Osteochondrosis associated with copper deficiency in young farmed red deer and wapiti x red deer hybrids.

Osteochondrosis is reported in association with copper deficiency in young red deer and wapiti X red deer hybrids on eight deer farms throughout New Zealand. On two farms, more than 30% of fawns were affected. Affected animals were lame, often had one or more swollen joints, and in some cases had an abnormal "bunny-hopping" gait or "cow-hocked" stance. Lesions were most common in the carpal, tarsal, stifle and hip joints, and were usually bilateral. Defects in articular cartilage ranged from loose flaps to complete separation with exposure of subchondral bone and the presence of cartilage fragments within the joint space. In advanced cases, the joints had features of degenerative arthropathy. Bilateral epiphyseolysis of the femoral head was observed in some severely lame deer. All deer with osteochondrosis had low serum and/or liver copper concentrations.

A pilot study of the effects of mechanical shortening of ewes' incisors (bite correction) on body weight and the development of periodontal disease.

A field trial was set up to determine the effects of mechanical shortening of long incisors (bite correction) of ewes with early periodontal disease on the progress of the disease and on their body weights. On a farm near Te Anau with a high prevalence of periodontal disease in sheep, the body weights of 75 sound mouth ewes and two groups each of 75 ewes with periodontal disease were recorded. At the start of the trial, the incisors of the ewes in one of the groups with periodontal disease were shortened using a grinder. The trial ran for 2 years. The mouths of almost all the sheep which had sound mouths at the start of the trial remained sound throughout. This suggests that on periodontal disease-prone farms it may be possible to select ewes at 3 or 4 years of age which will retain sound mouths throughout much of thei-r productive lives. Throughout the trial, sheep with advanced periodontal disease tended to be lighter than sheep with mild periodontal disease and those in turn tended to be lighter than sheep with sound mouths. Mechanical shortening of the incisors did not alter the proportion which subsequently developed advanced periodontal disease. Seventeen to eighteen percent of ewes in both periodontal disease groups had developed advanced periodontal disease by the end of the trial. There was no significant difference in body weight between the group with shortened incisors and the group with untreated periodontal disease. Consequently, the trial provides no evidence that the mechanical shortening of the incisors of ewes will improve their productivity.

Dentigerous cysts (ovine odontogenic cysts) in sheep.

Dentigerous cysts appear to be reasonably common near the mandibular incisors of sheep in New Zealand. Their aetiology, true prevalence, and, therefore, their economic significance, are not known at present. They appear as solitary swellings, grow slowly, and are lined by stratified squamous epithelium. Each example usually contains a single, unerupted tooth; however, the anatomical relationship of this tooth to the cyst wall differs from that in dentigerous cysts in humans. Moreover, as some do not contain an unerupted tooth, the term dentigerous is not entirely appropriate but is supported by common usage. Work is in progress to study these lesions further and to clarify their aetiology. There is no practical treatment.

beta-Mannosidosis in a Salers calf: a new storage disease of cattle.

A storage disease characterised by widespread vacuolation of cells throughout the body was diagnosed in a newborn calf of the Salers breed. Extraction and analyses of water soluble material showed that the storage material was oligosaccharide in nature and was probably derived from the core region of the heterosaccharide moiety of glycoproteins. Glycosidase analyses showed that the disease was due to a deficiency of acidic beta-mannosidase.

Environmental influences on the progression of clinical and microbiological parameters of sheep periodontal disease.

The responses of some clinical and microbiological parameters of periodontal disease (PD) in sheep were examined subsequent to transferring animals between PD-affected and PD-free farms. Previously healthy animals showed transient deterioration in some clinical, but not microbiological parameters, which suggests either that a different microbiota to the one studied may be more important in the initiation of the disease, or that sampling did not intercept periods of destructive disease activity in the early lesions. In sheep with established disease, those parameters indicative of periodontitis which included pocket depth and bleeding on probing as well as the proportions of black-pigmented Bacteroides species were not significantly altered by environmental changes. This observation suggests that once the disease is established on PD-affected farms, the hand, some clinical signs of the disease including lengthening and mobility of incisor teeth increased in sheep on the PD-affected farm relative to the PD-free farm. This suggests that the disease may have a complex aetiology.

A field study of the association between periodontal disease and body condition in sheep.

Three farms with a high prevalence of periodontal disease (PD) were selected using data from a December 1983/January 1984 survey. On each of these farms in August 1984, the incisor condition and body condition score of about 50 ewes were noted. Two of the farms and an additional farm with a high prevalence of PD were visited again in August 1985, and on each, incisor condition and body weights of about 150 ewes were recorded. On one farm only was there a significant association between PD and body condition or weight, and it occurred in both years.

An outbreak of malignant catarrhal fever in Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus).

Thirteen (54%) of 24 Père David's deer (Eluphurus duvidianus) imported from England died of malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) within a year of arrival at Invermay Agricultural Centre. The duration of clinical illness was from one to approximately 33 days, and the most common clinical signs were depression, a hunched stance and diarrhoea. On post-mortem examination, most deer showed recent localised haemorrhages, often into the large intestine. In all deer there was histological vasculitis especially in the brain.

A study of periodontal disease in sheep over a twelve month period.

Sheep affected by broken mouth periodontal disease (P.D.) were examined over a twelve month period for different clinical parameters. It is suggested that P.D. in sheep is an episodic phenomenon similar to human P.D., and that only a few animals with signs of P.D. may undergo clinically significant destruction over a yearly period. No single parameter could reliably predict future deterioration in other parameters.

Suspected periodontopathic microorganisms and their oral habitats in young children.

Samples of subgingival plaque from 67 children, 5-7 years of age, were examined for the presence of certain suspected periodontal pathogenic species using the conventional technique of anaerobic sonification, dilution and spiral plating. When this technique was compared with a direct plating procedure which involved no preliminary dispersion and dilution of plaque specimens, it was found that the direct method resulted in double the frequency of children in whom black-pigmented Bacteroides (BPB) were detected and a 10-times increase in the number of subjects harbouring Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. Samples from the tongue, tonsils and saliva were also plated using the direct technique. BPB were detected less commonly in the plaque specimens (61.3% of children) than in saliva (89.5%), or on the tongue (86.6%) and tonsils (97.1%). Expressed as percentages of a pooled sample of the total BPB population, the most frequently detected species in plaque were Bacteroides intermedius (44.4%) and Bacteroides melaninogenicus (48.0%). The most prevalent isolate in all other oral sites was B. melaninogenicus. Expressed as percentages of children in whom BPB were detected, the most frequently isolated species from plaque using the conventional dilution technique was B. intermedius (21.3%), whereas other BPB species were present in fewer than 5% of children. Fusobacterium nucleatum and Capnocytophaga species were isolated most frequently from plaque but were also commonly detected in the various other oral sites.

A survey of excessively worn incisors and periodontal disease in sheep in Dunedin City, Silverpeaks, Bruce and Clutha Counties.

To determine the prevalence of excessively worn incisors (XSW) and periodontal disease (PD) in sheep in Dunedin City, Silverpeaks, Bruce and Clutha Counties, the incisors of 4049 mixed age ewes on 83 farms selected at random were examined between December 1983 and February 1984. Of these ewes, 14.9% had XSW (11.7% moderate, 3.2% severe), 13.7% had PD (10.5% moderate, 3.2% severe) and 71.4% had sound mouths. An additional 43 ewes had miscellaneous incisor faults, and these were excluded from the survey. Seventeen (>20.5%) and 25 (>30.1%) farms had 20% ewes with XSW and PD respectively. On two farms only did XSW and PD each occur at a prevalence of 15%. No association was found between the prevalence of XSW or PD and body condition score, breed or farm topography.