BLOOD VALUES OF CAPTIVE BEIRA ANTELOPE (DORCATRAGUS MEGALOTIS) PRIOR TO AND DURING AN OUTBREAK OF FIBRINOUS PLEUROPNEUMONIA SYNDROME (FPPS)

Abstract

Currently the only captive population of beira antelope (Dorcatragus megalotis) is held at the Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Qatar. An outbreak of a severe respiratory disease--fibrinous pleuropneumonia syndrome, most likely caused by Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae--led to a marked population decline. Reactive systemic inflammatory (AA) amyloidosis was noted as a chronic manifestation of the disease. Blood samples had been collected for biochemistry and hematology baseline values prior to the outbreak. Population-level changes were analyzed before and during the course of the outbreak in selected blood parameters (white blood cells [WBC], blood urea nitrogen [BUN], and creatinine). The annual population WBC increased and decreased concurrently with the population size, with a significant correlation between the two measures (R = 0.92; P = 0.001). Both BUN and creatinine values were higher during the outbreak. These values peaked at the same time as mortality, which was 1 yr after the WBC peak. These changes were interpreted as the transition from an acute disease with a primary respiratory manifestation into a chronic condition where renal amyloidosis led to chronic renal failure and death. Also, elevated liver values in diseased animals were attributed to amyloidosis. Parallels to a literature report on a lung disease complex caused by M. ovipneumoniae in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) were found. Trends in population-level blood values of the beira antelopes implicate amyloidosis as a significant, long-term consequence of the putative Mycoplasma infection.

Interstitial nephritis of unknown aetiology in captive slender‐horned gazelles (Gazella leptoceros)

“…Copper concentrations in the blood vary between 55 and 120 µg/dl in different healthy domestic and wild ruminant species (Table 2). 3,5,[19][20][21][22] During the haemolytic crisis, the copper blood value can increase up to six-fold in domestic animals. 3 In goats without haemolysis also a four-fold increase was found.…”

“…Acute interstitial nephritis is characterised by acute clinical onset and can be caused by acute leptospirosis 3 . Published reports on interstitial nephritis in antelopes are scarce; an extensive literature search yielded only four references, however, not a single one concerning the genus Gazella 4–7 . One retrospective histopathologic evaluation of captive gazelle species in the USA, where trauma and amyloidosis were the most common causes of death in slender‐horned gazelles, found 13 gazelles of this species out of 31 diagnosed with nephritis, yet without further specifying the lesions or describing clinical data 8 …”

“…3 Published reports on interstitial nephritis in antelopes are scarce; an extensive literature search yielded only four references, however, not a single one concerning the genus Gazella. [4][5][6][7] One retrospective histopathologic evaluation of captive gazelle species in the USA, where trauma and amyloidosis were the most common causes of death in slender-horned gazelles, found 13 gazelles of this species out of 31 diagnosed with nephritis, yet without further specifying the lesions or describing clinical data. 8 This is the first report of the clinical presentation, haematology, biochemistry, gross postmortem examination, histopathology and ancillary laboratory examinations of interstitial nephritis in slender-horned gazelles, highlighting the importance of this renal disease to the practitioner.…”

Development of a real‐time PCR assay for detection and differentiation of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae and a novel respiratory‐associated Mycoplasma species in domestic sheep and goats

“…Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae , first identified in a sheep flock in Queensland, Australia in 1972 (Carmichael et al., 1972 ), is now recognized as a globally distributed respiratory pathogen of domestic sheep and goats (Alley et al., 1999 ; Cheng et al., 2015 ; Manlove et al., 2019 ). The organism has also been detected in domestic cattle and a variety of non‐domestic animals, including bighorn sheep, Dall sheep, mountain goats, moose, Beira antelope, caribou, mule deer, white‐tailed deer, and muskoxen (Besser et al., 2008 ; Gull et al., 2014 ; Handeland et al., 2014 ; Highland et al., 2018 ; Wolfe et al., 2010 ; Wolff et al., 2019 ). Infection in small ruminants can be subclinical or range from mild symptoms including lethargy and coughing to severe bronchopneumonia (Ayling & Nicholas, 2007 ; Nicholas et al., 2008 ).…”

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in Wildlife Species beyond Subfamily Caprinae

“…Because most reports have described this bacterium in sheep and goats, and fewer in muskoxen ( Ovibos moschatus ) ( 4 ), some have concluded that M . ovipneumoniae is specific to the subfamily Caprinae ( 5 ) or has a host range limited to Caprinae ( 6 ), despite publications describing M. ovipneumoniae in non- Caprinae species, including Beira antelope ( Dorcatragus megalotis ) with respiratory disease in Qatar ( 7 ) and in 9 cattle ( Bos taurus ) in Colorado, USA ( 8 ). Unfortunately, description of the method(s) used to identify M. ovipneumoniae in those reports was limited to stating the use of PCR with no supporting sequence data.…”