[Suspected hippocampal sclerosis in an european shorthair cat diagnosed with polycythemia vera]. / Verdacht auf Hippocampussklerose bei einer Europäisch-Kurzhaar-Katze mit der Diagnose Polycythaemia vera.

A 7-year-old male castrated cat was presented because of an acute onset of lethargy and vestibular ataxia. The cat was diagnosed with polycythemia vera. Later the patient developed additional clinical signs including orofacial twitching, aggressivity, hypersalivation, circling and a head tilt. A magnetic resonance imaging was performed and revealed hippocampal alterations compatible with hippocampal sclerosis. The presented case report describes the clinical signs and hematologic findings in a cat with polycythemia vera and the response of treatment. Another part is the discussion about the hypothesis that the hippocampal alterations were due to a cerebral hypoperfusion caused by the polycythemic condition.

Morphometric analyses of canine blood microfilariae isolated by the Knott's test enables Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens species-specific and Acanthocheilonema (syn. Dipetalonema) genus-specific diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Considering the increasing importance of small animals travel medicine and the spread of filariae with zoonotic potential to non-endemic European areas, routine filarial diagnosis in dogs is becoming important. Dirofilaria immitis, D. repens, Acanthocheilonema dracunculoides and A. reconditum are the most common canine filarial nematodes presenting blood circulating microfilariae (mf) which can be differentiated to species level by the acid phosphatase activity patterns or by PCR. Available data on the size of the mf vary considerably in the literature. The aim of this study was to validate morphometric criteria for filarial identification in blood samples of dogs after concentration of mf with the modified Knott's technique. METHODS: Morphometric analysis of 10 mf from samples identified to species level by acid phosphatase activity and partially confirmed by PCR were performed with specimens from 377 dogs. RESULTS: The mean length and width of D. immitis mf from 60 dogs were 301.77 ± 6.29 µm and 6.30 ± 0.26 µm, of D. repens mf from 171 dogs 369.44 ± 10.76 µm 8.87 ± 0.58 µm, of A. dracunculoides mf from 133 dogs 259.43 ± 6.69 µm and 5.09 ± 0.47 µm and of A. reconditum mf from 13 dogs 264.83 ± 5.47 µm and 4.63 ± 0.52 µm.For a subset of 30 samples, morphometric analysis was repeated with identical results in two laboratories. Furthermore, the size of mf concentrated and fixed by the Knott's technique was shown to be stable over 105 days. CONCLUSIONS: The Knott's test enables to clearly distinguish between D. immitis, D. repens and Acanthocheilonema spp. However, due to the overlapping size ranges of A. dracunculoides and A. reconditum, biochemical or molecular methods are required to distinguish these two species.

Local transmission of the eye worm Thelazia callipaeda in southern Germany.

This report describes the first assumed locally transmitted case of the eye worm Thelazia callipaeda in a dog living in southern Germany. A 4-year-old male golden retriever from the town of Bühl in north eastern Baden-Württemberg, about 10 km from the German-French border, showed one sided lacrimation for over 2 weeks. Despite the application of antibiotics, there was no improvement, and the dog additionally showed blepharospasmus, epiphora and red conjunctivas. A deepened eye inspection revealed five whitish filiform parasites that were morphologically identified as T. callipaeda. The partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1, 605 bp) from one specimen revealed a novel haplotype, which differs by 1.3% from the only one (haplotype 1) identified in Europe so far. Since the infected dog had never been abroad with the exception of two daytrips to the close Alsace region in France, the transmission of T. callipaeda most probably was domestic. With the presence of end hosts and Phortica flies nourishing on lachrymal secretions acting as intermediate hosts and an increasing number of dogs travelling to and coming from endemic regions in the South, the establishment of T. callipaeda in large parts of Europe cannot be excluded.