Assuntos
Doenças das Aves/prevenção & controle , Comunicação , Conservação dos Recursos Naturais , Agricultura , Animais , Aves , Café , Costa Rica , Humanos , Cooperação Internacional , PesquisaRESUMO
Pathogens of free-ranging chickens create a risk of disease for wild birds, some of which migrate to the United States, as well as potential economic losses for resource-poor farmers. Free-roaming backyard chickens are commonly kept in shade-grown coffee plantations, habitats that attract large numbers of wild birds. The husbandry and pathogen prevalence of backyard chicken flocks in San Luis, Costa Rica, were investigated. Based on serologic evidence, Newcastle disease virus, infectious laryngotracheitis virus, infectious bronchitis virus, chicken anemia virus, and infectious bursal disease virus, as well as both Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae, appear to be significant diseases of this population, and thus, we consider these backyard chickens potential reservoirs for these diseases. There was no evidence of avian influenza. Interviews, clinical examinations, and microscopic examination of tissues led us to believe that poxvirus is also a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in these chickens. We found that Escherichia coli isolates were resistant against tilmicosin, tetracycline, ampicillin, amoxicillin with clavulanic acid, ticarcillin, and cephalothin, and contained genes considered responsible for conferring tetracycline resistance. Additionally, although production was not measured, we suspect that husbandry and lack of preventative medicine are directly related to the diseases reported, all of which negatively affect production.
Assuntos
Galinhas , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/transmissão , Agricultura , Criação de Animais Domésticos , Animais , Animais Selvagens , Anticorpos Antibacterianos/sangue , Anticorpos Antivirais/sangue , Infecções Bacterianas/epidemiologia , Infecções Bacterianas/microbiologia , Costa Rica/epidemiologia , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/epidemiologia , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/microbiologia , Fatores de Risco , Viroses/epidemiologia , Viroses/virologiaRESUMO
The health of a population of free-ranging tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) inhabiting Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica, was assessed as part of an ongoing ecologic study. Nineteen tapirs were immobilized between March 1997 and February 2000, and samples of blood, skin biopsies, and ectoparasites were collected. Ticks were identified as Amblyomma oblongoguttatum or A. coelebs. Hematology and serum biochemistry results suggest statistically significant differences between free-ranging and captive populations that should be interpreted with caution in view of inherent environmental differences between the two populations. Five of 17 animals tested positive for Leptospira bratislava, and 12 individuals tested positive for Venezuelan equine encephalitis. One of nine skin biopsies examined was abnormal and diagnosed as leukoderma. This report represents the first health assessment of a free-ranging population of tapirs.
Assuntos
Análise Química do Sangue/veterinária , Ectoparasitoses/veterinária , Nível de Saúde , Perissodáctilos/fisiologia , Animais , Animais Selvagens/fisiologia , Costa Rica , Ectoparasitoses/epidemiologia , Meio Ambiente , Feminino , Leptospirose/epidemiologia , Leptospirose/veterinária , Masculino , Perissodáctilos/sangue , Perissodáctilos/parasitologia , Pele/parasitologia , Pele/patologia , Infestações por Carrapato/epidemiologia , Infestações por Carrapato/veterináriaRESUMO
Seventeen Gulf of Mexico sturgeons (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) underwent endoscopic sex determination, gonadal biopsy, and various reproductive surgeries as part of a conservation development plan. The fish were anesthetized with tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222) buffered with sodium bicarbonate and maintained on a recirculating water anesthesia circuit. A 6-mm Ternamian EndoTip Cannula, placed through the ventral midline, midway between pectoral and pelvic fins, permitted the introduction of a 5-mm telescope. Swim bladder aspiration and CO2 insufflation of the coelomic cavity provided excellent observation. Second and third cannulae were placed under direct visual control, lateral and cranial or caudal to the telescope cannula. Sex determination was successfully performed in all fish; however, five of 17 sturgeons (29%) required endoscopic gonadal biopsy to confirm sex. Bilateral ovariectomy or orchidectomy was successfully performed in three males and four females. Unilateral ovariectomy and bilateral ligation of the müllerian ducts using an extracorporeal suturing technique was accomplished in an additional three females. No apparent morbidity was associated with the anesthesia or endoscopic surgery in any fish. The ability to safely perform minimally invasive reproductive surgery in fish may have important management and conservation benefits.