Snake bites recorded by veterinary practices in Australia

Objective To determine the extent of the snake bite problem in domestic animals, its regional significance and the effects of antivenom treatment.
Design A questionnaire was designed seeking information on the number and type of domestic animals referred, whether treated or untreated, type of snakes and management of the bite.
Procedure The survey form was sent to 10% of veterinary surgeons, selected at random throughout Australia.
Results The response of 106 veterinary surgeons revealed that snake bite in domestic animals is frequent, with an estimated 6200 cases reported annually. Bites were more prominent in rural (78%) than urban areas (22%) with brown, tiger and black snakes accounting for 76%, 13% and 6% of cases, respectively. Cats and dogs were the most frequently reported victims. Ninety-one percent of cats and 75% of dogs survived following the administration of antivenom whereas 66% of cats and 31% of dogs survived without antivenom. Overall, in 33% of cases antivenom was not used, and venom detection kits were used in only 1% of cases. A number of drugs were used in various combinations with or without antivenom and intravenous fluids in the treatment of animals with snake bite, but their role in reducing the severity of envenomations was not assessed.
Clinical implications Antivenom significantly improves the chances of survival of domestic animals bitten by snakes.     

Impact of foot-and-mouth disease on mastitis and culling on a large-scale dairy farm in Kenya

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly transmissible viral infection of cloven hooved animals associated with severe economic losses when introduced into FMD-free countries. Information on the impact of the disease in FMDV-endemic countries is poorly characterised yet essential for the prioritisation of scarce resources for disease control programmes. A FMD (virus serotype SAT2) outbreak on a large-scale dairy farm in Nakuru County, Kenya provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact of FMD on clinical mastitis and culling rate. A cohort approach followed animals over a 12-month period after the commencement of the outbreak. For culling, all animals were included; for mastitis, those over 18 months of age. FMD was recorded in 400/644 cattle over a 29-day period. During the follow-up period 76 animals were culled or died whilst in the over 18 month old cohort 63 developed clinical mastitis. Hazard ratios (HR) were generated using Cox regression accounting for non-proportional hazards by inclusion of time-varying effects. Univariable analysis showed FMD cases were culled sooner but there was no effect on clinical mastitis. After adjusting for possible confounders and inclusion of time-varying effects there was weak evidence to support an effect of FMD on culling (HR = 1.7, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.88-3.1, P = 0.12). For mastitis, there was stronger evidence of an increased rate in the first month after the onset of the outbreak (HR = 2.9, 95%CI 0.97-8.9, P = 0.057).

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13567-015-0173-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Evaluation of the effect of ketoprofen on experimentally induced ephemeral fever in dairy heifers

Objective To evaluate ketoprofen for the therapy of ephemeral fever.
Design A blind controlled clinical trial.
Animals Sixteen cattle (one immature Holstein bull, eight Holstein and seven Jersey heifers).
Procedure Ephemeral fever was induced by the intravenous injection of blood leucocyte layer from a clinical case. Ketoprofen solution or a coded placebo was injected intramuscularly at the rate of 3 mg/kg daily for three days.
Results Ketoprofen reversed locomotor dysfunctions significantly compared with controls, but did not have any effect on rectal temperatures, leucocyte counts, plasma fibrinogen concentrations, ionised Ca-concentrations or the presence of dyspnoea.
Conclusion Ketoprofen is a safe and effective drug for the treatment of locomotor symptoms of milk fever, but has no effect on the duration of clinical respiratory abnormalities.     

Hf-W Isotopic Evidence for Rapid Accretion and Differentiation in the Early Solar System

The time scales over which inner solar system objects accreted and differentiated are unclear because the isotopic systems of many meteorites are disturbed. 182Hf decays to 182W with a half-life of 9 million years and is a particularly useful chronometer because both elements are highly refractory and immobile. Tungsten isotopic data for IIA, IIIA, IVA, and anomalous iron meteorites and H, L, and LL chondrites indicate that their parent bodies accreted rapidly and segregated metal within just a few million years.     

Failure to turn eggs during incubation: effects on embryo weight, development of the chorioallantois and absorption of albumen

Turning eggs during incubation is essential for good hatchability. In the present paper additional effects on the development of the chorioallantois, absorption of albumen and growth of the embryo are recorded. The ability of an unturned egg to hatch was not affected by egg weight, egg shell porosity or water loss during incubation. The ability of the chorioallantois to spread around the inner surface of the inner shell membrane and the degree of absorption of the residual albumen affected the growth of the embryo and its ability to hatch. Unturned eggs hatched later than eggs which were turned throughout incubation.     

Yolk sac, body dimensions and hatchling quality of ducklings, chicks and poults

1. One-day-old chicks of Pekin duck, turkey, layer fowl and broiler fowl were examined for bacteria in the yolk sac and yolk fluid. 2. Whole hatchling, yolk-free hatchling and yolk sac weights were recorded for all species along with crown-rump length and beak-tip to toe-tip length. 3. Bacteriology revealed positive results for the whole yolk sacs of 43 to 64% of the birds in the sample of ducklings, poults and layer chicks. Broiler chicks had a 6.6% incidence of bacteria isolated from the whole yolk sac. By contrast, there were very few positive results from swabs of yolk fluid for any of the bird types. 4. The presence of bacteria in the yolk sac of hatchlings suggests that there is colonisation, rather than infection, of the yolk sac membrane during the hatching period or the first few hours post-hatching. Isolation of bacteria from the yolk sacs of young chicks might no longer be considered as solely indicative of yolk sac infection but further research is required to confirm this result. 5. Contrary to what is being suggested in commercial practice relationships between linear dimensions and hatchling weight suggest that measurement of chick length is at best a very crude measure of chick quality.