Twenty transport-stressed goats were divided into two groups. The first group was further stressed with steroid. Pasteurella haemolytica was found at various sites in the nasal cavity of goats in this group as early as 2 weeks post-transportation. The successful isolations continued consistently with more goats having pure growth of P. haemolytica at later stages. Mild catarrh rhinitis, loss of epithelial cilia and erosions were the main lesions observed in the nasal cavity. Goats in the second group that were not given steroid injections had inconsistent bacterial isolation and less severe pathological lesions.
Amphistomes of Calicophoron microbothrioides were recovered from the rumen of a Malaysian sambar deer (Cervus unicolor). Some measurements and illustrations of C. microbothrioides are given. This is a new host record for the species C. microbothrioides.
A model of pneumonic pasteurellosis has been established in goats using Pasteurella multocida harvested from pneumonic lungs of goats (types A and D), rabbits (type A) and sheep (type D). The resultant infections were acute, subacute or chronic. The gross and histological lesions of the subacute and chronic infections were typical of pneumonic pasteurellosis. P. multocida type D produced significantly (P < 0.01) more severe lesions when compared with other isolates. There were strong correlations between the clinical signs and the severity of lesions.
Pulsed field gel electrophoresis analysis of genomic DNA was used to investigate genetic diversity among Dichelobacter nodosus from footrot in sheep in Malaysia. Twelve Dichelobacter nodosus strains isolated from lesion materials from infected sheep were confirmed as Dichelobacter nodosus by polymerase chain reaction technique using the species-specific Dichelobacter nodosus 16S RNA sequence Ac and C as primers. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis banding profiles using restriction enzymes ApaI (5'GGGCCC3'), SfiI (5'GGCCNNNNNGGCC3') and SmaI ('5CCCGGG3') enabled the 12 Dichelobacter nodosus strains to be differentiated into eight different PFGE patterns and thus genome-types, with F (coefficient of similarity) values ranging from 0.17 to 1.0 (ApaI), 0.14 to 1.0 (SfiI) and 0.22 to 1.0 (SmaI). Strains with origin in different farms were shown to have different PFGE patterns (two strains, M7 and M8 were the only exception). On the basis of their PFGE, all field strains used in the study differed from the reference strains. Our data revealed that there are several clonal types of Dichelobacter nodosus isolates and indicated that there is probably more than one source of this pathogen on the farms studied. The study showed that strains of D. nodosus exhibited considerable genetic diversity using this method and that genomic analysis by pulsed field gel electrophoresis was useful in discriminating the D. nodosus strains.
A 16-year-old female from Rantau Panjang, Kelantan reported having diarrhoea for three months. During this period, she lost 15 lb in weight and was treated with antibiotics and anti-spasmodic tablets with no improvement. Stool examinations by private laboratories revealed "worm-like eggs". She was treated for worms with mebendazole which helped to reduce the symptoms but not completely. The patient continued passing out the abnormal "worm-like eggs" which were later identified as pollen grains.
Sixteen goats either subjected to transport stress or without transport stress were treated with dexamethasone for 3 days prior to infection with P. haemolytica serotype A2 intranasally. The transport-stressed and dexamethasone-treated goats in the first group had various degrees of pulmonary lesions and the organism was re-isolated from the nasal cavity, lymph nodes and lungs. None of the goats treated with dexamethasone only were infected with P. haemolytica and had no lesions of pneumonic pasteurellosis. Treatment with dexamethasone alone failed to induce experimental infection by P. haemolytica except in combination with another stress factor.
This paper presents investigation of lungworm disease outbreaks that is based on retrospective examination of cases recorded between 1994 and 2000 on a government beef cattle breeding centre in the state of Pahang, peninsular Malaysia. The breed of cattle on the centre was Nelore and the mean population over a 7-year period (from 1994 to 2000) was 1612. All animals were allowed to graze on pasture and mixed grazing was practiced on the farm. The routine de-worming programme was performed using levamisole and ivermectin from 1994 to 1998 and abamectin in 1999 and 2000 on 1 to 3-month-old calves and an annual dose given to the adult cattle. Nelore was introduced into the farm in 1991, three years before the first outbreak from Brazil where Dictyocaulus viviparus infection had been reported. No lungworm infection had been observed in the farm prior to the animal introduction. Within the 7-year period, 36 fatalities occurred and the annual mortality rate due to lungworm infection was 0.31%. The highest rate was recorded in 1997. Among the total 36 deaths, about 75% of deaths occurred in calves aged between 6 months and 12 months, 67% were males and 33% were female cattle. The highest number of deaths (19%) occurred in the month of November. In conclusion, D. viviparus infection may have been introduced into a tropical climate along with consignments of cattle from lungworm endemic areas resulting in fatal disease outbreaks for a few years following the animal's initial introduction.
A study on causes of lung condemnation in 25 abattoirs from peninsular Malaysia for a period of seven years (1998-2004) was conducted by examining the records at the Department of Veterinary Services headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 5.3% of lungs from 233,417 cattle and buffaloes were condemned from 1998 to 2004. The main cause of condemnation was congestion (2.98%). The percentage of lungs that were condemned due to parasitic infection among the total population slaughtered was low (0.11%). Parasitic infection contributed to 2.1% of all lungs condemned. It was also found that the prevalence of parasitic infection in the lungs was generally much higher in buffaloes than in cattle.
Twenty-four 8 to 9 week-old Pasteurella multocida -free rabbits were divided into three equal groups, the first group was pretreated with hydrocortisone and inoculated intranasally with pasteurella multocida serotype A:3. The second group was inoculated intranasally with P. multocida without hydrocortisone treatment. The third group was inoculated with phosphate buffered saline only and used as a control group. Pasteurella multocida was isolated from the nasal cavity of all infected rabbits in group 1 and 2 and from the trachea of seven rabbits in group 1 and five rabbits in group 2. This study was conducted to observe the ultrastructural changes of the upper respiratory tract of hydrocortisone treated and non-treated rabbits infected with P. multocida serotype A:3. The ultrastructural changes detected in infected rabbits were ciliary destruction and deciliation of the ciliated epithelial cells, cellular swelling, goblet cell hyperplasia and endothelial cell damage. Pasteurella multocida was observed attached to the degenerated cilia, microvilli and mucus. Pasteurella multocida infection was associated with inflammatory responses, which may have caused tissue damage. It is possible that hydrocortisone modulates the severity of infection as an immune suppressor and an inhibitor of goblet cell secretion.
Postmortem radiographic examinations of animals are commonly performed in judicial investigations to rule out gunshot and fractures. However, there was no available data on radiographic postmortem changes of animals. Forty-one sets of abdominal radiographs of feline cadavers made within 12 h of death were evaluated for postmortem changes. Intravascular gas was detected in 11 of 41 (27%) cadavers. The most common site of intravascular gas was the liver. Intravascular gas was also present in the aorta, femoral artery, celiac and cranial mesenteric arteries, and caudal superficial epigastric artery. Intrasplenic gas was detected in two cadavers. Only two cadavers had distended small intestine. One cadaver had pneumatosis coli. The changes detected were most likely due to putrefaction.
The present study described the kinetics of Rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV) infection in newborn rats by monitoring infectious virus and viral antigens in various organs, viral DNA in the blood (DNAemia) and antibody response. These parameters were evaluated quantitatively using double-antibody sandwich ELISA (DAS-ELISA), real-time PCR, indirect ELISA and virus infectivity assay. For the first time DAS-ELISA was used for detection of RCMV antigen directly from organ samples. The relationships between the presence of viral antigens in the infected organs and antibody levels were established by the Spearman's rank test. It was found that the virus was present in the blood, spleen, liver, lungs, and kidneys earlier than in the salivary glands. Furthermore, the early immunity of the newborn rats led to a delayed seroconversion. We suggested that the prolonged presence of the virus in salivary glands could augment the antibody response that conversely might be responsible for a reduction of viremia. This study expanded our understanding of RCMV pathogenesis leading to improved therapeutic and preventive treatment regimens particularly for the neonatal Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections. Additionally, the detection procedures developed in this study such as DAS-ELISA and real-time PCR could serve as alternative techniques for rapid screening of large number of samples.
Hemagglutination activity, structural protein profiles and neutralization assays were used in a comparative study of bovine herpesvirus 1 strains from the U.S.A., Canada, Great Britain, Denmark and Malaysia with equine, feline and human herpesviruses in order to further characterize the bovine herpesvirus 1 hemagglutinin. Bovine herpesvirus 1 strains of different geographical origins all showed hemagglutinating activity for mouse erythrocytes; furthermore, feline herpesvirus 1 was also shown to hemagglutinate mouse erythrocytes. Analyses of partly purified viruses showed that a distinctive and specific polypeptides profile is associated with each species of herpesviruses used in our study; strains of bovine herpesvirus 1 from North America, Europe and Southeast Asia however, presented a remarkable similarity as to their electrophoretic protein patterns. A protein similar to the 97-kDa bovine viral hemagglutinin was not identified with the hemagglutinating feline herpesvirus. An important neutralization epitope on the bovine viral hemagglutinin was also not found on feline, equine and human herpesviruses but was identified on all bovine strains tested from North America, Europe and Southeast Asia stressing the importance of the bovine hemagglutinin for eventual prophylactic purposes.
A new rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV) isolated from the placenta/uterus of a house rat (Rattus rattus diardii) was found to productively infect rat embryo fibroblast (REF) cells. The virus produced typical herpesvirus-like cytopathic effects characterized by a lytic infection. The well-known herpesvirus morphology was confirmed by electron microscopy. Its slow growth in cell culture indicated that the virus is belonging to subfamily Betaherpesvirinae. Electron microscopy techniques and immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of herpesviral inclusion bodies and virus related particles in the cytoplasm and nucleus of infected cells. Hyperimmune serum against the Maastricht strain of RCMV revealed the virus identity in neutralization test, immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescence techniques. Despite typical characteristics of CMV, the viral genome is significantly different from that of Maastricht, English, UPM/Sg and UPM/Kn strains. The dissimilarities, which have not been reported before, had been confirmed by mean of restriction endonuclease analysis. The new RCMV strain, a virus that infects placenta and uterus of rats, has been named as ALL-03.
Forty isolates of Pasteurella multocida from healthy (17 isolates) and diseased (23 isolates) rabbits were assayed for the presence of plasmids in seeking to determine whether any correlation exists between the presence of plasmids and health status, sensitivity to antimicrobial agents, capsular and somatic type, and the anatomic site of isolation. Six isolates were found harboring plasmids. A similar ladder pattern ranging from 18 to 3 megadalton (Mda) were found in three isolates recovered from diseased rabbits. One band of molecular weight 6.6 Mda was shared by four of five (4/5) isolates from the diseased rabbits. No correlation was found between the presence of the common plasmids and serotype, resistance to antimicrobial agents, and anatomic sites from which the bacteria were cultured. Random amplification polymorphic DNA was applied to subtype all the isolates of P. multocida. Two single primers were tested for their abilities to generate individual fingerprints by using PCR. Primer 1 grouped the isolates into 7 profiles, and primer 2 grouped them into 15. Random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) results show the presence of a wide heterogeneity within P. multocida isolates. Therefore RAPD-PCR is an efficient technique to detect the DNA polymorphism and could be used to discriminate P. multocida of rabbit isolates together with serologic typing.
This study probes into the prospect of cross-reactivity of HCMV with RCMV which has not been acknowledged to date. We describe the uncovering of a protein with an estimated size of between 61-68 kDa from local RCMV strains which reacted with HCMV positive sera. Our findings are a first disclosure of a plausible immunological cross-reactivity between RCMV with its human counterpart which grounds substantial interest implying existence of conserved determinants between rat and human CMV polypeptides. The cross-reactive protein most likely represents an enveloped glycoprotein, though the precise identification and its degree of similarity needs to be evidently defined and further elucidated in forthcoming experiments.
Bovine lungworm Dictyocaulus viviparus is highly endemic in temperate regions. However, the occurrence of the lungworm has not been reported in any South East Asian country. The main aim of the present study was to detect the presence of lungworm in cattle in peninsular Malaysia and to examine the morphology of the parasite. A cross-sectional study was carried out in which 602 animals from four large scale government cattle farms and one dairy smallholder farm were sampled. In addition, 283 lungs from 11 abattoirs around the country were examined. Faecal samples were examined using the Baermann technique while post-mortem examination was performed on the lungs. Approximately 5% of faecal samples and 1% of lungs were positive for lungworm. Based on the morphology of adult lungworm, eggs and first stage larvae, Malaysian bovine lungworms were D. viviparus.
Sixteen 8- to 9-week-old Pasteurella multocida-free New Zealand White rabbits were divided into two equal groups. The first group was inoculated intranasally with P multocida serotype D:1 strain and the second group that was inoculated with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) only was used as a control group. Pasteurella multocida was isolated from the nasal cavity of all infected rabbits in group 1 and from tracheal swabs of seven rabbits in this group. Four rabbits in group 1 died with clinical signs of septicaemia, two rabbits had mucopurulent nasal discharge and pneumonic lesions and the other two did not show any clinical signs or gross lesions. The ultrastructural changes detected were deciliation or clumping of cilia of ciliated epithelium, cellular swelling, vacuolation and sloughing. The subepithelial capillaries showed congestion, intravascular fibrin deposition, platelets aggregation and endothelial injury. Pasteurella multocida was observed attached to the injured endothelial cells. Heterophils, mast cells, vacuolated monocytes and macrophages infiltrated the lamina propria and between the degenerated epithelial cells.