Evaluation of flea control strategies using fipronil on cats in a controlled simulated home environment.

Three groups of six cats were kept in similar carpeted pens in which a self-replicating population of Ctenocephalides felis had been established. One group was left untreated, but the other groups were treated every 28th day with 0.5 ml of a 10 per cent fipronil spot-on formulation, and the cats in one of the treated groups also wore a methoprene collar. No fleas were found on any of the treated cats, either during the first 13 weeks of the study, when heavy flea burdens were developing in the control pen, or over the next 11 weeks when a declining number of fleas was present on the control group.

A two-site sandwich immunoradiometric assay of squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) IgM using monoclonal antibodies.

Nine hybrid clones secreting antibodies to squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) IgM were produced and two of these (1F1G5 and 5H11B3) were selected for further studies. These non-precipitating monoclonal antibodies reacted with two distinct repetitive antigenic determinants, probably of the conformational type, only present on the native or SDS-denatured IgM molecule. Reduction of the pentamer with 2-mercaptoethanol led to complete destruction of the corresponding epitopes. 1F1G5 antibodies from ascitic fluids were used in the purification of monkey IgM by affinity chromatography. The characteristics of 1F1G5 and 5H11B3 MAbs permitted the development of a solid-phase two-site immunoradiometric assay for the measurement of IgM levels in serum specimens taken from healthy animal donors of both sexes.

Protection against fatal Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis in the squirrel monkey Saimiri sciureus after immunization with a capsular polysaccharide vaccine.

An anti-Klebsiella pneumoniae K5a capsular polysaccharide vaccine was evaluated as a preventive approach for protecting squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus, in our breeding colony. Based on an 8-month vaccination schedule over a period of more than two years, this vaccine, regardless of the animal's age, resulted in a reduction of this particular bacterial infection and its generally associated fatal outcome. IgG antibody responses in naive and vaccinated animals were monitored over an extended period by radioimmunoassay and showed a marked increase above the initial naturally occurring antibody titres. No side-effects were observed after repeated vaccination of several hundred animals during a two-year period.

Spontaneous cryptococcosis of a squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) in French Guyana.

An old female squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) with a tumor-like growth of the lower jaw died in shock after 2 months of illness. Histological studies of different tissue samples demonstrated that the pathological agent was Cryptococcus. Multiple foci of fungus existed in the thoracic cavity with essentially pulmonary and glandular localizations.

[Chaetotaxy of the cercaria of Paramphistomum sp., a parasite of cattle in Vendée]. / Chétotaxie de la cercaire de Paramphistomum sp. parasite du bétail en Vendée.

The cercaria was shed by an Anisus rotundatus experimentally infected with a parasite of Bos taurus in Vendée (France). This Trematode was identified as Paramphistomum cervi. The snail natural host is unknown. The chaetotaxy of the cercaria differs from that of other European species of Paramphistomum and particularly from P. leydeni and P. daubneyi both species which occur in Vendée. The morphology of the adult precludes any relationship with P. ichikawai also present in Vendée. Therefore it very likely represents a species which was synonymised with P. cervi or a new species.