An epidemic of sylvatic rabies in Finland--descriptive epidemiology and results of oral vaccination.

When rabies reappeared in Finland in April 1988, the country had been rabies free since 1959. Soon a picture of sylvatic rabies become evident, its main vector and victim being the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides). Between 8 April 1988 and 16 February 1989, 66 virologically verified cases were recorded (48 raccoon dogs, 12 red foxes, 2 badgers, 2 cats, 1 dog and 1 dairy bull) in an area estimated at 1700 km2 in south-eastern Finland. The greatest distance between recorded cases was 67 km. A positive reaction with monoclonal antibody p-41 indicated that the virus was an arctic-type strain. A field trial on oral immunization of small predators was initiated in September 1988 using Tübingen fox baits according to the Bavarian model of bait distribution. Each bait contained 5*10(7) TCID50/ml modified live rabies virus (SAD-B19). The 6 months' surveillance indicate a seroconversion rate of 72% (N = 126) in the raccoon dog population, 67% (N = 56) in the red foxes and 13% (N = 16) in the badgers, when titers greater than or equal to 1.0 IU/ml are considered seropositive. In the whole follow-up period, no statistically significant difference could be detected between the raccoon dogs and red foxes in the rate of seroconversion or in the uptake of tetracycline from the baits. Notably high antibody levels were recorded in both raccoon dogs and red foxes within 4-5 months after vaccination. Of the seropositive animals, the proportion of animals with titers 3.0 IU/ml or greater was higher in raccoon dogs (73%) than in red foxes (51%) (x2 = 5.29, p less than 0.05). The trial shows that raccoon dogs can be immunized against rabies in the field with vaccine baits originally developed for controlling sylvatic rabies in foxes.

Avian penicilliosis caused by Penicillium griseofulvum in a captive toucanet.

A sudden fatal illness developed in a group of New World toucanets held captive in Finland. Necropsy studies on one of the birds revealed the presence of invasive, hyaline, septate, branched mycelium in the lungs, air sacs, liver and other tissues. In addition, conidiophores and conidial chains, typical of members of the genus Penicillium were present in the lungs and air sacs. Cultures yielded a mould which was subsequently identified as Penicillium griseofulvum. A critical review of the literature revealed that only seven other species of Penicillium have been convincingly documented as agents of penicilliosis on the basis of histologic and cultural findings.

A comparative study of the intestinal anatomy of deer.

The intestinal anatomy of fallow deer (Dama dama), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), and elk (Alces alces) was studied. Special attention was given to the spiral loop of the ascending colon and the proportional length of the small and large intestines. The spiral loop of the ascending colon is wound 3-3 1/2 turns in the fallow deer, 2-3 turns in the white-tailed deer, 5 1/2-7 turns in the reindeer and 3-4 turns in the elk. The distal half of the last centrifugal turn of the spiral loop, regularly has one additional loop in the ventro-caudal quadrant of the mesenterial disc in the white-tailed deer, and one, or sometimes two such loops in the reindeer. In the elk this part of the gut usually constitutes a greater part of the spiral loop than the coil proper, and runs in several irregular loops and small coils between the coil proper and the jejunal attachment. Irregular patterns of the coil proper are common, and occur in all four species. The mean relative length of the large intestine was about 52% of the small intestine in the reindeer and 55-57% in the other species, which indicates, that significant differences in gut proportions do not exist in the deer species studied, perhaps with an exception for the reindeer.