An evaluation of nonsuppurative joint disease in slaughter pigs.

Fifty-two joints from pigs with nonsuppurative joint disease from a local abattoir were examined grossly, histologically, and microbiologically in order to establish macroscopic differences between degenerative arthropathy and arthritis due to an infectious organism. The joints were grouped grossly according to the type and severity of lesions of the synovial membrane and cartilage, and microscopically according to the severity of synovial membrane lesions. Osteochondrosis and Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae were the most common causes of nonsuppurative joint disease in the joints examined. The major macroscopic differences between these two arthropathies were in the nature and severity of the synovial and cartilaginous lesions and involvement of the lymph node draining the diseased joint. Typically, in osteochondrosis, the changes are feathery hypertrophy of villi, focal full-thickness cartilage buckles, ulcers or flaps, and no change in the draining lymph node, whereas in Erysipelothrix- caused arthritis, the villous hypertrophy is severe and polypoid in nature, there is diffuse erosion of articular cartilage, and the draining lymph node is consistently hypertrophic and often cystic.

Haemophilus somnus Mastitis in a Dairy Cow.

A clinical case of peracute bovine mastitis is described in which the most severely affected quarter yielded a heavy growth of Haemophilus somnus on culture.

The normal microflora of the female rabbit's genital tract.

Microorganisms associated with the vagina, cervix and uterus of rabbits were isolated and identified. The predominant microorganisms isolated from the vaginas and cervices were coagulase-negative staphylococci, micrococci, and nonfermentative bacilli. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were isolated frequently, but in small numbers, from the uteri. The pH of the rabbit vagina was found to be near neutrality. Our data indicate that the genital flora of female rabbits is relatively simple, regarding the number and type of microorganisms.

A simple aerosol chamber for experimental reproduction of respiratory disease in pigs and other species.

The design of a simple aerosol chamber for experimental challenge of pigs and other species with respiratory pathogens is described.

Comparison of common antibiotic therapies for haemophilus pleuropneumonia in pigs.

Three experiments were done to evaluate some antibiotic therapies that are used commonly to treat pigs infected with Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae. Haemophilus-free piglets, 12 weeks of age, were challenged in a chamber with an aerosol of H. pleuropneumoniae serotype 1 and were medicated with antibiotics at various times before or after challenge. Antibiotic formulations which are commonly used to treat pneumonia in swine were used. They were chloramphenicol, penicillin, and a long-acting formulation of oxytetracycline given intramuscularly; and oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol and spiromycin (investigated as a potentially useful antibiotic) given in solution as the sole source of drinking water. Infection, disease (death, fever, gross lung lesions) and growth rate were measured in pigs following experimental challenge.The therapeutic effect of these antibiotic formulations was evaluated for prevention of the disease (52 pigs), treatment of acute disease (36 pigs), and treatment of chronic pneumonia (45 pigs). Injectable, long-acting oxytetracycline prevented all manifestations of disease (P<0.05) when given 24 hours before challenge. When treatment commenced immediately after the first signs of disease, each of the injected antibiotics reduced death rate (P<0.05), but they neither improved average daily gain nor reduced the incidence of infection and lung lesions. Chronically infected carrier pigs were produced by first immunizing them with a Haemophilus vaccine and then challenging them three weeks later. None of the treatments reduced the proportion of carriers of H. pleuropneumoniae.

Abdominocentesis in cattle: technique and criteria for diagnosis of peritonitis.

A reliable method for the collection of peritoneal fluid from cattle using a trocar and cannula is described. Peritoneal fluid was collected from three groups of cattle: periparturient, normal and with peritonitis. The fluid was examined by white cell count, differential cell count, total protein concentration and bacteriology. The results were analysed to determine the best criteria for peritonitis. Greater than 10% eosinophils were typical of normal peritoneal fluid. Peritoneal fluid with a relative neutrophil count greater than 40% and a relative eosinophil count of less than 10% was frequently associated with the diagnosis of peritonitis. Parturient cattle had large volumes of peritoneal fluid with low total protein and white cell counts. Growth of Gram-negative or anaerobic organisms was associated with mortality.

Dose response relationship of Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae aerosols in pigs.

The virulence of Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae was quantitated for ten and 12 week old pigs following aerosol exposure. The volume and concentration of culture aerosolized, the estimated numbers of organisms inhaled by the pigs and the mortality rates at 72 hours postexposure were computed and used to calculate the LD50. There was correlation between the concentration of culture aerosolized, the amount of the estimated inhaled dose and the mortality rates. The ten week old pigs were apparently more susceptible to aerosols of H. pleuropneumoniae than the 12 week old pigs. The LD50 value or a multiple of it appears to be a reasonable basis for a standardized aerosol challenge of the immunity of pigs vaccinated with experimental or commercial H. pleuropneumoniae vaccines.

Pulmonary clearance of Bacillus subtilis spores in pigs.

The pulmonary clearance rate of Bacillus subtilis was determined in ten pigs (23-39 kg) exposed simultaneously for 15 minutes to an aerosol generated by an ultrasonic nebulizer. Two pigs were killed at each interval of zero, two, four, eight and 12 hours and the concentrations of B. subtilis in lungs (all lobes), dorsal and ventral nasal turbinates, trachea, pharyngeal and bronchial lymph nodes were determined. The mean percent (+/- standard error) pulmonary clearance of B.subtilis was 54.2+/-11.7, 53.0+/-11.8, 77.4+/-5.2 and 88.1+/-3.7 at two, four, eight and 12 hours, respectively. The numbers of B. subtilis retained in the posterior (caudal and accessory) lobes at zero time were significantly greater than those in the anterior (cranial and middle) lobes (P<0.05). However, by 12 hours postinoculation the numbers of organisms retained in the two regions did not differ significantly (P>0.05). The mean percentage of B. subtilis retained by the turbinates, trachea, pharyngeal and bronchial lymph nodes varied between pigs at each time interval, but was usually less than that retained by the lungs. It was concluded that deposition of B. subtilis spores took place in all parts of the respiratory tract when pigs were exposed to aerosols and that the spores were progressively cleared by the normal lung.

A model aerosol exposure system for induction of porcine Haemophilus pleuropneumonia.

One group of six pigs and another group of three pigs were separately exposed in a polyethylene enclosed chamber for ten minutes, respectively, to Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae serotype 1 and Bacillus subtilis aerosols generated by an ultrasonic nebulizer. Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae and B. subtilis were deposited throughout the lungs immediately following aerosol exposure. The number of H. pleuropneumoniae and B. subtilis deposited varied within and between lungs in each group. The mean numbers of both organisms deposited in the posterior (caudal and accessory) lobes were significantly greater than those in the anterior (cranial and middle) lobes (P less than 0.001). The four principals that received H. pleuropneumoniae aerosols and the two contact controls developed fatal fibrinous pneumonia which simulated that seen in natural infections. Since this exposure system consistently resulted in clinical disease it has good potential as a model for the study of pathogenesis of the disease and more specifically for the evaluation of vaccines.

Studies on the pathogenesis of staphylococcal osteomyelitis in chickens. II. Role of the respiratory tract as a route of infection.

Groups of 6-week-old broiler chickens were exposed to Staphylococcus aureus by aerosol, intratracheal or intravenous (control) inoculation. No lesions were produced by aerosol. A single dose of up to 5 X 10(10) organisms given intratracheally failed to produce any lesions. Single or repeated doses of 5 X 10(11) organisms given intratracheally resulted in osteomyelitis in a low proportion of chickens.

Studies on the pathogenesis of staphylococcal osteomyelitis in chickens. I. Effect of stress on experimentally induced osteomyelitis.

A single strain of Staphylococcus aureus was used to study the pathogenesis of osteomyelitis in chickens. The disease was consistently reproduced in 6-week-old broiler chickens when 1 X 10(5) or more organisms were given intravenously. Severe feed restriction, debeaking, and single or multiple injections of corticosteroids delayed the appearance and decreased the severity of lesions due to staphylococcal infection. This increased resistance was associated with increased numbers of circulating heterophils and monocytes. No correlation between the presence of tibial dyschondroplasia and osteomyelitis was found.

Secondary structure and dynamics of glucagon in solution.

A correlation between the secondary structure of glucagon determined by circular dichroism and its dynamic behaviour as obtained from picosecond fluorescence anisotropy is demonstrated. The CD data show that the percentage of alpha-helix decreases with increasing temperature, but the rotational relaxation time of the glucagon increases with temperature. These observations suggest that the protein's shape changes with temperature in such a way that its volume is larger at 38 degrees C than at 5.5 degrees C. The fluorescence anisotropy of glucagon decays biexponentially at each temperature studied and at 26 degrees C the rotation lifetimes are 1670 and 307 ps at pH 10.2 and 2147 and 517 ps at pH 2.2. It is proposed that the shorter decays are due to the restricted motion of the single tryptophan residue while rotation of the whole protein is responsible for the longer decays. The calculated rotational diffusion coefficient, Dw, of the tryptophan residue is much smaller, (ie. has a larger apparent volume) than that of a free tryptophan in solution. The hydrophobic interactions between residues Phe-22 to Leu-26 are probably responsible for the larger apparent volume in the protein compared to solution and will stabilize this part of the protein. The rotational diffusion of aggregated glucagon is also discussed.

Characteristics of Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae Isolates and Some Epidemiological Findings on Porcine Haemophilus Pleuropneumonia in Saskatchewan.

Thirty isolates of Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae from clinical and slautherhouse cases of porcine Haemophilus pleuropneumonia in Saskatchewan as well as six isolates from British Columbia and Ontario were subjected to cultural, biochemical, serological and antibiotic sensitivity tests. All strains were Gram-negative pleomorphic rods or coccobacilli which grew only in the presence of V factor and all produced porphyrin from delta-aminolaevulinic acid. Biochemically, the organism was positive for urease, O-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranosidase and the fermentation of sucrose, mannitol, dextrose, lactose and xylose, but was usually negative for indole. Most strains of H. pleuropneumoniae were sensitive to chloramphenicol, furamazone, carbenicillin and ampicillin, but only about 50% were sensitive to tetracycline. Serotype 5 was more common than serotype 1 or the untyped strains among Saskatchewan isolates. In addition, serotype 3 was identified from British Columbia.Retrospective epidemiological studies showed that Haemophilus pleuropneumonia occurred and recurred on farms in the Saskatoon and adjoining districts, serviced by the diagnostic laboratories of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and that the disease was more common among three month old pigs during the fall-winter season.

Bacillary hemoglobinuria associated with hepatic necrobacillosis in a yearling feedlot heifer.

Bacillary hemoglobinuria was diagnosed in a yearling heifer in a large western Canadian feedlot. The animal had come through a terminal market in another province and arrived in the feedlot three weeks previously. Predisposing hepatic injury may have been caused by Fusobacterium infection secondary to the rumenitis of grain overload.

Pneumonia in Saskatchewan swine: abattoir incidence of intrathoracic lesions in pigs from a herd infected with Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae and from other herds.

A 1978-79 survey of the incidence of thoracic cavity lesions at slaughter had shown that the overall incidence of pleurisy in Saskatchewan swine was low (2%). Therefore, in the summer of 1979 a comparison was made between the incidence of pleurisy in a herd of pigs chronically affected with Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae pneumonia and in animals from other herds slaughtered at the same time. The incidence of pleurisy in control pigs (3.6%) was slightly higher than in the large scale survey but in the pigs from the Haemophilus infected herd it was almost four times as great (13.3%). In the same herd the survivors of a batch of pigs which had been decimated by more severe disease showed an incidence of 32% pleurisy. The economic implications of these findings are detailed and discussed.

An outbreak of Pseudomonas mastitis in dairy cows.

An outbreak of mastitis in a dairy herd is described in which the causative organism was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Cases occurred either in dry cows or in animals which had very recently calved. The fact that all four quarters were involved is a very strong indication that the bacteria had been introduced in the dry cow therapy.

An abattoir survey of the incidence of pneumonia in Saskatchewan swine and an investigation of the microbiology of affected lungs.

The lungs of 15 409 pigs, mostly from Saskatchewan, slaughtered at an abattoir were examined over a one year period. The incidence of lesions was 36.7% for "enzootic" pneumonia and 2.1% for pleurisy unassociated with pneumonia. Seasonal variations were recorded and compared with the results of similar surveys carried out in Australia, Belgium and England. Mycoplasmological examination of lungs from 347 animals was consistently negative for Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. Pasteurella multocida was the commonest bacterial isolate, a result which agrees with those of other workers.

Antibody studies in natural bovine cowpox.

Serological studies on cows recovered from natural cowpox indicated that Haemagglutinin-Inhibiting (HAI) antibody persisted for at least 27 weeks, and Virus Neutralizing (VN) antibody persisted for at least 98 weeks.