Summary Clinically healthy reptiles may shed Salmonella and therefore act as a potential zoonotic threat. Most people in Northern European countries are rarely exposed to reptiles, but many zoos have education departments where children have direct contact with this group of animals. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and serotype distribution of Salmonella among reptiles in the Education Department (n = 55) at Copenhagen Zoo and compare it to the Zoo’s main reptile collection (n = 145) to evaluate the zoonotic risk. Salmonella was isolated from cloacal swabs by selective enrichment, and a single isolate from each positive sample was further identified by biochemical tests and serotyped. The overall prevalence was 35% (69/200) with significant difference between the Education Department (64%, 35/55) and the main reptile collection (23%, 34/145). A total of 28 serotypes were detected. Ten serotypes were isolated from more than one specimen and four from more than one species. Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Eastbourne was the predominant serotype (32%, 22/69) and was also the serotype isolated from most reptile species (n = 7). Transmission of serotypes from one department to another was very limited indicated by the serotype distribution. Despite the relative high prevalence observed among the reptiles in the Zoo’s Education Department compared to the reptiles in the Zoo’s main reptile collection, no Salmonella cases have been linked to the Zoo, and Salmonella ser. Eastbourne is very rarely isolated from humans in Denmark. Simple hygienic procedures such as hand washing which is consistently carried out following handling of reptiles at the Education Department may reduce the risk and therefore contribute to this low prevalence.
OBJECTIVE To document clinical signs in cats and dogs with Cuterebra infection, determine the outcome of infected animals, and determine whether Yorkshire Terriers were more commonly affected than other breeds of dogs. DESIGN Retrospective case series. ANIMALS 22 cats and 20 dogs with Cuterebra infection. PROCEDURES Medical records of dogs and cats with Cuterebra infection were reviewed for signalment, history, clinical and laboratory findings, treatment, duration of hospitalization, and outcome. RESULTS Most (16/20 [80%]) of the dogs weighed ≤ 4.5 kg (10 lb), and Yorkshire Terriers were overrepresented (8/20 [40%]), compared with dogs of other breeds. Ten (50%) dogs and 3 (14%) cats had systemic inflammatory response syndrome at the time of initial evaluation, and 8 (40%) dogs but none of the cats had disseminated intravascular coagulation. The overall mortality rate was 17% (7/42), but was higher for dogs (6/20 [30%]) than cats (1/22 [4.5%]). All 6 dogs that died weighed ≤ 4.5 kg and had systemic inflammatory response syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, or both. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that Cuterebra infection can cause severe systemic illness in small-breed dogs. Yorkshire Terriers were more commonly affected than were dogs of other breeds and, subjectively at least, appeared to be more likely to develop severe systemic illness.
Infectious disease is a significant driver of global amphibian declines, yet despite this, relatively little is known about the range of pathogens that affect free-living amphibians. Recent detection of the tentatively named Ranid herpesvirus 3 (RHV3), associated with skin disease in free-living common frogs Rana temporaria in Switzerland, helps to address this paucity in knowledge, but the geographic distribution and epidemiology of the pathogen remains unclear. Syndromic surveillance for ranid herpesvirus skin disease was undertaken throughout Great Britain (GB), January 2014 to December 2016. Reports of common frogs with macroscopic skin lesions with a characteristic grey appearance were solicited from members of the public. Post-mortem examination was conducted on one affected frog found dead in 2015 at a site in England. In addition, archived samples from an incident involving common frogs in England in 1997 with similar macroscopic lesions were further investigated. Transmission electron microscopy identified herpes-like virions in skin lesions from both the 1997 and 2015 incidents. RHV3, or RHV3-like virus, was detected in skin lesions from the 2015 case by PCR and sequencing. Our findings indicate that herpesvirus skin disease is endemic in common frogs in GB, with widespread distribution at apparently low prevalence. Further research into the role of host immunity, virus latency and the significance of infection to host survival is required to better understand the epidemiology and impact of cutaneous herpesvirus infections in amphibian populations.
Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous environmental bacterium that causes disease in a wide range of species. Infection with this pathogen is most frequently diagnosed in 25 ruminant livestock, but is also known to infect people and occasionally wildlife. Post-mortem examinations of Western European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in Great Britain (2011-2017) identified five (5/266, 2%, 95% confidence interval: 0.8-4.3%) animals with L. monocytogenes infection. The L. monocytogenes isolates comprised three serogroup 1/2a and two serogroup 4 from three Multilocus Sequence Types (2, 37 and 121), all of which were 30 different by single nucleotide polymorphism analysis indicating they were distinct and epidemiologically-unrelated. These findings are consistent with hedgehogs contracting sporadic infection from the environment, perhaps through eating soil-dwelling invertebrates. Examination of data from scanning surveillance programs focused on other British wildlife species indicates that the hedgehog is one of the wildlife species from which L. monocytogenes has been most 35 frequently identified to date in Great Britain. However, further studies of multiple taxa with comparable sampling efforts are required to assess the relative frequency of L. monocytogenes infection in different wildlife species. The bacterium was isolated from extra-intestinal sites in multiple hedgehogs which may indicate septicemia. However, histological examination was limited and could not discriminate subclinical infection from disease (i.e. listeriosis). Whilst L. 40 monocytogenes is a source of zoonotic infection, disease in people is typically contracted from the ingestion of contaminated foods. The risk to immunocompetent people of contracting listeriosis from hedgehogs is considered very low to negligible.45 3
Six clinically healthy captive cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus ) were anesthetized twice using two different drug combinations to investigate if blood pressure and kidney blood flow are affected by medetomidine dosage. Protocol KM (2.0 mg/kg ketamine and 0.05 mg/kg medetomidine) was compared with protocol KMM (2.0 mg/kg ketamine, 0.02 mg/kg medetomidine, and 0.1 mg/kg midazolam). Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), body temperature, end-tidal carbon dioxide pressure (ETCO), and anesthetic depth were monitored every 10 min. Noninvasive mean (MAP), systolic (SAP), and diastolic (DAP) arterial blood pressure were measured, and Duplex Doppler ultrasonography was performed on the kidneys. The mean arterial resistive index (RI) was determined and the pulse pressure index (PPI) was calculated, as indicators for kidney blood flow. There were no significant differences in induction and recovery times. MAP was significantly higher with KM than KMM at 35 min, and in both protocols decreased significantly after atipamezole administration. DAP was significantly higher at 25 and 35 min in animals anesthetized with KM; it also decreased significantly with both protocols after atipamezole administration. The PPI was significantly lower throughout the procedure with KM, and with both protocols increased significantly after atipamezole administration. Both the higher blood pressure and the reduced PPI with KM were likely a direct effect of the higher medetomidine dosage, and these findings indicate that lower medetomidine dosages might reduce hypertension and lead to a better PPI in cheetah immobilization.
Sporadic cases of herpesvirus-associated disease have been reported in the Western European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), but there has been little surveillance for, nor any sequence characterisation of, herpesviruses in this species to date. A nested pan-herpesvirus polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting a region of the DNA polymerase gene was used to test 129 Western European hedgehogs from across Great Britain, 2011–2016; 59 (46%) of which were PCR-positive. In addition, samples from two previously published cases of fatal herpesvirus infection in E. europaeus, from Sweden and Switzerland, were positive using this PCR. No statistically significant relationship was detected between PCR result and sex, age class, year or season for the British hedgehogs tested. In most PCR-positive animals (19/22) from which liver and brain were tested separately, both were PCR-positive. Sanger sequencing of amplicons from 59 British hedgehogs revealed at least two novel viruses within the Gammaherpesvirinae. Thirteen of these hedgehogs had liver and brain tissues screened for microscopic abnormalities, of which one had non-suppurative meningoencephalitis, but neither intranuclear inclusion bodies nor herpesvirus virions (on electron microscopical examination) were identified. Sequencing of the whole DNA polymerase gene confirmed two genetically different Human alphaherpesvirus 1 viruses in the Swedish and Swiss hedgehogs.
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