The local river terrapins (Batagur affinis) are an important aspect of the river ecosystem. The Turtle Conservation Centre in Bota Kanan noted morbidity and mortality in its terrapin population and some were sent for full laboratory investigationto diagnose cause of death. The faecal samples were subjected to faecal floatation technique whereby ascarid eggs were observed indicating that the turtles had helminth infection. Ascarid eggs had thick walls and measured at 140.6 μm to 149.7 μm in diameter. Apart from this, post-mortem examination of intestinal contents also showed presence of nematodes identified as Oesophagostomum sp. Treatment and control have to be instituted to prevent further morbidity and losses.

In Malaysia, helminthiasis due to strongyles such as Haemonchuscontortus and coccidiosis caused by Eimeria sp. have been reported to cause severe economic losses in small ruminants livestock industry. This paper reports the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasite infections on small ruminants situated in Seberang Perai Selatan district, Penang. Faecal samples were obtained from a total of 193 animals,randomly selected from 14 ruminant farms. The results of this survey indicates that helminthiasis and coccidiosis is rampant insheep and goat farms. The most common infections diagnosed were helminthiasis (77.72%) and coccidiosis (60.10%) followedby Moniezia sp. (5.18%). From this study, it shows that parasitic diseases can be managed by good animal husbandryin farms since high parasitic infections were observed in farms that were poorly managed based on nutrition, hygiene andbasic animal husbandry practices. The smallholders depended on health and extension services from the State Veterinary Department. A continuous monitoring of small ruminant farms by the Department of Veterinary Services will provide important information for assisting farmers with managing the spread of parasitic infections and maintaining the productivity of animals.

Environmental variables in 10 commercial turkey confinement buildings, representing 2 natural ventilation designs, were measured during summer and the following winter. Sliding doors spaced at intervals along the walls of 5 of the buildings provided about 35% opening, and continuous wall curtains provided 60 to 80% opening in the other 5 buildings. Environmental variables assessed included airspeed; temperature; relative humidity; gases; particle number, size, and mass per cubic meter of air; and colonies of bacteria, yeasts, and other fungi per cubic meter of air. Colonies of yeasts and other fungi were quantitated in feed and litter. For most of the variables evaluated, significant differences were not attributable to building ventilation design; however, in winter, the total mass of particulate matter per cubic meter of air was higher in the curtain-type houses, compared with sliding door-type houses. Ammonia concentration in the air of sliding door-type houses progressively increased during summer and winter sampling periods. A significant effect of building ventilation design on turkey performance was not detected when using mortality, average daily gain, feed conversion, condemnations at slaughter, or average individual bird weight as measures of production.

We determined the position, dimensions, and structure of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra of 62 female sheep by use of ultrasonography. A 5.0-MHz convex transducer was placed over the right flank to examine the kidneys, and a 5.0 MHz-linear transducer was used to examine the bladder and urethra transrectally. All examinations were performed on sheep in standing position. The left kidney was 7.1 to 8.9 cm long, 3.4 to 5.5 cm wide, and 3.3 to 4.7 cm deep. Diameter of the parenchyma and renal sinus of the left kidney ranged between 1.1 and 1.9 cm and 1.1 and 2.0 cm, respectively. Circumference of the medullary pyramids varied between 2.1 and 3.3 cm. Similar ultrasonographic measurements were obtained for the right kidney. The diameter of the bladder varied between 0.3 and 6.9 cm in 96.8% of the sheep. The diameter of the bladder could not be determined in 32% of the sheep because it was > 10 cm, and, therefore, was beyond the penetration depth of the scanner. The only part of the urethra that could be ultrasonographically visualized was the internal urethral orifice. It had diameter between 0.1 and 0.2 cm. The ureters could not be ultrasonographically visualized in any of the sheep examined. The urinary tract of 8 sheep was examined 10 times within 2 weeks to examine whether measurements were reproducible. The interassay variation coefficient determined ranged from 3.1 to 31.8%, although for most variables, it ranged between 5 and 11%. Measurements for the length and width of the kidneys had the smallest interassay variation coefficient, whereas values obtained for diameter of the bladder and urethra, as well as thickness of the bladder, had the largest. It was concluded that the ultrasonographic findings described in this study can be used as references for diagnosis of morphologic changes in the kidneys, bladder, and urethra of sheep.

A cross-sectional epidemiologic study associating air quality with swine health was conducted on 28 swine farms in southern Sweden. Correlation of housing air environment to swine diseases and productivity (data collected over the preceding 12 months) were investigated. The most prevalent swine health problems detected at slaughter were pneumonia and pleuritis. In farrowing and nursery operations, the most prevalent problem was neonatal pig mortality. Several air contaminants (dust, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and microbes) were found to be correlated with these swine health problems. Maximal safe concentrations of air contaminants were estimated on the basis of dose-response correlation to swine health or human health problems. Recommended maximal concentrations of contaminants were: dust, 2.4 mg/m3; ammonia, 7 ppm; endotoxin, 0.08 mg/m3; total microbes, 10(5) colony-forming units/m3; and carbon dioxide, 1,540 ppm. The overall quality of the ventilation system was correlated with lower concentration of ammonia, carbon dioxide, microorganisms, and endotoxin, but not with dust concentrations. High animal density was related to high ammonia and air microbe concentrations. Animal density measured as kilograms of swine per cubic meter (compared with kilograms of pig weight or swine per square meter) had the highest correlation to animal health and air contaminants.

To evaluate economic effects and health and performance of the general cattle population after exposure to cattle persistently infected (PI) with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in a feedlot. 21,743 high-risk calves from the southeastern United States. PI status was determined by use of an antigen-capture ELISA (ACE) and confirmed by use of a second ACE, reverse transcriptase-PCR assay of sera, immunohistochemical analysis, and virus isolation from sera. Groups with various amounts of exposure to BVDV PI cattle were used. After being placed in the feedlot, identified PI cattle were removed from 1 section, but PI cattle remained in another section of the feedlot. Exposure groups for cattle lots arriving without PI animals were determined by spatial association to cattle lots, with PI animals remaining or removed from the lot. 15,348 cattle maintained their exposure group. Performance outcomes improved slightly among the 5 exposure groups as the risk for exposure to BVDV PI cattle decreased. Health outcomes had an association with exposure risk that depended on the exposure group. Comparing cattle lots with direct exposure with those without direct exposure revealed significant improvements in all performance outcomes and in first relapse percentage and mortality percentage in the health outcomes. Economic analysis revealed that fatalities accounted for losses of $5.26/animal and performance losses were $88.26/animal. This study provided evidence that exposure of the general population of feedlot cattle to BVDV PI animals resulted in substantial costs attributable to negative effects on performance and increased fatalities.

An indexing system for hygiene variables associated with egg production was developed by use of datacollected from chicken flocks in southern California. The data were analyzed by factor and regression analysis. On the basis of our findings, hygiene index in relation to egg production consists of ventilation system, cooling system, manure removal, and truck movement. Flocks kept under natural ventilation produced, on the average, 2% more hen-day eggs than flocks kept under artificial ventilation. Flocks placed in houses with roof sprinklers produced 3.3% more hen-day eggs, compared with flocks placed in houses with inside foggers and pad. Flocks kept under the system of frequent removal of manure produced 2% more hen-day eggs than flocks kept under the system for which the manure was removed less frequently. Flocks kept in farms that restricted trucks collecting dead birds from entering the premises produced 3.4% more hen-day eggs than those that allowed such trucks to enter the farm.

Intramammary devices (IMD) were abraded with medium-grade emery cloth or were left smooth. One IMD of each type was inserted into a mammary quarter of each of 5 lactating cows. The remaining 2 quarters served as controls. Quarter foremilk, bucket milk, and stripping milk samples were collected for 3 consecutive days at 2 weeks after IMD insertion, and milk somatic cell counts (SCC) were determined. Milk samples also were collected immmediately after and 0.5, 1,2,4,6,8, and 11 hours after milking. All quarters were challenge exposed with 250 colony-forming units of Streptococcus uberis at 2 months after IMD insertion. Foremilk and stripping milk samples were collected for bacteriologic culture and SCC at the next 10 milkings. Mean foremilk, bucket milk, and stripping milk SCC (X 10(6) cells/ml) were 0.18, 0.07, and 0.91, respectively, for quarters with abraded IMD; 0.06, 0.05, and 0.43, respectively, for quarters with smooth IMD; and 0.03, 0.03, and 0.15, respectively, for control quarters. Mean SCC after milking (X 10(6) cells/ml) for the various intervals were 0.70, 1.29, 0.70, 0.97, 1.15, 1.17, 0.77, and 0.85 for quarters with abraded IMD; 0.43, 0.62, 0.61, 0.45, 0.64, 0.60, 0.31, and 0.26 for quarters with smooth IMD; and 0.15, 0.24, 0.15, 0.19, 0.15, 0.15, 0.14, and 0.06 for control quarters. After challenge exposure, 2 of 5 of the quarters with abraded IMD, 4 of 5 of the quarters with smooth IMD, and 8 of 9 of control quarters became infected. Results indicated that abraded IMD increased SCC in stripping milk to concentrations that provided 60% portection against challenge eexposure with S uberis.

helminth parasites and Oestrus ovis in Karakul sheep, seasonal incidence determined by slaughter of successive groups of tracer lambs each exposed on pasture for 33 days, recommended deworming programme, importance of moving sheep to new pastures immediately after deworming

Parafilaria bovicola, cattle, epizootiology, results of questionnaire survey among cattle owners revealed that (i) condemnation losses due to parasite were overrepresented among animals that came from herds held on pasture the previous year, as opposed to those from farms with indoor cattle management only; (ii) statistically significant difference between affected and nonaffected herds with respect to age groups; and (iii) frequency of lesions showed seasonal trend: Sweden