The emergence of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in eastern Australia in 2022 caused extensive reproductive disease in pigs and is a threat to public health. Groups of weaned piglets were experimentally infected with the Australian outbreak strain of JEV (genotype 4). All pigs challenged at 5 weeks of age were infected after an intradermal injection of 1 × 10 ( = 4) or 1 × 10 TCID/pig ( = 5).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLissencephaly and cerebellar hypoplasia (LCH) represents a spectrum of congenital developmental malformations of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum, mostly occurring as inherited conditions caused by variants in an increasingly recognized number of genes. LCH has been identified in three Dorset-cross lambs with congenital neurological signs in Australia. Lambs were unable to walk and had reduced vision, and one lamb developed a hypermetric gait and intention tremors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a common gastrointestinal inhabitant of livestock but infections can manifest in a broad array of clinical presentations and in a range of host species. While is a known cause of ovine abortion, clinical cases have only recently been described in detail. Here, the prevalence and sequence types (STs) of in ewes from a property experiencing high levels of perinatal mortality (PNM) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were investigated using serological and molecular methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic intoxication with tryptamine-alkaloid-rich species (spp.) pasture plants is known colloquially as staggers syndrome, a widely occurring neurological disorder of sheep, cattle, horses, and kangaroos. Of comparative interest, structurally analogous tryptamine-alkaloids cause experimental parkinsonism in primates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAluminum (Al) hydroxide is an effective adjuvant used in sheep vaccines. However, Al-adjuvants have been implicated as potential contributors to a severe wasting syndrome in sheep-the so-called ovine autoimmune-inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA syndrome). This work aimed to characterize the effects of the repetitive injection of Al-hydroxide containing products in lambs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLesions caused by trombiculid mite larvae ('chiggers') in birds have been inadequately described. A juvenile red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) presented with multifocal, crater-like lesions of necrotizing dermatitis, which often contained multiple orange mites. Microscopically, there was a nodular necrotizing and pyogranulomatous dermatitis with occasional intralesional arthropods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite previous detection of in sporadic ovine abortions, published descriptions of naturally occurring infections with fetoplacental lesions are lacking. This report provides the first descriptions of severe necrosuppurative chorionitis with vasculitis, and fetal pyelonephritis and enteritis in late-term abortions of maiden ewes. Chlamydial infection was detected using a genus-specific qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) on tissue extracts from 3 fetuses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEncephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) infection was detected by real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) in four adult alpacas (Vicugna pacos) from two properties on the Far North Coast of New South Wales (NSW) in April and May 2018 and in two adult alpacas from a third property on the Central Coast of NSW in October 2018. Viral RNA was detected in a range of samples, including blood, fresh body organs and mucosal swabs. EMCV was isolated from the blood and body organs of five of these alpacas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 20-year-old male brown bear (Ursus arctos) with a 20 × 25 cm necrotic mass adjacent to the trachea was diagnosed as having an anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Metastases were observed in the lungs and one adrenal gland and, histologically, these had anaplastic and follicular carcinoma patterns, respectively. E-cadherin labelling was observed in the adrenal mass only, while N-cadherin immunolabelling was detected in the thyroid gland and lung masses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSheep health management strategies often include the use of aluminum (Al)-containing vaccines. These products were associated with the appearance of the ovine autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA syndrome), which included an array of ethological changes in the affected animals. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate cognitive and behavioral changes in sheep subjected to a protocol of repetitive inoculation with Al-containing products.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe pathogenesis of synucleinopathies, common neuropathological lesions normally associated with some human neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and multiple system atrophy, remains poorly understood. In animals, ingestion of the tryptamine-alkaloid-rich phalaris pastures plants causes a disorder called Phalaris staggers, a neurological syndrome reported in kangaroos. The aim of the study was to characterise the clinical and neuropathological changes associated with spontaneous cases of Phalaris staggers in kangaroos.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of vaccines has proven to be very effective in controlling and eradicating infectious diseases, both in veterinary and human medicine; however, vaccines can be also the source of an array of problems caused by procedures such as overimmunization. Bluetongue, an orbiviral disease that affects ruminants, is best controlled by the use of inactivated vaccines. During the last years of the past decade, these vaccines were applied all over Europe to control the spreading of the disease, a goal that was accomplished; however, at the same time, several adverse effects related to the vaccination were reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of vaccines including aluminum (Al)-based adjuvants is widespread among small ruminants and other animals. They are associated with the appearance of transient injection site nodules corresponding to granulomas. This study aims to characterize the morphology of these granulomas, to understand the role of the Al adjuvant in their genesis, and to establish the presence of the metal in regional lymph nodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 1-month-old Purebred Spanish Horse (PSH) foal presented with progressive hepatic failure culminating in death. Hepatic lesions were consistent with congenital hepatic fibrosis (CHF). Genetic studies in the PKHD1 gene in the affected foal revealed that it was heterozygous for the 2 previously described single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to CHF in Swiss Franches-Montagnes (SFM) horses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfection of orthopedic devices is a major complication in the postsurgical period generating important health issues and economic consequences. Prevention strategies could be based on local release of antibiotics from the orthopedic device itself to avoid adhesion and growth of bacteria. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the efficiency to prevent these infections by a cefazolin-eluting, perforated stainless steel implant in an in vivo ovine model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this work was to comparatively study the tissue tropism and the associated pathology of 2 autochthonous small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) field strains using an experimental infection in sheep through the bone marrow. Fifteen male, SRLV-free lambs of the Rasa Aragonesa breed were inoculated with strain 697 (nervous tissue origin, animals A1-A6), with strain 496 (articular origin, animals B1-B6), or with uninfected culture medium (C1-C3). Clinical, serologic, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) evaluations were performed periodically.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new device for local delivery of antibiotics is presented, with potential use as a drug-eluting fixation pin for orthopedic applications. The implant consists of a stainless steel hollow tubular reservoir packed with the desired antibiotic. Release takes place through several orifices previously drilled in the reservoir wall, a process that does not compromise the mechanical properties required for the implant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe major challenges in diagnosing small ruminant lentivirus (SRLV) infection include early detection and genotyping of strains of epidemiological interest. A longitudinal study was carried out in Rasa Aragonesa sheep experimentally infected with viral strains of genotypes A or B from Spanish neurological and arthritic SRLV outbreaks, respectively. Sera were tested with two commercial ELISAs, three based on specific peptides and a novel combined peptide ELISA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraumatology and orthopedic surgery can benefit from the use of efficient local antibiotic-eluting systems to avoid bacterial contamination of implanted materials. In this work a new percutaneous porous-wall hollow implant was successfully used as a local antibiotic-eluting device both in vitro and in vivo. The implant is a macroporous 316 L stainless steel filter tube with a nominal filtration cut-off size of 200 nm with one open end which was used to load the synthetic antibiotic linezolid and an opposite blind end.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe a form of the autoimmune/autoinflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA syndrome) in commercial sheep, linked to the repetitive inoculation of aluminum-containing adjuvants through vaccination. The syndrome shows an acute phase that affects less than 0.5% of animals in a given herd, it appears 2-6 days after an adjuvant-containing inoculation and it is characterized by an acute neurological episode with low response to external stimuli and acute meningoencephalitis, most animals apparently recovering afterward.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAvian salmonellosis is a disease caused by bacteria of the genus Salmonella that can cause three distinct diseases in birds: pullorum diseases, fowl typhoid, and paratyphoid infection. Various wildlife species are susceptible to infections by Salmonella, regardless of whether they live in captivity or freely in the wild. The present study verified the presence of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis in three captive specimens of Amazona aestiva.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE-2) appear to play a critical role in tumour neovascularization. In this study, we have investigated the expression of VEGF and PGE-2 in 53 canine cutaneous mast cell tumours (MCTs). Immunohistochemistry of tissue sections revealed that VEGF and PGE-2 were expressed in all mast cell tumours studied.
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