Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation最新文献

An apparent outbreak of fenugreek forage toxicosis occurred in a beef cattle herd near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in February-May 2022. The herd had consumed fenugreek hay from late fall to early winter. Clinical signs included various degrees of weakness, ataxia, knuckling, walking on hocks, and recumbency. All adult cattle in the herd eventually died or were euthanized. Feed analysis did not reveal nutritional deficiencies or mycotoxin contamination. Liver mineral and vitamin status of affected animals did not indicate any consistent abnormality. The last live cow in the herd was presented to a veterinary teaching hospital for evaluation and subsequent postmortem examination. Major postmortem findings included emaciation, and sciatic nerve and spinal cord axonal degeneration. Histologic examination of the sciatic nerve showed Wallerian-like axonal degeneration, increased Schwann cell nuclei, and endoneurial fibrosis. Histologic examination of the spinal cord showed infrequent myelin sheath dilation and digestion chambers within white matter. These results are consistent with other reports of natural and experimental outbreaks of fenugreek poisoning in livestock. To our knowledge, fenugreek toxicosis has not been reported previously in Canada. We conclude that caution should be taken when feeding fenugreek hay to cattle.

A 9-y-old, spayed female, non-brachycephalic mixed-breed dog was presented with progressive abdominal distension and diarrhea of <24 h duration. An echocardiogram revealed nodular masses in the pericardium and myocardium, particularly near the auricles. Diagnostic and therapeutic pericardiocentesis failed to improve the dog's status, and the owner elected euthanasia. The autopsy revealed numerous nodules within the pericardium, heart base, and myocardium of the left and right ventricles. Histopathology revealed the presence of a neuroendocrine tumor, immunopositive for chromogranin A and negative for synaptophysin and calcitonin, supporting the diagnosis of aortic body tumor with intracardiac metastasis.

Detecting calves that are persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is essential to disease prevention. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded ear-notch samples is commonly used for surveillance detection of BVDV antigens. However, due to the low percentage of positive samples in most submissions, the current workflow often entails considerable time reviewing negative results. Herein we aimed to utilize digital pathology and whole-slide imaging, coupled with advanced image analysis software, to enhance the efficiency of positive IHC detection in surveillance. Despite some challenges encountered during the implementation phase, the benefits of the reduced potential for human error and significant time savings for technicians and pathologists are evident. The screening of 518 slides, containing 2,884 ear notches, reached 97.4% sensitivity and 89.4% specificity compared to the gold standard of direct human assessment. The time taken for the personnel to operate the software and organize results was significantly shorter than the time needed for technicians and pathologists to manually examine the slides. Future refinements in software integration, staining protocols, and QC measures promise to further optimize this approach.

Here we report the isolation of Streptococcus hillyeri from a thoracic sample from a horse. A 17-y-old Hungarian Sport Horse mare was referred to the equine clinic of the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Hungary, with suspected pleuritis. Upon arrival, the horse was febrile and had tachycardia, severe inspiratory dyspnea, and tachypnea. Thoracic ultrasonography revealed severe bilateral pleural effusion, and a large area of lung consolidation. After sampling of both hemithoraces, 66 L of turbid exudate were drained. Based on these findings, a tentative diagnosis of septic pleuritis was made, and the horse was immediately started on a course of broad-spectrum antibiotics, a NSAID, an anticoagulant, and intravenous fluids. Despite intensive care, the clinical parameters deteriorated, and the horse was euthanized 6 d later. Cytology confirmed septic pleuritis, with short chains or groups of coccoid bacteria. Anaerobic culture yielded gram-positive cocci from both hemithoraces in almost pure culture, which we identified as S. hillyeri by 16S rDNA and whole-genome analysis. Additionally, we identified 4 previously unassigned Streptococcus sp. sequences as S. hillyeri. Of these, 3 were obtained from aborted equine fetuses and a fourth from a donkey mastitis case, supporting the pathogenic nature of S. hillyeri in these host species.

A 13-y-old, spayed female dog had regenerative anemia, lymphopenia, hypoalbuminemia, and elevated hepatic biochemical parameters. Liver biopsy revealed hepatic peliosis (hepatic sinusoidal angiectasis), frequently associated with perisinusoidal fibrosis. The dog was seroreactive to Bartonella antigens by indirect fluorescent antibody assays, and quantitative PCR from blood identified Bartonella vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii genotype II. The dog was euthanized 9 mo later because of acute decompensation. Autopsy revealed icteric adipose tissues, end-stage liver, and abdominal effusion. Microscopically, there was marked mixed-cell chronic hepatitis with hepatocellular loss, nodular hepatocellular regeneration, and capillary proliferation. Retrospective molecular testing documented B. koehlerae and B. rochalimae DNA in the dog's blood at 2 or more times during liver disease progression. B. koehlerae DNA was also amplified and sequenced from the autopsy sample of liver. Our case emphasizes that Bartonella infection may be associated with hepatic peliosis and end-stage liver in dogs and expands the spectrum of Bartonella species that potentially play a role in canine hepatic diseases.

Enzootic nasal tumor virus 2 (ENTV2), the etiologic agent of enzootic nasal adenocarcinoma (ENA) in goats, is highly prevalent in China and causes significant economic losses to the goat industry. Here we describe the occurrence of ENA on a Dazu black goat farm in Chongqing City. At autopsy, nasal cavity masses were observed within the nose of an affected goat; histologically, the tumor was a nasal adenocarcinoma. The qPCR results demonstrated unequivocally that ENTV2 was the primary pathogen responsible for the tumor in this goat. We also collected nasal swab samples from all 180 goats on the farm; 9 goats tested positive for ENTV2. We generated the sequence of the full-length genome of ENTV2 (named ENTV2CQ, GenBank OR024676) with 7,469 nucleotides from nasal tumors from our case. ENTV2CQ shared the highest nucleotide identity with a previously sequenced isolate, ENTV2FJ (GenBank MK559457.1). ENTV2CQ and ENTV2FJ are located in the same major phylogenetic branch, mainly related to isolates from China from 2015 to 2022, and their phylogeny may be clustered geographically.

South Korea's beekeeping industry has been facing a major crisis due to colony collapse disorder (CCD), manifesting since the winter of 2021. CCD in South Korea is presumed to be caused by a combination of factors, including an abnormal climate, pesticide use, declining source plants, and increased honey bee diseases. We examined the prevalence of 12 major honey bee (Apis mellifera) pathogens by sampling 3,707 colonies with abnormal behavior and suspected pathogen infections from 1,378 apiaries nationwide between 2020 and 2023. Black queen cell virus (BQCV), deformed wing virus (DWV), Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), and Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae had the highest infection rates among honey bees in South Korea. BQCV had the highest infection rate (83.3% in 2023) and was highly prevalent throughout the year, regardless of the season. DWV (48.7%) and IAPV (41.3%) had the highest infection rates in October-December, corresponding to the winter season. Among the 12 honey bee pathogens, acute bee paralysis virus and Kashmir bee virus were rarely detected; the remaining 10 honey bee pathogens were detected throughout the year. The differences in honey bee pathogen prevalence among regions were not significant. We suggest that South Korean honey bees are highly exposed to viral pathogens, possibly resulting in the loss of unhealthy honey bees during the winter. Our study is expected to help identify trends in the occurrence of honey bee pathogens in South Korea and predict outbreaks to prepare a prevention system and appropriate control measures for honey bee pathogens.

We identified a novel herpesvirus in 2 deceased captive blue penguins (Eudyptula minor). Moderate-to-severe myocardiocyte atrophy and necrosis, and eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies (INIBs), were seen in myocardiocytes in one bird; reticuloendothelial (RE) cell INIBs and multifocal RE cell necrosis were seen in both birds. The histologic findings were suggestive of viral infection. A herpesvirus PCR assay was positive in myocardial tissue from the bird with myocardial degeneration and in splenic tissue from both birds. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that the virus, accessioned as spheniscid alphaherpesvirus 2 (SpAHV2), groups within the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily and forms a unique branch point in a subclade containing members of the Mardivirus, Simplexvirus, and Varicellovirus genera. Herpesvirus screening of tissues from 8 additional blue penguin postmortem examination cases (7 spleen, 1 liver) and combined conjunctival-choanal-cloacal swab samples from 13 live penguins revealed 5 additional dead and 7 live penguins that were positive for SpAHV2. The presence of SpAHV2 in healthy live animals and lack of significant herpesvirus-associated lesions as the cause of death in 6 of 7 SpAHV2-positive dead penguins suggests that this virus may be an endemic in blue penguins, and that recrudescence may cause disease and death.

Evaluating stress in shelter and institutionally owned cats is important to help guide improvements in their welfare. Welfare assessments often focus on behavior metrics and physiologic measurements, such as systemic cortisol levels. The gold standard for measuring acute stress is serum cortisol; measuring cortisol in feces and urine gives reliable time-integrated assessments of acute stress. Monitoring chronic stress requires using a matrix that accumulates cortisol over time, such as hair or nails. Hair was collected from 29 cats representing 2 populations: cats from a local shelter and cats owned by a university. Cortisol was extracted from the hair using a method established for extracting cortisol from bovine hair. We measured hair cortisol concentrations with a commercial ELISA that is marketed for human saliva. The mean cortisol concentration was 140 pg/mg for the shelter cats and 98 pg/mg for the university-owned cats. We found no significant difference in hair cortisol concentrations between the 2 groups (p = 0.793). The intra- and inter-assay CVs for the ELISA were 9.3% and 8.4%, respectively. Observed:expected ratios for spiking recovery and dilutional parallelism were 87.7 ± 25.8% and 99.7 ± 37.5%, respectively. Measurement of cortisol in hair samples may provide a noninvasive method to monitor chronic stress and acclimation in cats that live in confinement for prolonged periods.