RESUMEN
Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis, remains a serious animal health problem in the UK, despite longstanding statutory surveillance and control measures. Endemic infection in the Eurasian badger population is thought to complicate bTB eradication efforts. Sporadic cases of M bovis infection have also been reported in domestic animals other than cattle. Human M bovis infection is extremely rare in the native UK population in the absence of unpasteurised milk consumption or residence abroad. Here, pulmonary TB infection in a UK born female and her pet dog is described, caused by an identical strain of M bovis. Latent TB infection was also identified in a household contact. The potential routes of infection and implications of this case are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedades de los Perros/transmisión , Mycobacterium bovis , Tuberculosis Pulmonar/transmisión , Zoonosis/transmisión , Adulto , Animales , Animales Domésticos , Niño , Perros , Femenino , Humanos , Tuberculosis Pulmonar/veterinariaRESUMEN
The first evidence suggestive of in vivo gas bubble formation in cetacea, including eight animals stranded in the UK, has recently been reported. This article presents the pathologic findings from these eight UK-stranded cetaceans and two additional UK-stranded cetacean cases in detail. Hepatic gas-filled cavitary lesions (0.2-6.0 cm diameter) involving approximately 5-90% of the liver volume were found in four (two juvenile, two adult) Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), three (two adult, one juvenile) common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), an adult Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), and an adult harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Histopathologic examination of the seven dolphin cases with gross liver cavities revealed variable degrees of pericavitary fibrosis, microscopic, intrahepatic, spherical, nonstaining cavities (typically 50-750 microm in diameter) consistent with gas emboli within distended portal vessels and sinusoids and associated with hepatic tissue compression, hemorrhages, fibrin/organizing thrombi, and foci of acute hepato-cellular necrosis. Two common dolphins also had multiple and bilateral gross renal cavities (2.0-9.0 mm diameter) that, microscopically, were consistent with acute (n = 2) and chronic (n = 1) arterial gas emboli-induced renal infarcts. Microscopic, bubblelike cavities were also found in mesenteric lymph node (n = 4), adrenal (n = 2), spleen (n = 2), pulmonary associated lymph node (n = 1), posterior cervical lymph node (n = 1), and thyroid (n = 1). No bacterial organisms were isolated from five of six cavitated livers and one of one cavitated kidneys. The etiology and pathogenesis of these lesions are not known, although a decompression-related mechanism involving embolism of intestinal gas or de novo gas bubble (emboli) development derived from tissues supersaturated with nitrogen is suspected.
Asunto(s)
Cetáceos , Enfermedad de Descompresión/patología , Enfermedad de Descompresión/veterinaria , Hígado/patología , Animales , Enfermedad de Descompresión/diagnóstico , Enfermedad de Descompresión/epidemiología , Femenino , Técnicas Histológicas/veterinaria , Inmunohistoquímica/veterinaria , Riñón/patología , Ganglios Linfáticos/patología , Masculino , Reino Unido/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
During the decade to 1999, the incidence of human infections with the zoonotic pathogen verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 (VTEC O157) increased in England and Wales. This paper describes the results of a survey of 75 farms to determine the prevalence of faecal excretion of VTEC O157 by cattle, its primary reservoir host, in England and Wales. Faecal samples were collected from 4663 cattle between June and December 1999. The prevalence of excretion by individual cattle was 4.2 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval [CI] 2.0 to 6.4) and 10.3 per cent (95 per cent CI 5.8 to 14.8) among animals in infected herds. The within-herd prevalence on positive farms ranged from 1.1 to 51.4 per cent. At least one positive animal was identified on 29 (38.7 per cent; 95 per cent CI 28.1 to 50.4) of the farms, including dairy, suckler and fattening herds. The prevalence of excretion was least in the calves under two months of age, peaked in the calves aged between two and six months and declined thereafter. The phage types identified most widely were 4, 34 and 2, which were each found on six of the 29 positive farms.