Kikuyu grass poisoning of cattle in Natal.

The clinical findings in six natural and two experimental cases of Kikuyu grass poisoning in Natal, South Africa, are described and compared with findings in cases of toxicity reported elsewhere. The toxic factor has not been identified but a mycotoxin is suspected.

An outbreak of white muscle disease in lambs born of ewes on a zero grazing system in Natal.

White muscle disease appeared in lambs born of ewes in the zero grazing group during the course of a comparative fertility trial on ewes on various systems of husbandry. Analysis of the feed showed barely adequate selenium in the maize silage and a deficiency in the soil on which the high lysine maize was grown. Treatment of the lambs with a selenium/vitamin E injection rapidly controlled the condition. This deficiency may be more widespread than is presently realised.

A successful herd mastitis control scheme in Natal.

Somatic cell counting combined with bacterial identification was successfully used as a method of reducing dairy-herd mastitis problems in Nata. Application of the recommended control measures resulted in an average increase in daily production of up to 2,8 l of milk per cow per day, improvement in quality and reduction in the prevalence of mastitis.

Laboratory and field control of clinical mastitis in dairy cows around Bulawayo.

The organisms responsible for clinical mastitis in dairly herds around Bulawayo were identified and their antibiotic sensitivity was determined. Streptococci, staphylococci and coliforms were responsible for 37%, 28% and 29,5% of cases respectively. Antibiotic resistance increased over the 3 year period. The high incidence of coliform mastitis is discussed, as is the effect of dry cow therapy on peri-natal mastitis and the nature of the scheme of control. The laboratory is considered an essential adjunct to other control methods.

Intensive care nurse: job tension and satisfaction as a function of experience level.

It has been suggested that experienced ICU nurses are better able to cope with the complexity of their environment and, as a result, achieve greater satisfaction than their less-experienced counterparts. One hundred ten ICU nurses from a large Midwestern medical center were requested to fill out a job tension and job satisfaction questionnaire. The results showed that job tension and job satisfaction remained relatively constant as the number of years on the job increased, refuting the notion that work experience automatically facilitates a mastery of environmental demands. As expected, job tension was inversely related to job satisfaction.