Tuberculosis in alpaca (Lama pacos) on a farm in Ireland. 1. A clinical report

This case report describes tuberculosis (TB) due to infection with Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) in alpaca (Lama pacos) on a farm in Ireland. Two severely debilitated alpaca were presented to the University Veterinary Hospital, University College Dublin in November 2004. Bloods were taken, and haematology and biochemistry results were indicative of chronic infection. Radiological examination showed evidence of diffuse granulomatous pneumonia suggestive of tuberculosis. On necropsy there were granulomatous lesions present throughout many body organs including lung, liver, kidney, intestine as well on peritoneum and mesentery. Culture of acid-fast bacilli from lesions led to a diagnosis of tuberculosis due to M. bovis. The use of intradermal skin testing proved inefficient and unreliable for ante mortem diagnosis of tuberculosis in alpaca. Infection due to M. bovis should be considered among the differential diagnoses of debilitating diseases in alpaca, particularly those farmed in areas known to be traditional black spots for tuberculosis in cattle.     

Ovariohysterectomy of three vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus)

Three sexually mature female common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) housed at the North Carolina Zoological Park, Asheboro, North Carolina, were selected for surgical ovariohysterectomy. All animals were induced and maintained with isoflurane anesthetic gas. Magnification loop glasses were worn by the surgeon for the procedure. A ventral midline incision was made into the abdominal cavity. Simple micro-ophthalmic surgical packs along with hemoclips were used to perform the ovariohysterectomies. The linea alba and muscular layers were closed using a simple continuous suture pattern with 4-0 polydioxanone suture. The skin was apposed using a horizontal mattress suture pattern with 4-0 polydioxanone suture. Animals recovered with minimal deleterious side effects. Animals were housed together in a recovery chamber and administered meloxicam at 0.2 mg/kg placed in their blood meal once daily for 7 days postoperatively, after which they were returned to their normal enclosures.     

Evaluation of ethyl alcohol for use in a minimally invasive technique for equine proximal interphalangeal joint arthrodesis

Objective: To determine whether intra‐articular 70% ethyl alcohol alone (IAEA) or in combination with 2 percutaneously placed transarticular lag screws (EA‐TLS) would result in arthrodesis of the equine proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint. Study Design: Experimental. Animals: Healthy horses (n=6), aged 1.5–3 years, free of lameness, diagonally paired front and hind PIP joints. Methods: Six milliliters 70% ethyl alcohol was injected into randomly selected diagonally paired front and hind PIP joints. Thirty days later, 2 parallel 5.5 mm cortical screws were inserted in lag fashion across the hind PIP joints and the limbs were cast. Horses were confined for 60 days after surgery before free exercise was permitted. Serial lameness examinations were performed at 1, 6, and 10 months. Radiographs of the PIP joints were obtained before injection with alcohol (front, hind PIP joints), at 6 and 10 months (front PIP joints) and 1, 3, 6, and 10 months (hind PIP joints). At 10 months, horses were euthanatized and gross and histopathologic examination of the treated joints was performed. Results: Horses had variable cartilage thinning (more severe in hind PIP joints) and dorsal bone proliferation. One front and 1 hind PIP joint were fused 10 months after alcohol injection. Conclusions: Ethyl alcohol injected alone or in combination with percutaneously placed transarticular lag screws failed to reliably produce fusion of the PIP joint.     

Conservation of Pattern and Process: Developing an Alternative Paradigm of Rangeland Management

This article examines the question of how well the rangeland management profession has served conservation of patterns and processes that support multiple ecosystem services. We examine the paradigms under which rangeland management operates and argue that our profession developed under the utilitarian paradigm with the primary goals of sustainable forage for livestock production. While optimization of multiple rangeland products and services has always been a consideration, a comprehensive set of principles have not be been developed to advance this concept. We argue that fire and grazing, often viewed as mere tools used for production goals, should rather be viewed as essential ecosystem processes. Rangeland management continues to operate under the utilitarian paradigm appropriate to societal values of the 20th century and by and large has failed to provide management guidance to reverse degradation of several highly valued ecosystem services. We support this argument with evidence that biodiversity has declined on rangelands in the past half century and that much of this decline is due to management goals that favor a narrow suite of species. The full suite of ecosystem services valued by society will only benefit by management for heterogeneity, which implies that there is no one goal for management and that landscape-level planning is crucial. Explicitly incorporating heterogeneity into state-and-transition models is an important advancement not yet achieved by our profession. We present new principles for rangeland management formed on the basis of conservation of pattern and process. While recognizing that many rangelands have significant deviations from historic plant communities and disturbance regimes, we suggest that management for conservation of pattern and process should focus on fire and grazing to the extent possible to promote a shifting mosaic across large landscapes that include patches that are highly variable in the amount of disturbance rather than the current goal of uniform moderate disturbance.     

Time-dependent changes in plasma concentrations of 3-methylindole and blood concentrations of 3-methyleneindolenine-adduct in feedlot cattle

OBJECTIVE: To describe time-dependent changes in plasma concentrations of 3-methylindole (3MI) and blood concentrations of 3-methyleneindolenine (3MEIN)-adduct in feedlot cattle. ANIMALS: 64 yearling steers. PROCEDURES: Steers were assigned to 2 groups (32 steers/group). During the first 8 weeks, blood samples were collected from group 1 before the morning ration was fed, whereas samples from group 2 were collected 2 to 3 hours after the ration was fed. Blood samples were collected from all steers approximately 4 times/wk for 3 weeks and 3 times/wk for the subsequent 5 weeks. Samples were collected at the same time for all steers for an additional 10 weeks. Plasma samples were analyzed for 3MI concentrations. Blood samples collected from cattle in group 2 during the first 8 weeks were analyzed for 3MEIN-adduct concentrations. RESULTS: Mean blood concentration of 3MEIN-adduct increased to a maximum value on day 33 (0.80 U/microg of protein) and then decreased to a minimum on day 54 0.40 U/microg of protein). Plasma 3MI concentrations initially decreased and remained low until after day 54. Group-1 cattle had lower plasma 3MI concentrations, compared with concentrations for group-2 cattle. Blood 3MEIN-adduct concentrations and plasma 3MI concentrations were not associated with deleterious effects on weight gains. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Blood 3MEIN-adduct concentrations peaked during the period of greatest risk for development of bovine respiratory disease complex. Conversely, plasma 3MI concentrations decreased during the same period. Animal-to-animal variation in metabolic capacity to convert 3MI to 3MEIN may be of more importance than differences in plasma 3MI concentration.     

Cutaneous metastases of a mammary carcinoma in a llama

An 8-year-old, female llama was evaluated for nonhealing, ulcerative, cutaneous lesions, which also involved the mammary gland. Biopsies of the lesions distant from and within the mammary gland area revealed an aggressive carcinoma. The tumor was confirmed at necropsy to be a mammary gland adenocarcinoma with cutaneous metastasis.     

Experimental infection of Attwater's/greater prairie chicken hybrids with the reticuloendotheliosis virus

Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV), a common pathogen of poultry, has been associated with runting and neoplasia in an endangered subspecies of grouse, the Attwater's prairie chicken. The pathogenesis of REV infection was examined in experimentally infected prairie chickens. Three groups of four Attwater's/greater prairie chicken hybrids were infected intravenously with varying doses (tissue culture infective dose [TCID50], 200, 1000, and 5000) of a prairie chicken-isolated REV. A fourth group of four birds was not infected. Blood was collected prior to infection, and at various times up to 37 wk following infection. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were examined for integrated proviral DNA by a single-amplification polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and nested PCR of a region within the pol gene. The nested PCR identified REV proviral DNA in all REV-inoculated birds by 2 wk postinfection and confirmed chronic infection throughout the study. With the exception of a bird that died from bacterial pneumonia 8 wk postinfection, neoplasia, resembling that seen in naturally occurring infections, was observed in all birds, even those receiving as little as 200 TCID50 of virus.     

Abdominal aortic aneurysm associated with systemic fungal infection in a German shepherd dog

A 2 yr old spayed female German shepherd presented with a chief complaint of acute onset paraparesis and weight loss. At presentation, the dog was pyrexic, nonambulatory, and had generalized muscle wasting. Neurolocalization was consistent with a thoracolumbar spinal cord lesion. An abdominal ultrasound was performed and revealed a focal dilation (4 cm) of the terminal aorta with evidence of blood stasis consistent with an aortic aneurysm. The dog was euthanized shortly after admission to the hospital and a post mortem examination was performed. Fungal organisms were identified in the aortic aneurysm as well as from the thoracic vertebrae, mesenteric lymph nodes, axillary lymph nodes, spleen, kidneys, liver, lungs, and heart. Although the morphology was consistent with Candida spp., immunohistochemistry and PCR could not definitively identify the causative organism. Mycotic aortic aneurysms are a rare finding in humans and have not been previously reported in the dog. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first known report of an aortic aneurysm associated with systemic fungal infection in a dog.