Salmonella typhimurium DT104 septicaemia with meningitis in neonatal piglets.

Clinical salmonellosis in pigs in the Netherlands usually manifests itself as diarrhoea. In finishing pigs this is sometimes accompanied by peracute mortality, mainly in the last month of the finishing period. This is the first report describing Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 infection of 1-week-old suckling piglets in the Netherlands.

[Agamma-, hypogamma- and hypergammaglobulinemia. The significance of the 'relative immune status' for the young calf].

Calves affected with hypergammaglobulinaemia are more likely to survive than are those with agamma- or hypogammaglobulinaemia. Nevertheless, there are farms on which satisfactory results are obtained in rearing calves with low Ig levels. Management conditions, including the presence of specific or non-specific, bacterial or viral infections, are important factors in these cases.

[Absorption of colostral immunoglobulins].

The small intestine is regarded as the site of absorption by the majority of investigators. The high pH level of the abomasum in newborn calves prevents proteolytic digestion of immune globulins. The results of studies are not unanimous in their answers to the question whether absorption is or is not selective.

[Colostrum production and colostrum quality].

The IgG1 which is transferred to the udders by an active process of maternal serum at the close of the dry period, constitutes by far the largest fraction in the colostrum. The majority of investigators believe IgA and IgM (and IgG 1 to a less extent) to be mainly synthesised in the udders; the literature is not unanimous as to the extent to which there also is a selective transport of serum to the udders. Increasing attention is particularly being paid in recent years to nutritional immunity which does not only stimulate the immunological response but also affords protection prior to the appearance of the immune response.

[Developments in veterinary medicine and possible impact on veterinary practice and education].

What are the recent developments in the various fields of the veterinary profession and which adjustments in veterinary medicine are required for successful anticipation to these new conditions? Efforts are made to answer these questions from the point of view of each of the authors' professional disciplines. The authors all specialised in different fields of veterinary medicine. The present paper is a summary of each of the authors' editorial contributions on this subject as published in Fakulteitsnieuws (magazine of the Utrecht Faculty of Veterinary Medicine) in 1984 and 1985.