Tropical canine pancytopenia (TCP) is a newly recognized infectious disease of dogs in diverse tropical and subtropical areas. The disease is characterized by hemorrhage, pancytopenia, severe emaciation and persistent infection. Dogs with TCP are often presented with epistaxis, which is the most dramatic sign of the disease; however, a large number of affected dogs develop severe pancytopenia and die without manifesting clinical signs of hemorrhage. The disease has been reported most frequently in the German Shepherd. Pathological findings consist of petechial and ecchymotic hemorrhages on serosal and mucosal surfaces of numerous organs. The most prominent histological finding is a perivascular plasma cell infiltrate in most organs. Disease, indistinguishable from the natural disease, has been produced in laboratory dogs inoculated with whole blood from affected dogs. Ehrlichia canis has been consistently recovered from all experimentally infected dogs. Attempts to transmit the disease to other laboratory animals and to propagate the agent in cell cultures and embryonating eggs have been unsuccessful. The tick is the probable vector of the disease.
The age-related incidence of spontaneously occurring neoplasms and degenerative diseases in the F344 inbred rat strain was established from the histologic examination of tissues from 160 male and 192 female rats kept throughout their natural life-span. The most common neoplasms were leukemias (25%), mammary tumors (females, 40.6%; males, 23.1%), pituitary adenomas (females, 35.9%; males, 23.8%), and testicular interstitial cell tumors (males, 85%). Various less common neoplasms were observed: thyroid interstitial cell tumors, adrenocortical adenomas, carcinomas of the genitourinary tract, representative central nervous system tumors, pheochromocytomas, and tumors of mesodermal origin including mesotheliomas, myoblastomas, fibromas, and fibrosarcomas. Multiple tumor types were found in 176 of the rats; metastatic tumors were uncommon. Degenerative diseases including myocardial degeneration and nephrosis were often observed. The incidence rate of these neoplasms and degenerative diseases generally increased with advancing age of the animals.
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