The temperature of the water in the electric water heater was 43C. Follow-up investigations. Ten clinical and four environmental isolates were examined for the presence of plasmids. Nine of them were also examined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis assay, Rabbit Polyclonal to SH3GLB2 and the same patterns were found for SG1 Olda strains isolated from your calf and from your (+)-Talarozole electric heater. This is the first report of a documented case of a naturally occurring pneumonia in an animal. Cattle probably act as accidental hosts for legionellae, much the same as humans. is usually a well-known cause of contamination in humans. In humans legionellosis occurs in two main forms: Legionnaires disease (19, 33) and Pontiac fever (21). Legionnaires disease is usually a severe pneumonia, often progressing to multisystemic disease and sometimes death, whereas Pontiac fever is usually a much less severe nonpneumonic illness. Legionellae are bacteria that are ubiquitous in natural aquatic ecosystems (18, 30). In Legionnaires disease legionellae grow intracellularly in macrophages and monocytes (24), whereas in aquatic habitats a variety of amoebae and ciliates act as hosts (17, 41, 42). Hot water systems are frequently colonized by legionellae (1, 45). Contamination is acquired when water made up of legionellae is usually inhaled (36) or aspirated (50) into the lungs. However, the common distribution of legionellae is usually in contrast to a somewhat surprising lack of clinical reports of contamination (+)-Talarozole in animals, which has prompted several investigators to assess the susceptibilities of different animal species to contamination. Investigations have been carried out with both domestic animals (cattle, horses, swine, sheep, goats, dogs, and rabbits) and wild animals (antelopes, water buffaloes, camels, and pigeons) in order to detect a serological evidence of contamination (2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, 38, 47), yet so far the results have not been conclusive. Among all animals investigated, horses yielded the highest prevalence of antibodies (+)-Talarozole to (4, 12), even though the experimental contamination of this species only prompted a marked serological response without obvious signs of clinical illness (9). In 1987, Boldur and colleagues (4) reported the isolation of serogroup 1 (SG1) from your lung tissue of two calves which experienced died of a disease of unknown etiology (4). No macroscopic lesions were observed, however, and an association between the isolated organism and the disease was not documented. It was therefore suggested that this bacterium might have been aspirated with contaminated material during coma. Due to the reasons mentioned above (+)-Talarozole and because legionella organisms are hard to identify and isolate, requiring specialized laboratories, routine cultures for this bacterium are not usually performed with veterinary specimens. In order to verify a possible role of in animal respiratory syndromes, specific media have started to be utilized for the routine diagnosis of animal pneumonias at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale in Pavia. In 1993 we reported a severe case of pneumonia due to SG1 in a calf (16). In the present paper we extensively describe the investigations carried out to assess the relevance of the contamination in the herd where the disease had occurred. MATERIALS AND METHODS (+)-Talarozole A young calf was submitted for examination to the diagnostic laboratory of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale in Pavia, which is in northern Italy. The calf came from a herd of 112 Italian-Friesian dairy cows in which a high calf mortality rate experienced occurred since the previous winter. About 40% of the calves were born poor and subsequently died from enteric and pulmonary diseases. The survivors were mostly in poor condition. The herd was located in the Po Valley, a few kilometers from Pavia, and was reared in dilapidated buildings under poor hygienic conditions. The parturient cows were debilitated due to a low-protein diet lacking in vitamins and microelements. Like a measure to avoid digestive difficulties, calves had been fed for his or her 1st couple of days on colostrum diluted 3:1 with warm water and with powdered dairy reconstituted using the same warm water. The leg submitted to your lab was about 20 times outdated, and it got got watery diarrhea for 2 times, when it became dyspneic abruptly, febrile, and anorectic; weakness and serious prostration followed. Penicillin and streptomycin intramuscularly received, however the calf later on died a couple of hours. Pathology. Pursuing postmortem exam, specimens from the calfs lung, spleen, and liver organ had been set in 10% natural phosphate-buffered formalin, inlayed in paraffin, and sectioned at a width of 5 m. Hematoxylin-eosin, Gram, and Giemsa stainings had been performed on areas from each specimen. Deparaffinized areas had been studied from the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complicated treatment (25) for the current presence of SG1.