the most frequent. The overwhelming majority (94%) of the caprine isolates were A2, other serotypes occurred only sporadically. The pig isolates, which could be isolated only very rarely, represented different serotypes, while none of the 10 strains isolated from poultry could be biotyped or serotyped.     

Study of gastrointestinal parasites in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) reared under Mexican humid tropical conditions

Tropical Animal Health and Production - The objective was to determine the frequency of gastrointestinal parasites (GP) genera affecting water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) reared under humid tropical...