Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Slovakian wildlife.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of infectious enteritis called paratuberculosis that has a high economic impact on the worldwide livestock production. A central important question arises: Can wildlife animals serve as a reservoir for transmission of MAP to domestic ruminants? With this in mind, we devised a study to detect MAP in various Slovakian wildlife species found in the areas where paratuberculosis had been documented in domestic ruminants. The samples of parenchymatous organs (intestines, ileocecal valve and mesenteric lymphatic nodes) from 83 wildlife animals representing 13 species, inclu- ding 7 herbivorous, 5 carnivorous and 1 omnivorous species were collected during a four-year period. The clinical and pathological examinations failed to demonstrate any manifestations of paratuberculosis in any of the wildlife samples. The detection of MAP was done by widely used tests, i.e. cultivation and the PCR analysis. The bacterial cultures revealed the growth of Mycobacterium spp. colonies in 58 (70%) of all of the wild animals, but the PCR testing demonstrated paratuberculosis only in one (7.69%) of the roe deer population.

Occurrence of Cryptosporidium in the water basins of nitra region, slovakia.

Cryptosporidium species C. parvum and C. hominis are a common cause of human diarrheal infections worldwide. In this study we attempted to detect these parasites in fish ponds and a water reservoirs in the Nitra region of Slovakia. We identified C. parvum genotype IIaA15G1R1 and genotype IIaA16G1R1 and C. hominis genotype IeA11G3T3 in these locations. Occurrence of the same genotype of C. hominis in two different locations indicates that this parasite is most likely present in the river that connects them. These results indicate a serious threat to public health of humans since these locations are used for fishing and for recreational activities.

Effect of ovariohysterectomy on canine postsurgical leukocyte function.

The effect of surgery on phagocytic activity of blood leukocytes and mitogen-induced blastogenesis of lymphocytes was studied in fourteen dogs. Simple ovariohysterectomy with anaesthesia induced by ketamine and xylazine or by ketamine, xylazine and halothane caused a short nonsignificant depression of phagocytic activity that persisted for four hours after surgery. Ingestion capacity of leukocytes decreased significantly immediately after surgery. Mitogen-induced blastogenesis of lymphocytes was depressed significantly in the first 48 hours and despite partial recovery this parameter did not reach the value of the control groups until the end of observation (7 days). A more conspicuous decrease of blastogenic response of blood lymphocytes to mitogens was found after the use of ketamine and xylazine in a dose maintaining anaesthesia. Anaesthesia with ketamine and xylazine in the lower dose and maintained with halothane resulted in a later improvement of the blastogenic response of lymphocytes.