Aquatic Bird Bornavirus 1 in Wild Geese, Denmark

To investigate aquatic bird bornavirus 1 in Europe, we examined 333 brains from hunter-killed geese in Denmark in 2014. Seven samples were positive by reverse transcription PCR and were 98.2%–99.8% identical; they were also 97.4%–98.1% identical to reference strains of aquatic bird bornavirus 1 from geese in North America

Further evidence of Chelonid herpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) latency : High levels of ChHV5 DNA detected in clinically healthy marine turtles

The Chelonid herpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) has been consistently associated with fibropapillomatosis (FP), a transmissible neoplastic disease of marine turtles. Whether ChHV5 plays a causal role remains debated, partly because while FP tumours have been clearly documented to contain high concentrations of ChHV5 DNA, recent PCRbased studies have demonstrated that large proportions of asymptomatic marine turtles are also carriers of ChHV5. We used a real-time PCR assay to quantify the levels of ChHV5 Glycoprotein B (gB) DNA in both tumour and non-tumour skin tissues, from clinically affected and healthy turtles drawn from distant ocean basins across four species. In agreement with previous studies, higher ratios of viral to host DNA were consistently observed in tumour versus non-tumour tissues in turtles with FP. Unexpectedly however, the levels of ChHV5 gB DNA in clinically healthy turtles were significantly higher than in non-tumour tissues from FP positive turtles. Thus, a large proportion of clinically healthy sea turtle populations worldwide across species carry ChHV5 gB DNA presumably through persistent latent infections. ChHV5 appears to be ubiquitous regardless of the animals' clinical conditions. Hence, these results support the theory that ChHV5 is a near ubiquitous virus with latency characteristics requiring co-factors, possibly environmental or immune related, to induce FP

The impact of vatinoxan on medetomidine-ketamine-midazolam immobilization in Patagonian maras (Dolichotis patagonum)

Objective To compare cardiovascular and ventilatory effects, immobilization quality and effects on tissue perfusion of a medetomidine-ketamine-midazolam combination with or without vatinoxan (MK-467), a peripherally acting alpha(2)-adrenoceptor antagonist. Study design Randomized, blinded, crossover study. Animals A group of nine healthy Patagonian maras (Dolichotis patagonum). Methods Maras were immobilized twice with: 1) medetomidine hydrochloride (0.1 mg kg(-1)) + ketamine (5 mg kg(-1)) + midazolam (0.1 mg kg(-1)) (MKM) + saline or 2) MKM + vatinoxan hydrochloride (0.8 mg kg(-1)), administered intramuscularly. Drugs were mixed in the same syringe. At 20, 30 and 40 minutes after injection, invasive blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, end-tidal CO2, haemoglobin oxygen saturation, and muscle oxygenation were measured, arteriovenous oxygen content difference was calculated. Muscle tone, jaw tone, spontaneous blinking and palpebral reflex were evaluated. Times to initial effect, recumbency, initial arousal and control of the head were recorded. Paired t test, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test and analysis of variance were used to compare protocols; (p 120 mmHg), whereas with 372 vatinoxan, four animals were hypotensive (MAP <60 mmHg). Muscle and jaw tone were significantly more frequently present with MKM (both p = 0.039). Other measurements did not significantly differ between protocols. Conclusions and clinical relevance In Patagonian maras, vatinoxan attenuated the increase in blood pressure induced by medetomidine. Muscle and jaw tone were more frequently present with MKM, indicating that quality of immobilization with vatinoxan was more profound.Peer reviewe

Accuracy of the Aspartic Acid Racemization Technique in Age Estimation of Mammals and the Influence of Body Temperature

The aspartic acid racemization (AAR) technique has been applied for age estimation of humans and other mammals for more than four decades. In this study, eye lenses from 124 animals representing 25 mammalian species were collected and D/L ratios obtained using the AAR technique. The animals were either of known age or had the age estimated by other methods. The purpose of the study was to: a) estimate the accuracy of the AAR technique, and b) examine the effect of body temperature on racemization rates. Samples from four of the 25 species covered the range of ages that is needed to estimate species-specific racemization rates. The sample size from a single species of known age, the pygmy goat (Capra hircus, n = 35), was also large enough to investigate the accuracy of ages obtained using the AAR technique. The 35 goats were divided into three datasets: all goats (n = 35), goats >0.5 yrs old (n = 26) and goats >2 yrs old (n = 19). Leave-one-out analyses were performed on the three sets of data. Normalized root mean squared errors for the group of goats >0.5 yrs old were found to be the smallest. The higher variation in D/L measurements found for young goats 0.5 yrs old was for three age groups of the goats: 0.934 yrs for young goats 8 yrs (n = 4). Thus, the age of an adult or an old animal can be predicted with approximately 10% accuracy, whereas the age of a young animal is difficult to predict. A goat specific racemization rate, as a 2kAsp value, was estimated to 0.0107 ± 3.8 x 10-4 SE (n = 26). The 2kAsp values from 12 species, four estimated in this study and another eight published, were used to examine the effect of core body temperature on the rate of racemization. A positive relationship between AAR and temperature was found (r2 = 0.321) but results also suggest that other factors besides temperature are involved in the racemization process in living animals. Based on our results we emphasize that non-species-specific racemization rates should be used with care in AAR age estimation studies and that the period of postnatal growth of the eye lens be considered when estimating species-specific D/L0 values and ages of young individuals

Assessment of the LeadCare® Plus for Use on Scandinavian Brown Bears (Ursus arctos)

publishedVersio

Improvement of arterial oxygenation in free-ranging moose (Alces alces) immobilized with etorphine-acepromazine-xylazine

Background: The effect of intranasal oxygen and/or early reversal of xylazine with atipamezole on arterial oxygenation in free-ranging moose (Alces alces) immobilized with etorphine-acepromazine-xylazine with a cross-sectional clinical study on 33 adult moose was evaluated. Moose were darted from a helicopter with 3.37 mg etorphine, 15 mg acepromazine and 75 mg xylazine. Intranasal oxygen at a flow rate of 4 L/min and/or early reversal of xylazine with 7.5 mg atipamezole to improve oxygenation was evaluated, using four treatment regimens; intranasal oxygen (n = 10), atipamezole intramuscularly (n = 6), atipamezole intravenously (n = 10), or a combination of atipamezole intravenously and intranasal oxygen (n = 7). Arterial blood was collected 7–30 minutes (min) after darting, and again 15 min after institution of treatment and immediately analyzed using an i-STAT®1 Portable Clinical Analyzer. Results: Before treatment the mean ± SD (range) partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2) was 62 ± 17 (26–99) mmHg. Twenty-six animals had a PaO2 < 80 mmHg. Ten had a PaO2 of 40–60 mmHg and three animals had a PaO2 < 40 mmHg. Intranasal oxygen and intravenous administration of atipamezole significantly increased the mean PaO2, as did the combination of the two. In contrast, atipamezole administered intramuscularly at the evaluated dose had no significant effect on arterial oxygenation. Conclusions: This study shows that intranasal oxygen effectively improved arterial oxygenation in immobilized moose, and that early intravenous reversal of the sedative component, in this case xylazine, in an opioid-based immobilization drug-protocol significantly improves arterial oxygenation

West Nile Virus Encephalitis in a Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus)

An aged Barbary ape (Macaca sylvanus) at the Toronto Zoo became infected with naturally acquired West Nile virus (WNV) encephalitis that caused neurologic signs, which, associated with other medical problems, led to euthanasia. The diagnosis was based on immunohistochemical assay of brain lesions, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction, and virus isolation