Diagnosis of equine stifle joint disorders: three cases

The clinical, radiographic, arthrographic, arthroscopic, and pathological findings of three horses with femorotibial joint injuries are presented. Overall diagnostic accuracy is improved when clinical signs, arthrography, and arthroscopy are combined. Treatment of these injuries remains limited. One horse was euthanized, and two were treated by stall rest after diagnosis. Of the two surviving horses, one became a successful breeding animal, and the other was unable to perform as a pleasure horse.     

Clearance of ovine isolates of Bordetella parapertussis from murine trachea and lungs

Thirty-six mice were inoculated intranasally with Bordetella parapertussis organisms (isolated from sheep with chronic non-progressive pneumonia) to study their deposition and clearance in the lower respiratory tract. The deposition of the organism was greater in the trachea than in the lungs. At 48 hours after inoculation, almost 100% of organisms were cleared from the trachea but only 55% of organisms were cleared from the lungs. This result correlates well with the morphological changes seen previously in the pulmonary parenchyma and airways of mice and lambs experimentally infected with this organism.     

Chronic malignant catarrhal fever: a case in a sika deer (Cervus nippon)

A condition resembling chronic malignant catarrhal fever was seen in a 9-month-old pet sika hind (Cervus nippon). From an initial acute depression, pyrexia, and anorexia, the condition progressed to include hypopyon, keratitis, lethargy, loss of condition, sloughing of one hoof and eventually death after seven weeks. There were multiple, 5 to 8mm diameter dark-red nodules throughout the mesenteries and mediastinum, along abdominal organ ligaments, and about the uterus and kidneys. Histopathology showed the nodules to be organising vascular thrombi. Concurrent perivascular mononuclear infiltrations and intravascular thrombi in many tissues confirmed that the condition was malignant catarrhal fever.