Contents page of the issue August 2006




SMALL ANIMALS
R. Psáder, É. Mihálffy, T. Németh: Endoscopic diagnostis and surgical resolution of one-sided laryngeal paralysis and secondary laryngeal collapse in dog. Case report / 451
A. Sulyok: Holter-ECG examination of dogs / 459
M. Owen: Osteoarthritis in dogs – Can eicosapentane acid (EPA) slow down aggravation of the disease (EPA)? / 469

PORCINE
A. Malik, I. Tóth, P. Zs. Fekete, L. Beutin, B. Nagy: Entropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) causing microvillus damage in weaned pigs / 473
G. Reuter, H. Bíró, Gy. Szűcs: Molecular detection of porcine enteric calicivirus (PEC) in Hungary / 486

PET ANIMALS
Z. Szabó, A. Beregi, P. Vajdovich, T. Gaál: Laboratory blood test of birds. Literature review. 2. Clinical chemistry / 492

EU-NEWS
Reproduction biology works in the Union (F. Flink) / 501

MARD INFORMATION
Information about the measures taken for the early termination of the eradication of Aujeszky-disease from the pig herds of the country / 503

BOOK REVIEW
D. Karasszon: Cultural history of Hungarian veterinary medicine. Volume 1. Historical review. Volume 2. Professional literature of veterinary historiography until 1944 (J. Kováts) / 504

ACADEMIC REPORTS, 2006
Veterinary research in 2005 in the light of academic reports. Part 3 / 505

R. Psáder – É. Mihálffy – T. Németh:
ENDOSCOPIC DIAGNOSIS AND SURGICAL RESOLUTION OF ONE-SIDED LARYNGEAL PARALYSIS AND SECONDARY LARYNGEAL COLLAPSE IN DOG. CASE REPORT

A twelve and a half year old, male staffordshire terrier dog is presented by the authors which was admitted to the clinic with a few-week-long history of exercise intolerance, coughing, gagging and after severe post-exercise dyspnea. The radiographic evaluation of the larynx (Figure 1) and the thorax (Figure 2) as well as the thorough endoscopic examination of the upper airways (Figure 3 and 4) confirmed the diagnosis of laryngeal paralysis combined with laryngeal collapse. After the stabilisation of the patient’s respiratory status, a successful left sided cricoarytenoid lateralisation was performed (Figure 5 and 6). The case report is the first of its kind in the Hungarian veterinary literature, concerning the description of conservative and surgical treatment of laryngeal paralysis combined with laryngeal collapse.
The authors summerise the incidence, the etiology, the clinical symptoms, the diagnostic tools and the possible surgical resolutions of the laryngeal paralysis and laryngeal collapse with special emphasis on the cricoarytenoid lateralisation.

A. Sulyok:
HOLTER-ECG EXAMINATION OF DOGS

Based on the literature and on his own experience, the author summarizes the indications and technique of ambulatory electrocardiography. Some case reports illustrate the diagnostic value of the method.

A. Malik – I. Tóth – P. Zs. Fekete – L. Beutin – B. Nagy:
ENTEROPATHOGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI (EPEC) CAUSING MICROVILLUS DAMAGE IN WEANED PIGS

The authors give an overview of the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) strains mainly causing severe diarrhea of children (earlier named dyspepsia of newborn) under one year of age. At present these diseases occurring mainly in some developing countries. By the year 1980, it has been widely accepted that infections caused by enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) are characterised by the formation of attaching and effacing (AE) lesions on intestinal epithelial cells, i. e. by the intimate attachment of the bacteria to the enterocyte membrane and by the effacement of the microvilli. In this regard they are similar to the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), strains which produce additionally toxins (with synonymic designation of Vero- or Shiga-toxins), thereby inhibiting protein synthesis of the host cells. Most of the genes of EPEC and EHEC, required for the formation of the AE lesion are clustered on a chromosomal pathogenicity island called the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) (Figure 3). The middle part of the LEE contains two genes (eae and tir) that are involved in intimate adhesion, which is followed by reorganisation of the cytoskeletal actin underneath the adherent bacteria and by AE lesion formation (Figure 1. and Figure 2a, b). The eae (intimin) gene encodes for a 94–97 kDa outer membrane protein, which is required for intimate adherence and AE lesion development. Today at least 10 different types of intimin have been defined (from eae-α to eae-θ). The receptor for intimin is produced by the EPEC bacteria in form of the “translocated intimin receptor” (Tir), and is injected into the host cell by components of Type III secretion system, acting as a molecular syringe (Figure 4). In case of the typical EPEC strains, this multistep process is initiated by the binding of boundle forming pili (BFP) to the intestinal microvilli (Figure 1). Production BFP is governed by the EPEC adhesion factor (EAF) plasmid. EPEC infections producing AE lesion have been described among several species of domestic animals but an unequivocal pathologic significance have been described only in case of rabbit EPEC. Few data are available regarding occurrence and pathogenetic significance of EPEC in pigs. The authors briefly report on the literature data regarding porcine, EPEC, including their recently published (23), and so far unpublished, results.
As a first step, a collection of 204 Austrian and 220 Hungarian hemolytic E. coli isolates from diarrhoeal suckling and weaned pigs was investigated for the presence of eae gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results were negative for eae in all cases, but an overwhelming majority of the strains proved to be enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), or verotoxigenic E. coli, (VTEC).
In order to explore further the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of porcine eae+ E. coli, a case-control study was performed. This second study aimed to compare serotypes and intimin types of eae+ E. coli strains in healthy and diarrhoeal weaned pigs based on intestinal and faecal samples collected from 13 farms, iregardless of their haemolytic character. Detection of the eae gene was performed on E. coli strains, isolated from 221 diarrhoeal and clinically healthy weaned pigs. As a result, 37 intestinal and fecal EPEC strains were isolated representing 13% of the pigs regardless of clinical picture. Only 3 of these 37 strains were hemolytic. They were characterized by eae-β intimin gene (85% of intestinal and 53% of fecal strains). Interestingly, the dominant Hungarian type was the O123:H11, eae-β, which was not reported earlier. Besides, there were strains of typical porcine (O45) and of other (O49, O28, O108) EPEC serogroups. The eae-γ type strains were more frequently (23%) isolated from fecal samples, indicating that the preferential site of colonization by these eae-γ type strains may be different from those of eae-β strains. Based on the genomic analysis of strains by pulse field electrophoresis (PFGE) the strains of serogroup O108 could be clearly distinguished. Besides there were two, genetically distinct subgroups (Canadian and Hungarian) of the two major serogroups O45 and O123 (Figure 5).
In conclusion, the porcine EPEC strains studied can be distinguished from the typical human EPEC strains as atypical EPEC, of which the dominant serotype O123:H11: eae-β was first detected here. It seems that the intimin types of porcine atypical EPEC may differ according to the intestinal or rectal site of isolation. Results on PFGE analysis also bear an international relevance by indicating that PFGE is useful for identifying genomic subtypes of the same porcine EPEC serotypes, similarly to that of O157 EHEC strains.

G. Reuter – H. Bíró – Gy. Szűcs:
MOLECULAR DETECTION OF PORCINE ENTERIC CALICIVIRUS (PEC) IN HUNGARY

The members of family Caliciviridae comprising many viruses are associated with a wide range of clinical syndromes in both humans and animals. Human caliciviruses (noroviruses, sapoviruses) are considered as human pathogenes, while animal caliciviruses (Lagovirus and Vesivirus genera) are known to be animal agents, however, zoonotic transmission of caliciviruses could not be excluded. For example, porcine enteric calicivirus (PEC), genetically described in 1999, is a swine virus, but it is a member of the „human” Sapovirus genus based on phylogenetic analysis. The etiologic role of noroviruses in gastroenteritis outbreaks in humans has been known in the country but there are no reports on molecular detection of calicivirus in animals in Hungary. In March 2005, fecal samples from swine with gastroenteritis with unknown origin were collected on a pig farm in Somogy County, Hungary, and tested by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) followed by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Two of 3 samples collected from 10–12 days old domestic pigs were positive by RT-PCR and contained genetically identical PEC virus strains. Percentage of the nucleotide identity of the Hungarian PEC strains to the closest swine strain (swine/OH-JJ259/00/US), to the prototype PEC (PEC/Cowden) and to the human sapovirus detected in Hungary (HUNs11/2000/HUN) were 91%, 82% and 61%, respectively (Figure 2). Detection of porcine enteric calicivirus (PEC) indicates the possible presence and the etiological role of PEC in swine with gastroenteritis syndrome in Hungary.

Z. Szabó – A. Beregi – P. Vajdovich – T. Gaál:
LABORATORY BLOOD TEST OF BIRDS. LITERATURE REVIEW. 2. CLINICAL CHEMISTRY

In the first part of the literature review in two parts, relating to blood test of birds the authors presented the blood taking sites in birds, and summarized the aspects of the evaluation of the important haematological parameters. In this article they present the diagnostic significance of the important components of the blood plasma (-serum), such as electrolytes, proteins and other nitrogenous compounds, macro- and microelements, enzymes and other blood components.