Increasing incidence of canine leptospirosis in Switzerland.

A marked increase in canine leptospirosis was observed in Switzerland over 10 years with a peak incidence of 28.1 diagnosed cases/100,000 dogs/year in the most affected canton. With 95% affected dogs living at altitudes <800 m, the disease presented a seasonal pattern associated with temperature (r2 0.73) and rainfall (r2 0.39), >90% cases being diagnosed between May and October. The increasing yearly incidence however was only weakly correlated with climatic data including number of summer (r2 0.25) or rainy days (r2 0.38). Serovars Australis and Bratislava showed the highest seropositivity rates with 70.5% and 69.1%, respectively. Main clinical manifestations included renal (99.6%), pulmonary (76.7%), hepatic (26.0%), and hemorrhagic syndromes (18.2%), leading to a high mortality rate (43.3%). Similar to the human disease, liver involvement had the strongest association with negative outcome (OR 16.3). Based on these data, canine leptospirosis presents similar features and severity as the human infection for which it therefore can be considered a model. Its re-emergence in a temperate country with very high incidence rates in canines should thus be viewed as a warning and emphasize the need for increased awareness in other species.

Exposure of cats to low doses of FeLV: seroconversion as the sole parameter of infection.

In felids, feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection results in a variety of outcomes that range from abortive (virus readily eliminated and never detectable) to progressive infection (persistent viremia and viral shedding). Recently, a novel outcome was postulated for low FeLV infectious doses. Naïve cats exposed to faeces of persistently infected cats seroconverted, indicating infection, but remained negative for provirus and p27 antigen in blood. FeLV provirus was found in some tissues but not in the bone marrow, infection of which is usually considered a necessary stage for disease progression. To investigate the impact of low FeLV doses on young cats and to test the hypothesis that low dose exposure may lead to an unknown pathogenesis of infection without involvement of the bone marrow, 21 cats were infected oronasally with variable viral doses. Blood p27, proviral and viral loads were followed until week 20 post-infection. Tissue proviral loads were determined as well. The immune response was monitored by measuring FeLV whole virus and p45 antibodies; and feline oncornavirus-associated cell membrane antigen (FOCMA) assay. One cat showed regressive infection (transient antigenemia, persistent provirus-positivity, and seroconversion) with provirus only found in some organs at sacrifice. In 7 of the 20 remaining cats FOCMA assay positivity was the only sign of infection, while all other tests were negative. Overall, the results show that FeLV low dose exposure can result in seroconversion during a presumed abortive infection. Therefore, commonly used detection methods do not detect all FeLV-infected animals, possibly leading to an underestimation of the prevalence of infection.

[Different clinical forms of adrenal abscess in two newborns]. / Mellékvesetályog különbözo megjelenési formái két ujszülöttben.

Adrenal abscess is a rare disease in the neonatal period. The classical symptoms are abdominal mass, anaemia and prolonged jaundice which are associated with fever, vomiting and feeding difficulties. The authors present the histories of two mature, male newborns with adrenal hemorrhage, where the size of the masses increased progressively and finally adrenal abscesses were developed. The first case showed the classical symptoms of adrenal abscess, however, the antibiotic treatment led to complete remission of the symptoms and laboratory infectious markers, therefore the baby was discharged. In a few day later he became septic and was admitted again. This time he was operated on and a large abscess was evacuated, which contained about 60 ml of pus. After this intervention multi-organ failure developed, but due to the intensive therapy the baby recovered. In the second newborn the increasing adrenal hemorrhage was accompanied by elevated infectious markers despite of the different antibiotic treatments, however, he showed no clinical signs of infection. Because of the discrepancies between the clinical and laboratory findings and also the imaging studies the possibility of neuroblastoma has also arisen. Urinary vanillylmandelic acid excretion was normal, but elevated neuron-specific enolase levels were measured. Surgical exploration was performed, pus was drained from the mass and anaerobic Bacteroides fragilis was cultured, therefore metronidazole therapy was started. After that the baby fully recovered.

Characterization of virulence plasmids and serotyping of rhodococcus equi isolates from submaxillary lymph nodes of pigs in Hungary.

The plasmid types and serotypes of 164 Rhodococcus equi strains obtained from submaxillary lymph nodes of swine from different piggeries in 28 villages and towns located throughout the country were examined. The strains were tested by PCR for the presence of 15- to 17-kDa virulence-associated protein antigen (VapA) and 20-kDa virulence-associated protein antigen (VapB) genes. Plasmid DNAs were isolated and analyzed by digestion with restriction endonucleases to estimate size and compare their polymorphism characteristics. None of the 164 isolates contained the vapA gene, and 44 (26.8%) isolates were positive for the vapB gene, showing a product of the expected 827-bp size in the PCR amplification. The 44 isolates of intermediate virulence contained virulence plasmids that were identified as types 1 (3 isolates), 4 (1 isolate), 5 (36 isolates), 6 (1 isolate), and 7 (2 isolates) and as a new variant (1 isolate). On the basis of restriction digestion patterns of plasmid DNAs, we tentatively designated the variant as type 17. Use of the serotyping method of Prescott showed that 110 (67.1%) out of the 164 isolates were typeable and that serotype 2 predominated (83 isolates [50.6%]), followed by serotype 1 (26 strains [15.9%]). Only one isolate belonged to serotype 3. A total of 54 (32.9%) isolates were untypeable in Prescott's system. The prevalence of R. equi strains of intermediate virulence among the isolates that came from the submaxillary lymph nodes of swine in Hungary was lower than that seen with isolates obtained elsewhere.

In vitro sensitivity of Hungarian Actinobaculum suis strains to selected antimicrobials.

In vitro antimicrobial sensitivity of 12 Hungarian isolates and the type strain ATCC 33144 of Actinobaculum suis to different antimicrobial compounds was determined both by the agar dilution and by the disc diffusion method. By agar dilution, MIC50 values in the range of 0.05-3.125 micrograms/ml were determined for penicillin, ampicillin, ceftiofur, doxycycline, tylosin, pleuromutilins, chloramphenicol, florfenicol, enrofloxacin and lincomycin. The MIC50 value of oxytetracycline and spectinomycin was 6.25 and 12.5 micrograms/ml, respectively. For ofloxacin, flumequine, neomycin, streptomycin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid, nitrofurantoin and sulphamethoxazole + trimethoprim MIC50 values were in the range of 25-100 micrograms/ml. With the disc diffusion method, all strains were sensitive to penicillin, cephalosporins examined, chloramphenicol and florfenicol, tetracyclines examined, pleuromutilins, lincomycin and tylosin. Variable sensitivity was observed for fluoroquinolones (flumequine, enrofloxacin, ofloxacin), most of the strains were susceptible to marbofloxacin. Almost all strains were resistant to aminoglycosides but most of them were sensitive to spectinomycin. A strong correlation was determined for disc diffusion and MIC results (Spearman's rho 0.789, p < 0001). MIC values of the type strain and MIC50 values of other tested strains did not differ significantly. Few strains showed a partially distinct resistance pattern for erythromycin, lincomycin and ampicillin in both methods.