Hierarchical modelling of immunoglobulin coated bacteria in dogs with chronic enteropathy shows reduction in coating with disease remission but marked inter-individual and treatment-response variability

Chronic enteropathies are a common problem in dogs, but many aspects of the pathogenesis remain unknown, making the therapeutic approach challenging in some cases. Environmental factors are intimately related to the development and perpetuation of gastrointestinal disease and the gut microbiome has been identified as a contributing factor. Previous studies have identified dysbiosis and reduced bacterial diversity in the gastrointestinal microbiota of dogs with chronic enteropathies. In this case-controlled study, we use flow cytometry and 16S rRNA sequencing to characterise bacteria highly coated with IgA or IgG in faecal samples from dogs with chronic enteropathy and evaluated their correlation with disease and resolution of the clinical signs. IgA and IgG-coated faecal bacterial counts were significantly higher during active disease compared to healthy dogs and decreased with the resolution of the clinical signs. Characterisation of taxa-specific coating of the intestinal microbiota with IgA and IgG showed marked variation between dogs and disease states, and different patterns of immunoglobulin enrichment were observed in dogs with chronic enteropathy, particularly for Erysipelotrichaceae, Clostridicaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Prevotellaceae and Bacteroidaceae, families. Although, members of these bacterial groups have been associated with strong immunogenic properties and could potentially constitute important biomarkers of disease, their significance and role need to be further investigated

Bacteriophage therapy: a ray of hope in the war against antimicrobial-resistant bacteria

[Extract] Emerging and worsening antimicrobial resistance represents an enormous threat to public health, one that is exacerbated by an almost dry antibiotic pipeline. The threat has recently been recognised by the World Health Organisation and the Australian Government. The costs of this worsening crisis are high and growing. In the United States alone, recent estimates indicate that about $20 billion per year is lost in direct costs associated with antimicrobial resistant infections and more than$35 billion per year in indirect, consequent loss of productivity. More than 2 million people per year in USA acquire an infection in hospital, many of them antimicrobial resistant, and there are 99,000 consequent deaths per year. Abundant, potential coping strategies for the worsening antimicrobial resistance crisis have been proposed. Among these, bacteriophage therapy has received relatively little, but increasing, attention. Bacteriophages (phages for short) are viruses that can infect and kill bacteria, including antimicrobial resistant pathogens. Bacteriophages are ubiquitous, highly diverse, astronomically numerous and most are exquisitely host strain-specific. They can infect only their target bacteria, often only a small subset of a particular host bacterial species. It is likely that a very large majority of all bacterial species have their own bacteriophages. It has been estimated that phage particles outnumber bacterial particles in a mammalian body by approximately 10:1. Given that bacterial cells outnumber mammalian cells approximately 10:1, there may be 100 phage particles per mammalian cell in a healthy animal’s body. Bacteriophages have been used extensively in development of the field of molecular biology. Just some of the discoveries made through study of phages include: DNA is genetic material; nucleic acid codons are arranged in triplets; messenger RNA is needed for protein synthesis; and restriction endonucleases (which arose during the course of evolution to cleave infecting bacteriophage DNA) can be used as workhorses by researchers and technologists in recombinant DNA work. The diversity of phages is almost as impressive as their massive abundance. In one study,5 a single visit to a sewage treatment plant in a small city, and collection of a small volume of effluent fluid, was sufficient to discover 40 distinct bacteriophages capable of killing canine and feline uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains. The mean number of UPEC strains killed by an individual bacteriophage was 21/53 (40%; range 17-72%). Only 3/53 studied UPEC strains could not be killed by any of the phages that were collected during a single collection visit. The 10 “best” phages could each, individually, kill more than 50% of the 53 UPEC strains. Used in combination, the 10 phages would be expected to kill 92%

Imaging diagnosis: the computed tomography features of a pleuroperitoneal hernia in a cat

An 8-year-old female neutered domestic short hair cat presented for investigation of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. Thoracic radiographs identified a soft tissue opacity in the caudoventral thorax adjacent to the diaphragm. Computed tomography (CT) then characterized a pleuroperitoneal hernia with cranial displacement of a portion of the liver within the hernia. A pleuroperitoneal hernia was confirmed and repaired via exploratory laparotomy. This is the first description of the CT features of a pleuroperitoneal hernia in a cat. (C) 2016 American College of Veterinary Radiology

Long-term survival and quality of life in dogs with clinical signs associated with a congenital portosystemic shunt after surgical or medical treatment

Objective—To compare long-term survival and quality of life data in dogs with clinical signs associated with a congenital portosystemic shunt (CPSS) that underwent medical or surgical treatment.Design—Prospective cohort study.Animals—124 client-owned dogs with CPSS.Procedures—Dogs received medical or surgical treatment without regard to signalment, clinical signs, or clinicopathologic results. Survival data were analyzed with a Cox regression model. Quality of life information, obtained from owner questionnaires, included frequency of CPSS-associated clinical signs (from which a clinical score was derived), whether owners considered their dog normal, and (for surgically treated dogs) any ongoing medical treatment for CPSS. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare mean clinical score data between surgically and medically managed dogs during predetermined follow-up intervals.Results—97 dogs underwent surgical treatment; 27 were managed medically. Median follow-up time for all dogs was 1,936 days. Forty-five dogs (24 medically managed and 21 surgically managed) died or were euthanized during the follow-up period. Survival rate was significantly improved in dogs that underwent surgical treatment (hazard ratio, 8.11; 95% CI, 4.20 to 15.66) than in those treated medically for CPSS. Neither age at diagnosis nor shunt type affected survival rate. Frequency of clinical signs was lower in surgically versus medically managed dogs for all follow-up intervals, with a significant difference between groups at 4 to 7 years after study entry.Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Surgical treatment of CPSS in dogs resulted in significantly improved survival rate and lower frequency of ongoing clinical signs, compared with medical management. Age at diagnosis did not affect survival rate and should not influence treatment choice