Experimental infection of northern bobwhite quail with Borrelia burgdorferi.

Four-week-old northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) were inoculated subcutaneously with 10(6) organisms from a low passage culture of Borrelia burgdorferi. Blood was collected weekly for culture, antibody detection, and immunoblot analysis. Three weeks postinoculation, viable spirochetes were isolated from the blood of one bird, but not from kidney, spleen, liver, or heart; all infected birds from which preinfection antibody titer had been established, had antibodies by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The inoculated birds did not show clinical signs of disease and there were no detectable gross or histopathologic lesions. Borrelia burgdorferi was detected in sections of kidneys on fluorescent antibody tests. Using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to detect Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in tissue samples, the expected PCR product (DNA) of 246 base pairs was visible on agarose gel stained with ethidium bromide. The identity of the PCR product was confirmed by slot blot hybridization with Borrelia burgdorferi specific DNA probe. Thus, these birds sustained infections for at least 3 weeks without clinical signs and may play a role in the transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi.

Hepatic capillariasis in muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus).

We present the first prevalence data of hepatic capillariasis in muskrats in Pennsylvania and Connecticut (USA). The prevalence of hepatic capillariasis in five groups of muskrats coming from different locations and numbering 81, 229, 11, 19, and 20 animals, was 42%, 78%, 36%, 16%, and 0%, respectively. Liver lesions varied from minimal to severe multifocal granulomatous hepatitis, often containing adult worms or eggs.

Experimental infection of the white-footed mouse with Borrelia burgdorferi.

Laboratory raised white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) were inoculated experimentally with live spirochetes (Borrelia burgdorferi), the etiologic agent of Lyme disease (borreliosis). Prior to inoculation, mouse sera were tested with an indirect fluorescent antibody test, and all mice were seronegative. All inoculated mice seroconverted. In tick transmission studies, immature stages of Ixodes dammini and Dermacentor variabilis attached and fed to repletion on mice, but only I dammini transferred spirochetes to uninfected mice. Mice were susceptible to oral infection and transmitted infection to each other through direct contact. Infection did not affect reproduction or development of young born from infected dams, nor did spirochetes appear in the tissues of neonates. Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes were identified in the kidneys, liver, and spleen of infected mice by the use of the modified Steiner silver stain and a tissue indirect fluorescent antibody test. Spirochetes also were isolated in culture of the heart blood of 1 mouse. Regardless of the source of infection, no mice developed clinical signs or had any pathologic change resulting from infection. Spirochetes were always observed extracellularly within interstitial spaces. Antibody titers persisted for over 4 months in some mice and spirochetes were found in the tissues of 1 mouse that had been infected 1 year earlier.

A pathologic study of wild turkeys in Connecticut.

During the 1984 to 1986 spring hunting seasons in Connecticut, viscera from 300 hunter-killed wild turkeys and blood samples from live-trapped wild turkeys were examined in order to establish a health profile on the State's wild turkey population. Seven species of endoparasites were recovered from 224 (75%) of 300 birds: Metroliasthes lucida, Ascaridia dissimilis, Heterakis gallinarum, Syngamus trachea, Capillaria species, Trichomonas gallinarum, and Eimeria species. The most prevalent parasites were A. dissimilis (52%) and M. lucida (37%). Although some turkeys harbored high intensities of these two helminths, there were no associated gross or microscopic lesions nor body weight changes. The prevalence of S. trachea, H. gallinarum, Capillaria and Eimeria species, which are potential pathogenic parasites in domestic and wild turkeys, was very low (less than 3%). Blood samples from 19 live-trapped wild turkeys were negative for hemoprotozoa and antibodies to 15 common bacterial and viral agents. Serum samples from 82 birds were negative for Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae. The survey indicates that the wild turkey population of Connecticut presently has little evidence of common infectious diseases and minimal prevalence of potentially pathogenic parasites.

Light and electron microscopic comparisons of cutaneous fibromas in white-tailed and mule deer.

Cutaneous fibromas of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), when compared with normal skin of the same species, had a thinner basement membrane; thickened stratum spinosum with numerous melanocytes, desmosomes, polyribosomes, and tonofilaments; focal hyperplasia of the stratum granulosum containing numerous large, electron-dense keratohyalin granules with irregular borders and containing occasional cells with diffuse intranuclear virus particles; and a moderately thickened stratum corneum with (although rarely) small crystalline arrays of virus particles. Normal mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) skin was structurally similar to that of the white-tailed deer. Mule deer fibromas were similar to those in white-tailed deer, except for diffuse thickening of the stratum granulosum (the cells of which contained large keratohyalin granules of various electron densities with occasional composite granules) and except for a markedly thickened stratum corneum that contained numerous intranuclear viral inclusions. In negatively stained homogenates of tumors from both deer species, viral particles resembled papillomaviruses.

Transmission of the white-tailed deer cutaneous fibroma.

Cutaneous fibromas were successfully transmitted to 7 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) inoculated with crude fibroma extracts (2 deer) or with partially purified deer fibroma virus (5 deer). The fibromas were transmitted by intradermal and subcutaneous inoculation and by rubbing the virus preparation into tattoo sites. Inoculation by scarification was not successful. The induced tumors resembled those of naturally occurring fibromas. Tattoo inoculation sites underwent an initial acute inflammatory response followed by mesenchymal proliferation, perivascular lymphocytic infiltration, and finally regression. The deer developed antibody titers against deer fibroma virus as determined by hemagglutination inhibition, using mouse RBC. Viral antigens could not be detected by indirect immunofluorescence in any induced fibroma.

Detection of papillomaviruses in cutaneous fibromas of white-tailed and mule deer.

Naturally occurring cutaneous fibromas affecting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (O hemionus), and cutaneous fibropapillomas of domestic cattle were tested for papillomavirus using indirect immunofluorescence (IF), peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP), and negative-stain electron microscopic techniques. Papillomavirus was consistently detected using rabbit antiserum against papillomavirus group-specific antigen in all mule deer fibromas and bovine fibropapillomas; only 16 of 28 white-tailed deer fibromas tested by IF and 9 of 15 tested by PAP were detected. Normal skin from white-tailed deer or cattle was consistently negative for virus. Similar results were obtained by negative-stain electron microscopic examination of partially purified tumor homogenates. Using deer fibroma virus or bovine papillomavirus type 1-specific antisera, viruses were typed by IF, PAP, and immunoelectron microscopy.

Experimental babesiosis in coyotes and coydogs.

One splenectomized and 6 intact coyotes (Canis latrans), and 2 coydogs were experimentally inoculated with a recent isolate of Babesia gibsoni. The disease was mild in intact animals, was fatal in the splenectomized coyote, and was characterized by a regenerative hemolytic anemia with the PCV decreasing to 16% in intact animals and to 6% in the splenectomized coyote. Peak parasitemia ranged from 3% to 21% of erythrocytes infected and was inversely correlated to PCV. Serum lactate dehydrogenase, bilirubin, and globulin concentrations were increased in all infected animals. Three weeks after inoculation, specific antibody titers increased to 1:65,536 and remained elevated in the chronically infected animals. The splenectomized coyote had progressive weakness until death, 24 days after inoculation. Intact animals had splenomegaly and anorexia at the height of infection. The splenectomized coyote had generalized edema, omental petechiae, renal and hepatic degeneration, membrano-proliferative glomerulonephritis and congestion, extramedullary hematopoiesis, lymphoid hyperplasia, and severe hemosiderosis in an accessory spleen. The only consistent change in the intact animals was splenomegaly.

Influence of dietary calcium on lead poisoning in mallard ducks (Anas platyrynchos).

Forty-five mallard ducks were allotted into 3 dietary groups. Group I was fed pelleted calcium-supplemented corn; group II was fed a pelleted commercial duck ration; and group III was fed cracked corn. Ten ducks of each group were given four No. 4 lead shot via an esophageal tube, and 5 ducks of each dietary group were kept as pair-fed controls. Anorexia and weight loss were most severe in the treated group III ducks. Group III had a maximum reduction in food consumption of 87% followed by a slight improvement in appetite; they lost 35% of their initial body weight. Group I treated ducks had a reduction in food consumption of 64% that eventually returned to the quantities consumed at the start of the experiment; group I ducks lost 18% of their initial body weight. Group II treated ducks maintained healthy appetites during the experiment and had a weight gain of 2% of their initial body weight. The number of ducks that became moribund and were euthanatized differed significantly among the treated groups with 100% of group III, 50% of group I, and 0% of group II treated ducks becoming moribund. All 3 groups of treated ducks had increased protoporphyrin IX concentrations compared with controls. Groups I and III lead-treated ducks had significant (P less than 0.05) reductions in erythrocyte counts, PCV, hemoglobin concentrations, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentrations as compared with controls. Group II had reduced hemoglobin concentration and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration compared with controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)