Cowpox virus infection associated with a streptococcal septicaemia in a foal.

Cowpox virus infection associated with a streptococcal septicaemia was diagnosed in a weak German Warmblood filly, born 29 days prematurely, and humanely destroyed on the sixth day of life. At necropsy, ulcerative lesions in the alimentary tract, colitis, polyarthritis and nephritis were observed. Transmission electron microscopical examination of specimens from ulcerative lesions revealed typical orthopox virions. Cowpox virus was unequivocally identified by virological and molecular-biological methods.

[Uncommon mycobacterial infections in domestic and zoo animals: four cases with special emphasis on pathology]. / Ungewöhnliche Mykobakterien-Infektionen bei Haus- und Zootieren: eine Kasuistik unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Pathologie.

Infections caused by classical tubercle bacilli are rare during the last years. Nevertheless, diseases caused by other mycobacteria have to be considered clinically and in diagnostic pathology especially in cases of immunosuppression and due to their potential zoonosis risk. An infection by mycobacteria was diagnosed in four animals (Mayotte Maki, Blue-headed Parrot, Patagonian sealion, Beagle) necropsied between 1995 and 2002 in the Institute of Veterinary-Pathology of the University of Leipzig. The Maki, the blue-headed parrot and the dog showed a disseminated character of the disease caused by Mycobacterium genavense (monkey and bird) resp. Mycobacterium avium (dog), while an open chronical tuberculosis of the lungs due to a pathogenic member of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was observed in the seal. All these bacteria are potential causes of zoonoses. So, if granulomatous or disseminated histiocytic alterations are detected in diagnostic pathology, mycobacterial infections should always be included in differential diagnoses and require careful aetiological investigations by histopathological and bacteriological methods.

Hyperphosphorylated protein tau is restricted to neurons devoid of perineuronal nets in the cortex of aged bison.

Hyperphosphorylated tau in the cortex and hippocampal formation of two aged bisons was characterized by its immunoreactivity to the phospho-epitope-recognizing monoclonal antibodies AT8, AT100, PHF-1 and TG-3. Gallyas silver staining revealed sparsely scattered cortical tangles and neuropil threads. In dual-peroxidase staining experiments, the immunocytochemical detection of vulnerable neurons was combined with the demonstration of chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan-rich perineuronal nets of the extracellular matrix. Such polyanionic lattice-like neuronal coatings were revealed lectin- and immunocytochemically. Hyperphosphorylated tau was exclusively observed in neurons devoid of perineuronal nets. The present findings in the aged bison parallel previously obtained results from a quantitative study of human brains affected by Alzheimer's disease. In conclusion, the low susceptibility of different types of neurons to the abnormal phosphorylation of tau corresponds to high proportions of certain chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans in their microenvironment.

Abnormally phosphorylated protein tau in the cortex of aged individuals of various mammalian orders.

Aged individuals of mammalian species displaying hyperphosphorylated tau protein may be suitable natural models for investigating neurodegenerative alterations occurring, for example, in Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, autoptic tissue from the entorhinal, motor and prefrontal cortices of 14 mammalian species was screened using the monoclonal antibody AT8, which is directed against a phosphorylated epitope of human tau and applicable to the tissues of aged domestic animals, as shown in previous studies. AT8-immunoreactive neuronal processes and perikarya were revealed in Campbell's guenon, rhesus monkey, baboon, rabbit, spectacled bear, guanaco, reindeer and bison. Signs for considerable neuropathological alterations in aged bisons also included neuropil threads, whereas AT8 immunoreactivity in the other species was only sparsely scattered. Hyperphosphorylated tau in the brain of an 28-year-old rhesus monkey was also detected by AT100, PHF-1 and TG-3 antibodies, but only in the hippocampal formation and entorhinal cortex, which are known as starting point for tangle spreading in the cortex of Alzheimer patients.

Case report. A disseminated infection due to Chrysosporium queenslandicum in a garter snake (Thamnophis)

A male garter snake (Thamnophis) from a private terrarium was spontaneously and simultaneously infected with Chrysosporium queenslandicum and Geotrichum candidum. The autopsy revealed disseminated mycotic alterations in skin, lungs and liver. Chrysosporium queenslandicum grew well at 28 degrees C, the optimal temperature of the animal. This is the first description of a Chrysosporium queenslandicum infection in a garter snake.

[Psoriasis in a female chimpanzee]. / Psoriasis bei einem Schimpansenweibchen.

Psoriasis, a widespread genodermatosis in Homo sapiens, also appears in primates. We report on a female chimpanzee in Leipzig Zoo. After years of captivity the animal developed erythematosquamous, highly hyperkeratotic, lesions, some confluent, on the knees, elbows, back of the hands and feet and on the forearms and the seat, which showed histologically characteristic features of psoriasis. It may be that both previous infections and psychic stress resulting from social isolation had caused eruption of the disease. In the literature single cases of psoriasiform dermatoses have also been described in other species of monkeys and even in a springer spaniel. Nonetheless, the search for an animal model of psoriasis vulgaris is still going on.

[Fascioliasis in moufflons]. / Zur Fasziolose beim Muffelwild.

Subacute fascioliasis was diagnosed by pathomorphological and parasitological investigations on 13 dead moufflons (Ovis ammon musimon) from a herd of 21 animals (mortality 62%) which had succumbed between January and April 1988. The flock had been kept on meadow in the so-called Leipziger Auenwald. The main findings like severe hepatitis traumatica fasciolosa, fibrinous and fibrous perihepatitis, chronic interstitial hepatitis (pseudocirrhosis), cholangitis fasciolosa (X 13), wasting (X 8), heart dilatation (X 10), lung oedema (X 12), anemia (X 5), ascites (X 3), gut oedema (X 3) and occasionally observed lesions are described in detail and discussed with regard to diagnosis and pathogenicity. Beside severe infection with Fasciola hepatica (juvenile and adult flukes) the parasitological investigation demonstrated, in some cases, various additional but unimportant infections with protostrongylids, gastro-intestinal nematodes, coccidia (X 2) and Moniezia expansa (X 1). The analysis of meteorological data (January 1987 till March 1988) established optimal conditions for F. hepatica development stages and Galba truncatula so that high multiplication and infection rates of the snails and long surviving of metacercariae must be assumed.

[Circulating tissue antigens in inflammatory heart disease]. / Untersuchungen über zirkulierende Gewebsantigene bei entzündlichen Herzerkrankungen.

Experiments with an antipericardium immune serum of the goat resulted in the proof of two not identical with serum proteins antigens in the pericardium. By means of the same antiserum with the help of the gel diffusion technique after Ouchterlony and immunoelectrophoresis the sera of patients with carditis or myocardial infarction, respectively, were examined for the presence of circulating tissue antigens. In 20 out of 23 patients with carditis 1 or 2 antigens were found which were not identical with normal serum proteins. In 27 cases of myocardial infarction their proof was successful only in 4 patients, in complication by a post-myocardial infarction syndrome in 2 out of 3 cases. In comparative investigations of sera of 100 healthy persons only 4 test persons showed a positive result. There was no clue for the identity of one of the antigens proved with C-reactive protein.