Multi-locus sequence typing of Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus strains isolated from cats.

Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus ( S. zooepidemicus) causes outbreaks of fatal respiratory disease in dog shelters and fatal respiratory and neurologic disease in cat shelters. We conducted multi-locus sequence typing analysis on S. zooepidemicus isolates from 5 Canadian and 3 Israeli cats with severe respiratory and neurologic disease, plus 1 isolate from a clinically normal shelter cat. Our aim was to determine if feline outbreaks are clonal and whether there is commonality between feline and canine strains. ST363 was identified as the causative strain of a Canadian outbreak of S. zooepidemicus-linked disease, and is a double-locus variant of ST173, which was isolated from one of the Israeli cats. ST363 was also isolated from the clinically normal cat, indicative of the potential for enzootic infection in shelters. Strains within the ST173 clonal complex were responsible for 2 large canine outbreaks in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the death of 1 cat in the United States outbreak. ST215 was isolated from 2 cats in the Israeli outbreak, and is unrelated to the ST173 complex. We conclude that S. zooepidemicus outbreaks in cat shelters are clonal and that strains within the ST173 clonal complex are pathogenic for both dogs and cats.

Bronchopneumonia associated with Mannheimia granulomatis infection in a Belgian hare ( Lepus europaeus).

Mannheimia granulomatis was first isolated from pneumonic European hares in the 1980s and has since been reported sporadically in pneumonic Swedish roe deer and Australian cattle. Although the pneumonic lesions caused by M. haemolytica in livestock have been extensively studied and reported, little is published with regard to the pneumonic lesions associated with M. granulomatis infection in any species. We describe the histopathology of purulent bronchopneumonia associated with M. granulomatis in a Belgian hare ( Lepus europaeus) resident in British Columbia, Canada, and compare the lesions with those caused by M. haemolytica in livestock.

Development and validation of an RNA- and DNA-based quantitative PCR assay for determination of Kudoa thyrsites infection levels in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

Quantitative PCR (QPCR) methods targeting the 18S rDNA gene (DNA QPCR) and cathepsin L mRNA (RNA QPCR) from Kudoa thyrsites (Gilchrist) were developed and compared with histology for determination of K. thyrsites infection levels in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. Both QPCR tests were specific, reproducible and sensitive down to 3 copies. DNA QPCR was able to detect lower K. thyrsites infection levels than those detected by RNA QPCR and histology. The higher sensitivity of the DNA-based test compared with the RNA-based test appeared to be biological in nature and suggested that when infection levels were low, there were fewer copies of cathepsin L mRNA than 18S rDNA genes. However, all 3 diagnostic methods were highly correlated. Regression analyses comparing DNA QPCR and histology data from 2 distinct groups of fish showed that the relationship between these 2 diagnostic methods was reproducible. A logistic regression analysis comparing diagnostic data with a visual assessment of post-mortem flesh quality indicated that histology was the single best predictor of flesh quality, followed by DNA QPCR and then RNA QPCR.

Novel avian influenza H7N3 strain outbreak, British Columbia.

Genome sequences of chicken (low pathogenic avian influenza [LPAI] and highly pathogenic avian influenza [HPAI]) and human isolates from a 2004 outbreak of H7N3 avian influenza in Canada showed a novel insertion in the HA0 cleavage site of the human and HPAI isolate. This insertion likely occurred by recombination between the hemagglutination and matrix genes in the LPAI virus.