Prevalence of Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida in goats from selected farms in Selangor, Malaysia

Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida are natural inhabitants of the upper respiratory tract of healthy animals and can cause pneumonic pasteurellosis in stressed animals. Healthy animals are able to control the multiplication of these bacteria and the inhaled bacteria, if they migrate to the lungs, will be cleared by the host defense mechanisms. Stress and other infections will cause the breakdown of the host defense mechanisms. These will lead to multiplication of the bacteria and colonisation of the lungs. Outbreaks of pneumonia occur in 10 to 14 days post-stress exposure. These bacteria are gram-negative, facultative anaerobes and have rod-shaped morphology. The special characteristic of these bacteria is that they show bipolar staining characteristic under Giemsa and Wright’s stains. Mannheimia haemolytica is haemolytic on blood agar and O-nitrophenyl-β, D-galactopyranoside (ONPG) positive while Pasteurella multocida is non-haemolytic on blood agar and ONPG negative. Ninety six (96) nasopharyngeal swab samples were taken from 4 goat farms in Selangor, Malaysia and bacterial isolation and identification were carried out. Presumptive isolates were identified by biochemical tests. Out of the 96 samples, 3 were positive for Mannheimia haemolytica and 11 positive for Pasteurella multocida. This gives a 3.13% and 11.46% prevalence rate for Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella mutocida, respectively. The antibiotic sensitivity tests done on both isolates showed 29% were resistant to streptomycin and 21% resistant to compound sulfonamide. All isolates were sensitive to ampicillin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid whilst 93% was sensitive to oxytetracycline and enrofloxacin. Even with low prevalence of Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida, it is important to control and prevent their infections and also to prevent further development of antimicrobial resistance as the disease is associated with these bacteria and have high economic impact

Induction of skin ulcers in moon light gourami (Trichogaster microlepis) with Aphanomyces invadans zoospores

Epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) is one of the seasonal and economically devastating diseases in the wild and farmed fresh water and estuarine fish. Thus, an experimental study was conducted by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) from February to April 2012, to examine the susceptibility of Malaysia’s indigenous fish to EUS infection. In this experiment, forty apparently healthy moonlight gourami (Trichogaster microlepis) (10 ± 2 g body weight and 7.5 ± 1 cm in body length) were kept at 20 °C and challenged by intramuscular injection of zoospores (0.1 ml of 10,000 spores ml–1 suspension ) of Aphanomyces invadans (isolate NJM9701). Fish were observed daily for characteristic EUS clinical signs during the 14-day trial and sampled at 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 12, 14 days post-injection. The infected skin and muscle were then sampled for histopathological examination. The results demonstrated that injected fish started to develop lesions that were histopathologically and grossly identical to those found in naturally EUS-infected fish and they died within two weeks after the infection. The profoundly penetrating ulcers had characteristics such as severe dermatitis, myofibrillar degeneration, and deep necrotizing granulomatous myositis. Therefore, the result of this study proved that moonlight gourami was vulnerable to the EUS agent

Effect of enrichment on stress level of laboratory rats

In certain biomedical research protocols, there is a need to singly house experimental rats. Since rodents are classified as social animals in nature, housing rats singly will result in stress to the animals. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of enrichment to the stress leukogram, feed intake, weight gain and behavior of singly-housed rats as opposed to singly-housed rats without enrichment and pair-housed rats. Eighteen 5 weeks old, male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups; singly-housed without enrichment, singly-housed with enrichment (provided with enrichment nestlets), and pair-housed. The rats were acclimatized for 7 days before start of study. Blood samplings were done on days 0, 14 and 26 for complete blood and differential counts. Feed intake and weight gain were recorded every 4 days and on days 0, 14 and 26. Behavioral assessment was done every week for 10 minutes for each cage. Results showed significant neutropenia in the singly-housed rats with and without enrichment as opposed to neutrophilia in the pair-housed rats. Monocytosis and eosinophilia were also more evident in the singly-housed rats without enrichment than in either the pair-housed rats or singly-housed rats with enrichment. However, there was no significant difference in other blood parameters, feed intake and weight gain. Singly-housed rats without enrichment also showed significantly higher stereotypical behavior when compared to rats in the other two groups. Thus, it could be concluded that singly-housed rats did not show higher stress level than pair-housed rats in the short term. Enrichment nestlets too have been proven to be effective in reducing some degree stress, aggression and stereotypical behavior in singly-housed rats

Leptospiral infections in stray dogs in Malaysia

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease of worldwide importance. Besides rodents, dogs have also been implicated as a source of infection to humans. Samples of urine and blood from 142 stray dogs were examined for leptospirosis by serological tests and bacterial cultures. Of these, 83% (118/142) and 33% (471142) of the serum samples were positive by ELISA-IgM/IgG and the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) respectively. No leptospiral isolates were obtained on culture. Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona was found to be the most predominant serovar in the dogs with an infection rate of 68% at MAT titres of ~ 100. Urine and serum samples were randomly selected for detection and identification of leptospires by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and low-stringency PCR assay respectively. All seropositive samples selected were positive by PCR assay. One urine sample showed the presence of leptospires based on PCR assay

Feline Cryptococcus in Malaysia: a first report

Cryptococcosis was diagnosed in a Domestic Shorthair cat showing upper respiratory signs of sneezing, stertorous, bilateral mucopurulent nasal discharges and swelling over the frontal area and nasal bridge. The diagnosis was made based on cytology, culture and histopathology. Treatment with itraconazole was unsuccessful because of poor client compliance. To our knowledge, this is the first report of cryptococcosis in cats in Malaysia

Effect of stocking density on Haematological indices and welfare of grower rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in tropical climate.

Ten New Zealand white cross rabbits of mixed sexes aged 10 weeks were used to evaluate the effect of stocking density (1 m2/rabbit and 0.1 m2/rabbit for 29 days) on haematological indices and welfare parameters in tropical climate. The rabbits were divided equally and allotted to the two stocking densities corresponding to an area of 0.5 m2 for Group A and 5 m2 for Group B. The rabbits were fed ad libitum with commercial rabbit grower pellets and fresh water was freely available throughout the study period. Each treatment group was also given carrot every Saturday and alfalfa hay every Monday evening as dietary enrichment. Group B rabbits had higher packed cell volume, haemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and recorded a steeper rise of these indices over time when compared to Group A rabbits. Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratio showed a correlation between social hierarchy and the availability of more space. Group A rabbits had higher weight gain and feed efficiency compared to that of Group B rabbits. However Group B rabbits recorded higher locomotor activity and Group A rabbits were observed to be utilizing the raised platform more. Both groups enjoyed the dietary enrichment exhibiting increased locomotor activity. The results of the study indicate that rabbits kept at 1 m2/rabbit had better haematological indices and locomotion activities compared to rabbits kept at 0.1 m2/rabbit in the tropical climate of Malaysia

Seroprevalence of helicobacter hepaticus in mice from laboratary animal facilities in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Helicobacter is a genus of Gram-negativebacteria possessing a characteristic helix shape. They were initially considered to be members of the Campylobacter genus, but since 1989 they have been grouped in their own genus. Helicobacter hepaticusis an enterohepatic Helicobacter species (EHS) belonging to the family Helicobacteriaceae of the order Campylobacterales of Epsilon-proteobacteria division. It is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic, urease-positive, spiral rod. H. hepaticus colonises the colon and invades the liver of mice causing chronic severe active hepatitis and proliferative typhlocolitis. It can also induce hepatocellular carcinomas in certain breeds. The bacterium has been associated with inflammatory bowel disease in immunocompromised mice. Certain strains of mice will develop a proliferative, inflammatory typhlitis and/or colitis that may result in rectal prolapse. Detection of H. hepaticus in laboratory mice is therefore important because of its effect on research animals ultimately complicating the research findings. Currently PCR, culture, serology test or histologic examination of silver-stained liver sections is used to diagnose H. hepaticus infection. Most mice colonised with helicobacters remain asymptomatic for long periods of time. This study was conducted to investigate the serological prevalence of Helicobacter hepaticus in mice in 5 laboratory facilities in the Klang Valley. Fifty sera were collected and examined for presence of H. hepaticus antibodies by commercial ELISA test kit. Result showed two facilities had positive sera towards H. hepaticus while the rest were negative. Four of fifty sera were positive while other serum samples were negative

Serological prevalence of leptospiral infection in wild rats at the National Service Training Centres in Kelantan and Terengganu

One hundred and sixty eight rats were trapped from the National Service Training Centres (NSTC) in Kelantan and Terengganu from October 2008 to May 2009. Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was performed to detect the presence of agglutinating antibodies to Leptospira among the rats caught. All the MAT positive rats were identified as Rattus tiomanicus. In Kelantan, 17.3% (14/81) of the rats had leptospiral antibodies to serovars Icterohaemorrhagiae (12.3%), Canicola (2.5%), Ballum (1.2%), and Pyrogenes (1.2%). In Terengganu, 18.4% (16/87) of the rats had antibodies to serovars Icterohaemorrhagiae (15%), Canicola (1.1%), Pyrogenes (1.1%) and Hebdomadis (1.1%). This study indicated that Leptospira serovars were prevalent in the rat population in the study areas and could be a source of infection to humans. Therefore, control of the rat population in all NSTC is critical to prevent outbreaks of leptospirosis amongst the NSTC trainees