Association between endometritis and urocystitis in culled sows

Slaughterhouse sampling and examination of urogenital tracts of 499 sows and gilts culled for reproductive reasons from 21 Hungarian herds were performed over a 6-year period. The aim was to estimate the prevalence of different urogenital tract lesions, and to provide sensitivity and specificity estimates for macroscopic and bacteriological examinations in the diagnosis of urocystitis and endometritis. Furthermore, the association between endometritis and urocystitis was assessed. The prevalence of main lesions of the urogenital tract was similar to that reported in other studies. The 'sensitivity' of macroscopic and bacteriological methods was determined statistically by taking histopathology as the 'Gold Standard'. As a result, the 'sensitivity' of macroscopic methods for the diagnosis of endometritis and urocystitis was < or = 18.1% and 47.9%, respectively, while the 'sensitivity' of bacteriology for the diagnosis of the same conditions was < or = 31.8% and 63.0%, respectively. The presumed positive association between urocystitis and endometritis was confirmed; it was not confounded by parity. Animals affected by urocystitis had a 3.5 times higher odds to simultaneously have endometritis than animals without urocystitis.     

A retrospective study of non-suppurative encephalitis in beef cattle from western Canada

Non-suppurative encephalitis occurs sporadically in beef cattle in western Canada, leading to loss of animals. This retrospective study investigated the presence of viral, bacterial, and protozoal antigens or DNA in 37 western Canadian feedlot cattle with non-suppurative encephalitis for which a cause had not been identified. Cases were selected based on the age of the animal (> 7 months), and clinical history of recumbency and depression. The identification of rabies in 1 case stresses the importance of including this viral disease in the list of differential diagnoses. Because there was variation in the severity, distribution, and type of lesions, it is possible that there may be more than 1 cause, but failure to identify an infectious agent might also suggest that non-infectious agents could play a role.     

Identification and Characterisation of Bacteria Causing Soft-rot in Agave tequilana

Agave tequilana is the raw material for the production of the alcoholic beverage tequila. A bacterial disease has affected the A. tequilana crop in recent years. Previous reports based on colony and cell morphology, Gram stain and potato rot indicated that Erwinia sp. is the main pathogen. We isolated a several bacterial isolates capable of producing soft-rot symptoms in greenhouse pathogenicity assays. An extensive characterisation involving pathogenicity tests, fatty acid profile, metabolic and physiological properties, ribosomal DNA sequence and intergenic transcribed spacer amplification (ITS-PCR) and restriction banding pattern (ITS-RFLP) was made of each isolate. Three different species: Erwinia cacticida, Pantoea agglomerans and Pseudomonas sp. were identified. Fatty acid and metabolic profiles gave low similarity values of identification but 16S rDNA sequence, ITS-PCR and ITS-RFLP confirmed the identification of E. cacticida. In the phylogenetic tree, E. cacticida from blue agave was grouped neither with E. cacticida type strains nor with Erwinia carotovora. This is the first report that associates E. cacticida with A. tequilana soft-rot symptoms.     

Soybean cultivar performance in the presence of soybean Asian rust,in relation to chemical control programs

Soybean rust is caused by an obligate parasite (Phakopsora pachyrhizi) which has spread in Brazil in each new season since 2001 and, despite the efforts to control the disease, losses have occurred every year. Its control demands several tactics amongst which chemical control with fungicides is the main method and remains indispensable. Control strategies such as the use of cultivars with partial resistance are desirable, but are not yet commercially available. The present study analyzed the existing differences in the reactions of short, medium and long cycle soybean cultivars against Asian rust and their responses to fungicide sprays. The experiment was conducted at Uberlandia-MG, Brazil, under field conditions from December 2007 to May 2008, in the Syngenta Seeds Experimental Station. The high pressure of the disease in the experiment simulated the natural pressure that the disease often reaches in Brazil. The studied variables were: visual severity (percentage of infected leaf area), percentage defoliation and productivity (kg ha⁻¹). Disease severity was expressed as AUDPC (area under disease progress curve). Variance analysis and comparison of means by the Tukey test (5% significance) were done for all variables studied. Significant differences were observed between cultivar effects and chemical control programs. The results obtained here indicate that the cultivars M-Soy 8199RR and Emgopa 315RR were less susceptible to disease, and that a control program termed “monitoring” (in which the appearance of new pustules of the pathogen were monitored to make the decision at each fungicide spray) was the most effective.     

Report of the 3rd Havemeyer workshop on allergic diseases of the Horse, Hólar, Iceland, June 2007

Allergic diseases occur in most mammals, although some species such as humans, dogs and horses seem to be more prone to develop allergies than others. In horses, insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), an allergic dermatitis caused by bites of midges, and recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), a hyperreactivity to stable born dust and allergens, are the two most prevalent allergic diseases. Allergic diseases involve the interaction of three major factors: (i) genetic constitution, (ii) exposure to allergens, and (iii) a dysregulation of the immune response determined by (i) and (ii). However, other environmental factors such as infectious diseases, contact with endotoxin and degree of infestation with endoparasites have been shown to influence the prevalence of allergic diseases in humans. How these factors may impact upon allergic disease in the horse is unknown at this time. The 3rd workshop on Allergic Diseases of the Horse, with major sponsorship from the Havemeyer Foundation, was held in Hólar, Iceland, in June 2007 and focussed on immunological and genetic aspects of IBH and RAO. This particular venue was chosen because of the prevalence of IBH in exported Icelandic horses. The incidence of IBH is significantly different between Icelandic horses born in Europe or North America and those born in Iceland and exported as adults. Although the genetic factors and allergens are the same, exported adult horses show a greater incidence of IBH. This suggests that environmental or epigenetic factors may contribute to this response. This report summarizes the present state of knowledge and summarizes important issues discussed at the workshop.     

Fluorangiographic study of the ocular fundus in normal horses

Purpose:  To describe the protocol and appearance of fluorescein angiography (FA) in normal horses.
Animals:  A total of 25 healthy horses aged between 5 and 15 years.
Materials and Methods:  The horses were sedated with 15 µg/kg detomidine and 50 µg/kg butorphanol and dilated with topical tropicamide 1%. All angiograms were recorded after intravenous bolus injection of 10 mg/kg of fluorescein sodium solution.
Results:  Two successive angiographic phases could be discerned: the choriopapillary phase, starting at 46.95 ± 9.48 s, and the retinal vascular phase, starting at 47.79 ± 10.38 s. The retinal vascular phase was divided in three parts: filling phase , maximum fluorescence point , and fading phase . During the filling phase, the dye progressed into the retinal vessels, obtaining maximum fluorescence at 59.79 ± 10.39 s, termed the maximum fluorescence point. The fading phase started immediately following the maximum fluorescence point. During this phase, vascular fluorescence decreased to complete reduction at 74.76 ± 9.81 s. Also, areas of delayed choroidal filling, the presence of short retinal vessels in the ventral region of the optic disc, and a particular filling of the optic disc were also observed.
Conclusions:  The normal angiographic sequence was described in horses. FA may be a useful method for studying the integrity of the blood–retinal barriers in horses.     

Pathogenicity of Eimeria praecox alone or associated with Eimeria acervulina in experimentally infected broiler chickens

Eimeria praecox and Eimeria acervulina are two species of coccidia parasites infecting chickens, which develop in the duodenum. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pathogenicity of E. praecox and to study interactions of this coccidium with E. acervulina. The results showed that the pathogenicity of E. praecox was related to the infective dose, and that its impact on individual weight and weight gain was significant from the lowest administered dose: 5000 oocysts per bird. No morbidity was observed, even with the highest infective dose, but faecal consistency alteration was higher with increasing infective doses. No consistent lesion was observed. When E. praecox was associated with E. acervulina with a low infective dose, performance deterioration seemed to be an additional effect of the two species. However, in the case of heavy infections, signs worsened along with duration of negative impact on growth, compared to a mono-infection.