A case of feline haemobartonellosis (feline infectious anaemia) and opisthorchiasis in Trinidad

A ten-year old cat showing signs of anaemia, inappetence, salivation and muscular twitching was diagnosed as having a mixed infection with the blood parasite Haemobartonella felis and the liver fluke Opisthorchis felineus. Opisthorchis felineus can infect man and is therefore considered a zoonosis. Neither disease has been previously reported in Trinidad. (AU)

Seroprevalences of brucellosis, Q-fever and toxoplasmosis in slaughter livestock in Trinidad

Serum samples obtained from livestock (cattle, chicken, pigs, sheep, goats and water buffaloes) slaughtered at various slaughter houses in Trinidad

Blood groups in dogs

A study of blood groups in dogs can be justified by the following: It is the starting point for research in homolytic diseases of the newborn man and lower animals. It affords an opportunity for investigating transfusion reactions in man and lower animals. It might be possible to relate red cell antigens to histocompatibility. The results could have tremendous beneficial effects on the organ transplant industry - an industry created by man in his quest for eternal life on earth. By labelling the antigens and using differential egglutination it might be possible to study the erythropoietic function of transfused bone marrow. It is possible that a technique for paternity exclusion could be developed for the dog. Present knowledge of blood grouping systems in dogs is that there are seven systems, A to G, with two sub-groups of A viz A1 and A2. A1 is a better antigen than A2 and is also the most strongly reactive of the red cell antigens discovered in the dog. The serum of untransfused dogs do not regularly contain blood group antibodies. Therefore at least one uneventful transfusion can be given to any dog using any other dog as a donor. The most severe transfusion reaction occurs when group A1 cells are transfused to an A-negative dog ... (AU)

Leptospirosis in dogs and cats on the island of Trinidad: West Indies

Concerning previous observations on dog populations in other parts of the world, notably Japan, the Phillippine Islands, and some countries in South America, we found that a high percentage of dogs in Trinidad are infected with organisms from many serogroups of Leptospira. Serogroups Canicola and Icterohaemorrhagiae were most commonly found. Ten isolates obtained from 50 kidneys from stray dogs (20 percent infectivity rate) were typed as portland-vere (six) and canicola (two) of the Canicola serogroup, copenhageni of the Icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup (one), and georgia in the Hebdomadis serogroup (one). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first record of a serotype in the Hebdomadis serogroup being isolated from a dog. A cat isolation was identified as canicola. Serological results show that 55 percent or more of stray dogs had been exposed as opposed to only 12.5 percent of the cats examined. Serogroups Canicola, Icterohaemorrhagiae and Hebdomadis are found most frequently in dogs, cats, mongooses, and man in Trinidad. (AU)

Salmonella infection in market swine, Trinidad and Tobago

An unusual outbreak of gastroenteritis among children in Trinidad and Tobago led to the investigation of porcine carcasses at a local abattoir. Salmonella organisms were isolated from 18.4 per cent of the samples taken over a 12-month period (AU)