Cattle diseases in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil: a 24-year survey (1995-2018)

Abstract

We reviewed the records of 5,083 cattle necropsies performed from January 1995 to December 2018 and filed at the Laboratory of Anatomic Pathology (LAP) of the “Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul” (UFMS). These necropsies were performed either by LAP-UFMS faculty (22.33%) or by field veterinary practitioners (77.67%) who subsequently submitted material for histological evaluation at the LAP-UFMS. Conclusive diagnoses were reached in 46.21% of the protocols (2,349 cases), and approximately 65% of the cases were classified as inflammatory or parasitic diseases, with rabies being the most diagnosed disease (20.82% of total conclusive diagnosis). There were a large number of protocols in which the diagnosis was of nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis of unknown cause (NSMUC). Those were the main differentials for rabies and bovine herpesvirus-5 necrotizing meningoencephalitis (NME); that is, the number of rabies cases may be even higher if one considers that many cases of NSMUC might be undiagnosed rabies cases. Toxic and toxic-infectious diseases were the second most prevalent category, and botulism cases represented 41% of this category. The other categories corresponded to less than 20% of the total diagnoses and were distributed in decreasing order of frequency as degenerative diseases (9.79%), diseases caused by physical agents (3.87%), other diseases (2.13%), neoplasms and tumor-like lesions (1.79%), metabolic or nutritional disorders (1.75%) and congenital malformations (0.64%). The large number of inconclusive diagnoses was mainly due to improper conditions of mailed-in material for histopathological evaluation, namely, nonrepresentative samples of all organs, autolysis, and the absence of epidemiological and clinical-pathological information.

Use of smartphone messaging applications to increase diagnostic efficiency in veterinary diagnostic laboratories

“…This was demonstrated by the present study, in which users who did not send animals for necropsy or tissue samples for histopathology in the first contact did so later, in addition to scheduling visits to the properties where the problem occurred. Sending cadavers to the VDL for necropsy was considered an important factor in reducing the number of inconclusive diagnoses, as this procedure is performed by veterinarians trained for this practice (Pupin et al 2019) The contact made by field veterinarians located outside the LAP-UFMS area of operation, such as in the states of Mato Grosso, Goiás, Bahia and Pará, reinforces the usefulness of this remote tool for solving health problems since the rapid exchange of information and images from this means of communication help professionals to take certain actions for the definitive diagnosis, avoiding the loss of other animals due to diseases that can be controlled. The initial contact with VDLs located far from the property in question allows the team to indicate VDLs close to where the contacting veterinarian works.…”

“…Images provided by veterinarian Fernando Arévalo Batista. (Lucena et al 2010) and 46.21% (Pupin et al 2019), and in cases where veterinarians sent samples for histopathology. Although the number of samples and the time interval evaluated in previous studies are higher than those considered in this paper, this improvement in the diagnostic process can be attributed to the possibility of guiding veterinarians in real time on the procedures to be adopted in the collection of samples during the necropsy, according to the different clinical suspicions.…”

“…Retrospective studies carried out by these VDLs in Brazil (Lucena et al 2010, Sprenger et al 2015, Mello et al 2017, Rondelli et al 2017, Pupin et al 2019, Molossi et al 2021 indicate that 72.9% to 89.94% of inconclusive diagnoses are obtained from samples sent by field veterinarians. The main reasons for this are the sending of tissues in insufficient quantity or an advanced stage of autolysis, the non-referral of organs possibly associated with the reported clinical signs, and the lack of epidemiological and clinicopathological information.…”

Mortality caused by gastrointestinal nematodes in beef cattle submitted to an inadequate sanitary protocol

“…According to the data presented, Trichostrongylus axei and Haemochus placei can cause serious and fatal outbreaks in both young and adult cattle. Deaths in cattle from hemonchosis and mixed infections were described in a retrospective study carried out in Mato Groso do Sul (Pupin et al 2019) and in other states in Brazil (Lucena et al 2010, Oliveira et al 2017, Rondelli et al 2017) but they occurred sporadically and rarely bring morbidity and lethality coefficients.…”

Digestive diseases of cattle diagnosed at the “Clínica de Bovinos de Garanhuns”-UFRPE: retrospective study and influence of seasonality

“…In Brazil, in the last decade, several retrospective studies, based on clinical and/or anatomicalI pathological data, were carried out in different regions, with the objective of establishing the occurrence of the main diseases that affect cattle according to the different organic systems (Lucena et al 2010, Burns et al 2013, Rondelli et al 2017, Borowsky et al 2019, Oliveira et al 2019, Pupin et al 2019. These studies demonstrated regional variation in the occurrence of diseases affecting the digestive system of cattle, and often classify them by etiology into nutricional and metabolic diseases.…”