2013 - 82 (6)

Paper in Dutch

Paper in Dutch, no abstract in English

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is one of the most important viruses to cause disease in cattle worldwide. The virus is endemically present in Belgium. Clinical diagnosis of BVDV infection is difficult. Therefore, monitoring through testing is necessary to detect the presence of the virus on farms. As vaccination alone does not suffice for eradication, a combination of measures is required for successful control. Via a questionnaire, the BVDV policy on 241 selected Flemish cattle farms was investigated. This revealed some striking results. For the majority of the herds, the BVDV status was unknown (63%), and only 23% had a monitoring program in place. Furthermore, on seven out of ten (71%) BVDV-vaccinating farms, vaccination against BVDV was implemented as a strategy without knowing the actual BVDV status. 

A 7-month-old male castrated European shorthair cat was presented because of a recurrent cleft of the soft palate. Surgical correction had already been performed twice by a local veterinary practitioner. For the third correction, a pharyngeal overlapping flap was used but again, dehiscence occurred. Finally, the angularis oris axial pattern buccal flap technique, as described in dogs, was applied. The flap covered the defect without any tension, and good vascularization was appreciated during the whole procedure. Because of severe swelling of the intraoral tissues at the end of the procedure, dexamethasone was administered intravenously. Almost instantly after the injection, the cat went into cardiorespiratory arrest, and died shortly after. 

An 8.5-month-old neutered male cat was presented with an itching linear lesion on the right hindlimb that extended from the caudomedial tarsus to the ventral part of the tail base. The lesion consisted of multiple, thick, cone-shaped, yellow-brown crusts and alopecia. Cytological examination of impression smears revealed numerous eosinophils and some mast cells. Histopathological examination of skin biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of perforating dermatitis with typically vertically orientated bundles of collagen and an eosinophilic dermatitis. Treatment with dexamethasone gave slight improvement. When dexamethasone was combined with topical mometasone therapy, the lesions disappeared completely. 

Neonatal isoerythrolysis in kittens can only occur when the queen has blood type B and the tomcat blood type A or AB. During the first 24 hours after birth, kittens ingest colostral antibodies, which reach the systemic circulation through the bowel. Kittens with blood type A absorb antibodies, which destroy their erythrocytes. Kittens that develop symptoms, such as anemia, hemoglobininuria or icterus, should be given a blood transfusion. However, the survival rate is very low, and prevention is of utmost importance. This can be done by determining the blood type of queens and tomcats intended for breeding with breeds at risk. Ideally, a queen with blood type B and a tomcat with blood type A or AB should not be mated. However, if this combination occurs, the kittens should be removed from the mother during the first 24 hours after birth. Subsequently, they have to be fed with artificial milk and be given oral or subcutaneous plasma from a well-immunized cat with blood type A. 

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are adult stem cells, which are capable of self-renewal and restricted differentiation into multiple organ-specific cell types. The significant therapeutic potential of MSC arises from their ability to promote tissue regeneration, prevent pathological scar formation, modulate immune responses and regulate inflammation. At present, MSC are mainly used in veterinary medicine to treat musculoskeletal injuries. Nevertheless, they may as well play a role in the treatment of several non-orthopedic diseases, such as immune-mediated, ischemic, inflammatory and neurological diseases. The treatment efficiency of MSC therapy can be influenced by the number of MSC which is used to treat the horse, the way the MSC are administered and the timing of the treatment. Moreover, there are advantages as well as disadvantages correlated to the use of autologous versus allogeneic MSC. The use of MSC in the treatment of equine injury has exciting potential. However, more fundamental research and well-designed clinical trials remain mandatory in order to safeguard the optimal routine clinical use of these valuable equine MSC at the patients’ benefit.

Mastitis is an important disease of dairy cattle. The disease has been around for a long time. Still, in the last decades, major changes in the understanding of the epidemiology and pathobiology of the disease have occurred. In this paper, three case studies are discussed, in which a number of these major changes were used to improve the understanding of bovine mastitis in those herds. The results of both the literature review and the case studies are discussed and summarized in conclusions.