2004 - 73 (1)

The traditional role of the veterinarian as the healer of individual sick cows has been complemented by the delivery of integrated health programmes concentrating on the prevention of diseases and the performance of the dairy herd. Modern animal health care requires excellent housing facilities and a close cooperation between a competent veterinarian and a skilled farmer/manager. An integrated herd health programme plays a key role in preventing diseases. This will improve animal health and welfare and guarantee a high quality and wholesomeness of foods from animal origin. Nevertheless medicines remain necessary, but must be administered under strict controlled conditions.

In this report a case of prosencephalic hypoplasia in a stillborn calf is described. It is characterized by the absence of the cerebral hemispheres, malformation of the diencephalon and cerebellum, and an abnormally flattened calvaria with cranioschisis and encephalocele. The absence of the telencephalon is also typical of anencephaly and hydranencephaly, from which prosencephalic hypoplasia has to be differentiated. These three types of congenital malformations of the bovine brain are briefly discussed with special focus on their morphologic characteristics in order to allow a specific diagnosis.

In this study, the prevalence of PMWS affected pigs was determined in three Belgian farms with a history of PMWS and in four control farms with no suspicion of PMWS. The diagnosis of PMWS was based on the fulfillment of all four of the following criteria: the presence of wasting, gross lesions and histopathological lesions suggestive of PMWS and the presence of high PCV2 titers in the lymphoid organs. In the farms with a history of PMWS, 2% of the piglets died of PMWS during the observation period. In the control farms, 0.1% of the piglets were found to be affected with PMWS. Serological examinations showed that all piglets became infected with PCV2 on all farms and no differences in serological profiles were seen between farms or litters with or without PMWS-affected piglets. PRRSV infections were clearly demonstrated in PMWS-affected and non-affected piglets but no correlation was seen between simultaneous infections with PCV2 and PRRSV and the occurrence of PMWS.

A retrospective study was performed on 100 horses with incarceration of the small intestine through the omental (epiploic) foramen at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University in Belgium during the period 1994-2001. Preoperative euthanasia was done in 10 horses for different reasons and an explorative laparotomy was performed in 90. Of these ninety horses, 1 died spontaneously during surgical intervention, 10 underwent euthanasia because of the extent of the lesions or a fatal hemorrhage, and surgery was completed on the other 79. A second intervention was necessary in 11 of these 79 horses Simple reduction and reposition of the small intestine was possible in 35 of them, and a resection followed by an intestinal anastomosis was required in the other 44. Forty-four (49%) of the original 90 horses in which surgery was accomplished were discharged from the clinic. Six of these 44 were re-operated. The survival rate in the group of horses that underwent simple reduction was 60% and in the group that underwent resection and anastomosis it was 52%. After discharge from the clinic, 9 of the original 44 horses were lost for follow-up, and the remaining 35 survived for at least 9 months. During the follow-up period (1 to 7 years), 16 horses had one or more bouts of colic, for which reason 5 of them (14%) underwent euthanasia. In this study the mean age of the horses with incarceration of the small intestine through the omental foramen was 9.46 years. Geldings, males and riding horses were clearly more represented. During surgical intervention a medio-lateral incarceration was observed in 98% of the horses. A negative correlation was observed between the survival rate and the length of the incarcerated intestinal segment, on the one hand, and between the survival rate and the distance to the clinic (duration after onset of symptoms) on the other.