Diagnostic evidence of Staphylococcus warneri as a possible cause of bovine abortion.

Following a routine necropsy of a bovine fetus aborted at 5 months of gestation, placenta, fetal tissue samples, and stomach contents were subjected to a number of laboratory tests. Staphylococcus warneri was isolated in pure culture from the lung, liver, and stomach contents, whereas the placenta yielded S. warneri and a number of contaminants. Gross evaluation of agar plates showed predominant colonies to be morphologically consistent with those of S. warneri and the identity of the agent was further confirmed on a Trek Diagnostic Systems Sensititre, gram-positive identification (GPID) plate. Microscopic evaluation of fetal tissue sections showed extensive necrotizing lesions of the tongue, lung, and placenta in which there were numerous coccoid shaped gram-positive bacteria with morphology consistent with Staphylococcus spp. These results provide strong diagnostic evidence of S. warneri as a possible cause of bovine abortion and suggest there should be further investigations into the abortivirulence of this agent.

Hepatic lipidosis and other test findings in two captive adult porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) dying from a "sudden death syndrome".

Routine postmortem examination and histologic evaluation of tissue sections demonstrated hepatic lipidosis (HL) in 2 adult captive porcupines with a history of sudden death. The male porcupine had a markedly enlarged pale liver that microscopically showed large unilocular vacuoles within hepatocellular cytoplasm. The periparturient female had similar but less marked hepatic lesions and an incidental pulmonary mycosis. These findings suggest HL as an important differential of spontaneous death in captive porcupines. It is hypothesized that in addition to the widely documented causes, HL in captive porcupines may be specifically associated with nutritional imbalances caused by the feeding of unsuitable commercial diets. The possible association of the condition with dietary and other factors in captive porcupines needs to be thoroughly investigated.