Antibody responses were examined among 998 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in California (USA) to determine spatial patterns of pathogen exposure. Using a shifting frame analysis, a specific geographic region was delineated that contained bighorn sheep with higher (P < 0.05) levels of multiple exposure (antibodies detected against ≥two pathogens), as well as higher prevalence values for eight of ten individual pathogens. This region in southwestern California encompassed all of the peninsular populations of bighorn sheep recently proposed for listing as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Lethal and sublethal effects of dietary triclopyr butoxyethyl ester (TBEE) on zebra finches (Poephila guttata Gould) were determined in laboratory experiments conducted between 8 January and 1 May 1991. The 8-day median lethal dietary concentration, LC₅₀ (95% confidence interval), of TBEE to zebra finches was 1,923 (1,627 to 2,277) mg/kg. In the sublethal effects experiment, when birds were exposed to 500 mg/kg TBEE in the diet for 29 days, food consumption and body weight were significantly depressed (P < 0.05). Similar prolonged exposures to 50 and 150 mg/kg TBEE in the diet had no significant effect on food consumption or body weight (P > 0.05). Perch-hopping activity was depressed relative to controls in the 500 mg/kg group, and elevated in the 150 mg/kg group, but neither of these differences was significant (P > 0.05). Disappearance of TBEE residues from treated seeds over the 29 day experimental period followed an exponential decay model, with half-lives in the order of 15 to 18 days. On the basis of our observation that TBEE had no significant adverse effects at a concentration greater than the maximum expected environmental concentration, we propose that forestry applications of triclopyr at registered dosage rates pose little risk to wild songbirds.

We developed and tested a battery of immune function assays on adult European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) exposed to the immunotoxicant cyclophosphamide (CY). Starlings were injected intraperitoneally for three consecutive days with saline or 20 mg/kg CY. Cyclophosphamide did not affect body mass or packed cell volume. However, spleen to body mass ratios and the number of viable spleen cells were lower in CY-treated birds when compared to controls. Peripheral white blood cell numbers were reduced in CY-treated starlings, and the decrease affected all cell types. Phagocytic ability of macrophages cultured from peripheral blood monocytes was impaired in cells from CY-treated birds. Additionally, CY treatment resulted in decreased lymphocyte blastogenesis to the T-cell mitogen Concanavalin A. The hemagglutination response to sheep erythrocytes was lower in birds that had received CY. Thus, these immunological methods detected chemically-induced immune dysfunction in starlings.

Rotating-jaw traps (Conibear 280™ and Sauvageau 2001-8™, and mechanically improved models) failed to render irreversibly unconscious in ≤3 min raccoons (Procyon lotor) immobilized with ketamine hydrochloride and struck in the head-neck region. It is unlikely that these traps, and the less powerful Conibear 220™, have the potential to humanely kill raccoons.

The sequential histological development of Argas vespertilionis (Acarina: Argasidae) feeding sites on Eptesicus serotinus (Mammalia: Chiroptera) was evaluated. Neutrophils, followed by Langerhans cells, were the major components of the cellular infiltrate throughout the earliest phase of tick infestation. The host tended to isolate the tick mouthparts by means of a progressive formation of epithelial tissue in the feeding cavity.

Triclabendazole-medicated corn bait was given to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on the Welder Wildlife Refuge, Sinton, Texas (USA), at a dose of 11 mg/kg body weight per deer per day for seven days, for control of Fascioloides magna. Medicated bait was offered for one week each during the winters of 1987, 1988, and 1989. Deer collected from treated areas, from baited control and from unbaited control areas were examined before the start of the study in 1987, and four weeks after the end of the baiting period in each of three years. Prior to the study, prevalence of fluke infection was 68%. After treatment with triclabendazole medicated corn, 13 (56%) of 23 deer collected were infected with flukes of which 15% had live parasites; this was evidence for therapeutic treatment. Of the deer collected in the baited and unbaited control areas, 63% and 80%, respectively, were infected only with live flukes. Prevalence of live flukes in deer was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the treatment pasture than in the baited or unbaited control areas in each of the three years. Efficacy of the baiting system over the three years was 63% when comparing the treatment area and the baited control area.

Tetrameres (Petrowimeres) striata is an uncommon and incompletely described nematode from North American and Eurasian waterfowl. Specimens collected from mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) from the Playa Lakes Region (PLR) in western Texas (USA), the mottled duck (A. platyrhynchos fulvigula) in Florida (USA), the mallard in the Amur River Basin of eastern Russia and the blue-winged teal (Anas discors) from western Texas (USA) provide the basis for redescription of T. (P.) striata. This species is differentiated from the closely related T. (P.) zakharowi and T. (P.) galericulata by the size of the left spicule and the prominent cuff on the proximal end of the right spicule. In mallards from the PLR, one to several adult males and a single female occurred within distended mucosal glands or, more rarely, in cystic cavities in the submucosal tissue of the proventriculus; intensities ranged from one to seven nematodes per host (x̄ ± SE = 2.9 ± 0.8). Infected proventricular gland mucosae were compressed as a result of pressure atrophy by the large gravid females. In addition to nematodes, some lesions also contained necrotic debris with inflammatory cells and were surrounded by an intense inflammatory response of eosinophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, epithelioid cells and fibroblasts. Other lesions had little or no inflammatory response. Lesions in the submucosa were surrounded by a thin fibrous cyst with or without adjacent inflammatory cells.

Forty (93%) of 43 northern pocket gophers (Thomomys talpoides) from the Jemez Mountains, Sandoval County, New Mexico (USA), had coccidian oocysts in their feces when examined. We describe this parasite, Eimeria jemezi, n. sp. Sporulated oocysts were subspheroidal, 13.3 by 12.2 (10 to 17 by 9 to 15) μm, with sporocysts ellipsoidal, 7.1 by 4.4 (5 to 9 by 4 to 5) μm; micropyle and oocyst residuum were absent, but polar bodies, Stieda bodies and sporocyst residua were present. All gophers were collected from two sites of similar habitat 7 km apart. One site (R ) had a high soil radon content (≥50 to 70 picocuries (pCi) per liter of air) whereas the other site (R −) had soils that were near average natural levels (1.2 to 1.6 pCi/g uranium nucleotides per gram of soil; <1.9 pCi/g thorium nucleotides). Twenty-one (88%) of 24 gophers from the R site had coccidian oocysts in their intestines when examined, but none of these oocysts ever sporulated, whereas all 19 (100%) gophers from the R− site had coccidian oocysts in their intestines and 16 (84%) of these samples sporulated normally under laboratory conditions. The elevated radon content of the soil may have had an adverse effect on the sporulation of this coccidian while it still was intracellular within its host.

Anti-Plasmodium spp. antibody titers of mating pairs of adult, captive-reared, African black-footed penguins (Spheniscus demersus) and their chicks were determined using the enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Two Plasmodium falciparum antigens were used for the ELISA: R32tet₃₂ (sporozoite antigen), and crude red blood cell extract (CRBCE). Eighteen chicks were bled weekly for ten weeks starting with their day of hatching. The yolk sacs of two penguin eggs were biopsed for ELISA-detectable maternal antibodies (MAB). None of the 28 adult penguins were parasitemic by Giemsa-stained thin blood smear; however, all had anti-Plasmodium spp. immunoglobulins reacting with P. falciparum antigens. All 18 newly hatched chicks had anti-Plasmodium spp. MAB while housed in a mosquito-free environment. The level of MAB in the newly hatched chicks was correlated significantly (P < 0.001) with antibody level detected in their female parents (R32tet₃₂: r = 0.87, CRBCE: r = 0.89). No correlation was found between antibody titers of the newly hatched chicks and their male parents. The level of maternal-fetal antibodies was regressed significantly (P < 0.001) over the 10-week period. Penguin chicks over 10 weeks of age had no anti-Plasmodium spp. MAB. Egg-yolk samples had significantly (P < 0.03) higher MAB titers than female parents that laid these eggs.

The subclinical and clinical Plasmodium elongatum and Plasmodium relictum infections of captive-reared African black-footed penguins (Spheniscus demersus) were evaluated in nine adult and 29 juvenile penguins in the Baltimore Zoo (Maryland, USA) during summer 1988 and winter 1989. Two diagnostic methods were used: Giemsa-stained thin blood films, and subinoculation of penguin blood into 1-day-old Peking ducklings. Chloroquine and primaquine treatment was applied to all parasitemic juvenile penguins. Twenty-nine parasite-free, juvenile penguins were monitored for parasitemia by Giemsa-stained thin blood films every two weeks for 26 weeks of their first outdoor exposure. Eighteen of 29 penguins experienced naturally acquired malaria; 14 were infected with P. elongatum, three with P. relictum, and one bird had a mixed P. relictum and P. elongatum infection. Eleven of 18 juveniles became parasitemic again after chloroquine and primaquine treatments. Based on Giemsa-stained thin blood smears and sub-inoculation of penguin blood into 1-day-old ducklings, performed in a mosquito-free environment in winter, nine adult penguins had no evidence of Plasmodium spp. infection. After dexmethasone-induced immunosuppression, four of six of these nonparasitemic adult penguins were found to be infected with P. relictum by the blood inoculation method.

We derived sequence information from cloned Hind III fragment “D” of alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 strain WC11, an agent of malignant catarrhal fever (MCF). Based on this sequence, oligonucleotide primers were selected and synthesized for use in a polymerase chain reaction amplification assay. These primers were used to test samples of total nucleic acids isolated from multiple tissues taken from an Indian gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus) at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California (USA) which had clinical signs of a natural infection of MCF. Six of eight tissue samples examined had amplifiable sequences present. A nucleic acid probe complementary to the sequence of the original clone between the primer sites also was synthesized and used to confirm the identity of the amplified viral sequences, thus providing a diagnosis of MCF at the molecular level.

Laboratory and field trials were conducted to evaluate in vitro growth of Renibacterium salmoninarum in media without serum or charcoal. Growth of this bacterium, the cause of bacterial kidney disease (BKD) in salmonids, is accelerated by addition of a growth enhancing “metabolite” of unknown composition to KDM2 medium, the medium commonly used for isolation of R. salmoninarum. KDM2 medium supplemented with greater than 1% (v/v) metabolite enhanced growth even without addition of either serum or charcoal. Medium containing 5% metabolite (denoted Five-M) allowed optimal growth in laboratory studies and was further evaluated as a primary plating medium for recovery of the bacterium isolated from chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) exhibiting clinical BKD. Recovery rates of R. salmoninarum using Five-M medium were 4% and 36% higher, respectively, than comparable rates using a serum-based medium for the two salmon populations evaluated. Five-M medium is an effective, inexpensive alternative to serum-based or charcoal-based media.

Sequestration of spirochetes and concurrent histopathologic lesions were evaluated in tissues of Borrelia burgdorferi-infected dusky-footed woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Rodents were either wild-caught and naturally infected or were experimentally infected by tick bite, by intramuscular (i.m.) injection of cultured spirochetes, or by i.m. injection of tick suspensions. Samples of host tissues, including skin, blood, ear, brain, eye, heart, lung, liver, spleen, kidney, and urinary bladder, were removed from up to 21 woodrats and four deer mice and cultured in BSK II medium. Borreliae-positive cultures of ear punch biopsies were obtained from 10 of 11 woodrats and from all of four deer mice. Additionally, positive cultures were obtained from three of 36 skin biopsies of woodrats, and from one of 36 cultures of woodrat blood. In contrast, spirochetes were not observed in 505 cultures of internal organs or whole blood. Samples of tissues from seven naturally infected woodrats, four experimentally infected woodrats, and nine experimentally infected deer mice also were examined for histopathologic lesions. Nonsuppurative cellular infiltrates were recognized in samples from most tissue types from woodrats, but few lesions were observed in tissues from deer mice. Recognized lesions in woodrats that were consistent with infections of Lyme borreliosis in other species included synovitis, myositis, and myocarditis. Such lesions were more common in woodrats than in deer mice. Inflammatory lesions, especially synovitis, were more common in woodrats with long-term infections than in woodrats with relatively short-term infections. No clinical signs of disease were observed in either species of rodent.

Mucor amphibiorum, a fungus previously found in captive amphibians in Europe and the platypus in Australia, was observed in free-ranging toads, Bufo marinus, in Australia. In tissues the fungus occurred as sphaerules 4.9 to 36.4 μm in diameter; hyphae were not formed. Some sphaerules developed two to 11 daughter sphaerules internally and these were released into tissues by dissolution of the outer wall. Infected toads were found at 11 sites from nine locations in northern and eastern Australia. The overall prevalence of infection in 3,518 toads was 0.71%. Mucor amphibiorum was isolated from soil at one location.

The response of the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) to infection by experimental inoculation with Borrelia burgdorferi was evaluated. Forty-two adult voles were inoculated subcutaneously with 0.5 × 10⁶ spirochetes. Sera taken during the 196 day trial were tested by indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) assay for antibodies to B. burgdorferi. Tissues from animals which died during the trial, and from animals killed at 28, 112 and 196 days post-inoculation (DPI), respectively, were cultured in BSK-II medium for ≤6 weeks. They also were examined histologically for lesions and the presence of spirochetes. All inoculated animals developed antibodies by 14 DPI and maintained titers ≥1:10 for the duration of the trial. Spirochetes were isolated from ears, bladder, and spleen. Spirochetes also were identified by Bosma-Steiner silver stain or tissue IFA assay in sections of ears, bladder, kidney and heart. Infection as confirmed by re-isolation persisted for ≤111 days. No lesions were identified in association with the presence of spirochetes. No increase in mortality was observed in inoculated animals compared with controls.

Sensitivity of the IFA test at a cut-off titer of 1:10 was 100% from ≥14 DPI, but at 1:20 reached a maxiumum of 97%. Specificity at 1:10 was 84% and at 1:20 was 97%. Use of antiserum to Microtus immunoglobulin (Ig) in a double-layered test provided no significant advantages over use of a commercial fluorescein-conjugated anti-mouse Ig in a single-layered IFA test.

Telazol^® (TEL) (tiletamine hydrochloride and zolazepam hydrochloride combination) was used to immobilize 50 wild red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus) in Venezuela between October 1989 and February 1991. The mean (±SD) dosages of TEL used for adult males and adult females were 22.4 (±7.3) mg/kg and 22.5 (±5.0) mg/kg, respectively. Juveniles of both sexes received a mean dose of 30.5 (±5.6) mg/kg. The induction time for TEL ranged from 1 to 6.2 min. Thirteen animals were given an additional dosage of ketamine hydrochloride manually when they recovered from the first injection of TEL. Total recovery times ranged from 39 to 308 min. There were no apparent side effects to the fetuses of two pregnant females.

Levels of blood haptoglobin (Hp) and interleukin-6 immunoreactive protein (IL-6 ir) were significantly elevated in river otters (Lutra canadensis) inhabiting oiled areas of Prince William Sound, Alaska (USA) following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. By May and June 1992, however, such differences were not apparent. Mean body mass of otters, adjusted for sex, age-class, and total length with analysis of covariance, differed between oiled and non-oiled areas from 1990 to 1992, but were nearly identical by May and June 1992. We propose that river otters may be recovering from chronic effects that we observed in 1990 and 1991 following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, but further research is necessary to test this hypothesis.

Values for urea, creatinine, glucose, total bilirubin, sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphates, magnesium, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, lactate deshydrogenase, and creatine-kinase are reported for the first time for 32 sand gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa marica) in Saudi Arabia. Comparisons were made between two groups: one sampled before a trip and the other sampled after a 14 hr trip. Only aspartate aminotransferase was higher in the second group; magnesium and phosphates were lower in that group.

Immobilization of North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) with tiletamine hydrochloride (HCl) and zolazepam HCl (Telazol^®) was evaluated in central Massachusetts (USA) during 1991 and 1992. Doses between 9 and 11 mg/kg resulted in a mean (±SD) induction time of 3.2 ±1.3 min and a mean (±SD) immobilization time of 44.2 ± 19.5 min. Induction time did not differ by dose, sex, capture method, or porcupine weight. Immobilization time differed by dose and porcupine weight but not by sex or capture method. Tiletamine HCl and zolazepam HCl seems to be an effective combination of drugs for immobilizing porcupines as long as sufficient time is allowed for recovery.

An epizootic of flaccid trunk paralysis began in free-ranging Zimbabwean elephants (Loxodonta africana) on the southern shore of Lake Kariba in 1989. It involved a selective neuropathy of peripheral nerves supplying the trunk, with axon and myelin degeneration, muscle atrophy, compensatory hypertrophy, and fine endomyseal fibrosis, without inflammatory changes.

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae septicemia was diagnosed in three of four moose found dead in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, in the spring of 1989. Type 17 E. rhusiopathiae was isolated from liver, lung, kidney, and lymph nodes of affected animals, which were in poor body condition, and suffering hair loss associated with tick (Dermacentor albipictus) infestations. Microscopic lesions consisted of mild, multifocal, necrotizing myocarditis, sarcocystosis, and lymph node atrophy. The bacterium may have gained entry to these animals via ingestion of, or percutaneous exposure to, contaminated water, or possibly by the bites of ticks. Malnutrition and tick infestation may have predisposed the animals to infection by this opportunistic pathogen.

Lyme disease spirochetes were demonstrated in a wild female fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) and in Ixodes persulcatus ticks collected from the fox on Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Spirochetes were detected in I. persulcatus, as well as skin lesions, brain, heart, kidney, and liver of the fox. Five of seven isolates reacted with a monoclonal antibody against Borrelia afzelii specific Osp B. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relatedness of a brain isolate was 89% to B. afzelii, and ranged from 50 to 67% to three other species. Immunoglobulin G antibodies to B. afzelii, B. garinii and B. burgdorferi sensu lato, when tested in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), were negative in the fox. There were no antibodies against seven serovars of Leptospira interrogans.

A near-term aborted bison (Bison bison) fetus was collected near Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (USA). On necropsy, the fetus liver had a small capsular tear, and there was a small quantity of blood in the peritoneal cavity. Microscopic lesions included mild, purulent bronchopneumonia and mild, multifocal, interstitial pneumonia. Brucella abortus biovar 1 was isolated from fetal abomasal contents, lung, and heart blood.

Aeromonas salmonicida was isolated from paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) mortalities collected during an epizootic of furunculosis at the Spring River State Hatchery, Arkansas (USA), in 1992. Isolates of the bacterium were obtained from culture of gill and kidney tissue. This is the first epizootic of bacterial etiology to be reported in paddlefish.

Thirty-two trapper-caught nutria (Myocastor coypus) from East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Tangipahoa, and St. Helena Parishes in Louisiana (USA) were sampled for several disease agents. Antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii, Chlamydia psittaci, Francisella tularensis, Leptospira spp., and encephalomyocarditis virus were detected in 7%, 14%, 0%, 7%, and 0% of nutria, respectively. Both animals seropositive for leptospirae were positive for L. interrogans serovar canicola. No Salmonella spp. were isolated from feces, and no Giardia spp. were seen in trichrome-stained fecal preparations.

Sera from fifty free-ranging red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from the Imperia province, Liguria, Italy, were examined for antibodies against Leishmania spp. by both immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), from January to May 1992. Nine of 50 animals (18%) had antibodies against Leishmania spp. utilizing both IFA and ELISA tests.

Diagnosis of Trichomonas gallinae infection can reliably be made by the demonstration of organisms in material taken from a bird's mouth and crop. This can be examined directly or incubated in a growth medium until organisms are numerous enough to be easily found in aliquots examined with the microscope. We compared two methods of culture diagnosis of Trichomonas gallinae infection in pigeons. A commercially available kit, In-Pouch™TF, proved as sensitive for this purpose as in vitro Diamond's medium, but had practical advantages over the usual in vitro system.

Three North American yearling elk (Cervus elaphus) died with clinical symptoms suggestive of babesiosis. Babesia sp. organisms similar in morphology to B. odocoilei of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were observed in Giemsa-stained blood films from one of the elk. Continuous cultures of the parasite were established. Antiserum raised against the elk Babesia sp. isolate was compared to B. odocoilei specific antiserum in an immunofluorescent antibody assay; we found evidence of differences in reactivity to several Babesia spp. isolated from wildlife and domestic ruminants. Cultured parasites from the elk were not infective to either intact or splenectomized Bos taurus steers.

Four Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) 10 to 14 wk of age each were inoculated orally with a mixture of 50,000 sporulated oocysts of an Eimeria zuernii-like apicomplex-an (70%) and E. wapiti (30%). Maximum numbers of oocysts per gram of feces (OPG) in each elk ranged from 985 to 15,517, but all calves remained healthy and clinical signs of coccidiosis were not observed. The prepatent period for E. zuernii was 8 days and the patent period approximately 37 days, with a maximum mean (±SE) recovery of 6,643 (±3,756) OPG on post-inoculation day 8. The prepatent period for E. wapiti was 10 to 12 days and the patent period approximately 8 days, with a maximum mean recovery of 4,408 (±2,308) OPG on postinoculation day 12. Based on these data, infections of E. zuernii and E. wapiti at the numbers given were not pathogenic in healthy elk calves.

In June 1993, a yearling female elk (Cervus elaphus) near John Day, Oregon (USA) was observed twice over a four week period with signs of neurologic disease including weakness, walking in circles with an uncoordinated gait and disorientation. The elk was shot, and the head and neck were examined grossly for parasites and lesions. Thirty-five second and third instar larvae of Cephenemyia jellisoni were recovered from an encapsulated space in the nasopharyngeal area dorsal to the soft palate. Larvae protruded into the caudodorsal end of the ventral nasal meatus, obliterating the opening of the left eustachian tube. Larvae were not recovered from their normal location in the retropharyngeal recesses. Thus the effects of several Cephenemyia jellisoni larvae in an aberrant location mimicked signs observed in meningeal worm infections.

Ninety-two fecal samples were collected from leopards (Panthera pardus, n = 54), tigers (P. tigris, n = 19), and leopard cats (Felis bengalensis, n = 3) in Huai Kha Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand; four samples that may have come from clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa) or Asian golden cats (Felis temminicki) were identified as from small to medium cats. Twelve samples were identified as from large cats. Samples preserved in 10% formalin were examined for parasite eggs, larvae, cysts, and oocysts by centrifugal sugar flotation and sedimentation techniques. Ninety-six percent of all samples were positive, including 94% of the leopard, all of the tiger, clouded leopard, golden cat, and leopard cat samples. Diagnostic stages were identified from Paragonimus sp., Echinostomatidae, Dicrocoeliidae, Pseudophyllidea, Taeniidae, Mesocestoides sp., Hymenolepididae, Acanthocephala, Spiruroidea, Gnathostoma sp., Molineus sp., Ancylostomoidea, Mammomonogamus sp., Toxocara sp., Toxascaris sp., Me-tastrongyloidea, Capillaria spp., Isospora sp., Toxoplasma -like, Sarcocystis spp., and Giardia sp.