Six calves with suppurative arthritis were given a single IM injection of sodium cephapirin at a dosage of 10 mg/kg of body weight. Cephapirin concentrations were serially measured in serum and in normal and suppurative synovial fluid over a 24-hour period. Mean peak serum concentration was 6.33 microliter/ml at 20 minutes after injection. The highest cephapirin concentrations in normal and suppurative synovial fluid were 1.68 and 1.96 microgram/ml, respectively, 30 minutes after injection. Overall mean cephapirin concentration in normal synovial fluid for the first 4 hours (1.04 +/- 0.612 microgram/ml) was not significantly different from that in suppurative synovial fluid (0.88 +/- 0.495 microgram/ml; P > 0.05). Elimination half-life was 0.60 hours and clearance was 1,593 ml/h/kg.

The effect of pulsed radio frequency therapy (PRFT) was evaluated on seven ponies with no arthritis and in 28 ponies in which arthritis was created using intra-articular amphotericin B to induce synovitis in the right middle carpal joint. The ponies were divided into five treatment and two control groups. Two levels of arthritis were created and two dosage levels of PRFT were evaluated. The effect of PRFT on arthritic and nonarthritic joints was measured by comparing synovial fluid parameters, the degree and duration of lameness, the range of carpal motion, and carpus circumference, for treated and untreated groups. Lesions seen radiographically at gross pathology, and by histopathology were also compared between the treated and control groups. In the ponies with a mild form of induced arthritis, PRFT significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the severity and duration of lameness, swelling of the carpus, and the severity of gross pathological and radiographic changes. In these ponies the synovial acid phosphatase levels were lower, the mucin clot quality was superior, and the synovial protein levels were lower for the ponies receiving PRFT as compared to the arthritic ponies receiving no treatment. A dose response effect was evident. In ponies with a slightly more severe form of arthritis, PRFT was evaluated at one dosage level. The treated ponies were significantly improved over the untreated ponies with respect to carpal range of motion, degree of lameness, carpus swelling, and radiographic lesions. No deleterious effects were noted when normal, PRFT treated, middle carpal joints were compared to contralateral untreated, normal joints. It was concluded that significant beneficial effects resulted when affected ponies were treated with PRFT.

Log-linear methodology was used to examine relations among caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) seroreactivity and host/management factors in a cross-sectional study of 2,826 goats on 13 California dairies. The CAEV serologic status was associated with age and feeding method (pasteurized/unpasteurized milk), but not with breed. Data from a prevalence survey of 321 goats from 2 additional dairies demonstrated very good fit of the selected log-linear model (P = 1.00), indicating that the model was very appropriate to describe the relations. Odds of seropositivity and odds ratios were generated by use of a logit model derived from the log-linear model. Goats raised by the unpasteurized feeding method were estimated to have been 3.3 times more likely to be CAEV-seropositive than goats fed by the pasteurized method, when adjusted for the effects of age. Goats aged 2, 3, 4, and 5 or greater years were estimated to have been 1.7, 2.6, 4.5, and 5.7 times, respectively, more likely to be CAEV-seropositive than were yearling goats when ratios were adjusted for pasteurization status. Breed, gender, and herd of origin were not associated with CAEV seroreactivity when the effects of other factors were considered. Estimated odds of CAEV seroreactivity and the associated odds ratios for combinations of factor levels are reported. In this study, the magnitude and direction of the associations among CAEV serologic status, age, and pasteurized feeding methods were demonstrated.