This report offers a consensus opinion on the diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of leptospirosis in dogs, an important zoonosis. Clinical signs of leptospirosis in dogs relate to development of renal disease, hepatic disease, uveitis, and pulmonary hemorrhage. Disease may follow periods of high rainfall, and can occur in dogs roaming in proximity to water sources, farm animals, or wildlife, or dogs residing in suburban environments. Diagnosis is based on acute and convalescent phase antibody titers by the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), with or without use of polymerase chain reaction assays. There is considerable interlaboratory variation in MAT results, and the MAT does not accurately predict the infecting serogroup. The recommended treatment for optimal clearance of the organism from renal tubules is doxycycline, 5 mg/kg PO q12h, for 14 days. Annual vaccination can prevent leptospirosis caused by serovars included in the vaccine and is recommended for dogs at risk of infection.

Physiologic parameters such as blood pressure, rectal temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate are an important part of the medical assessment of a patient. However, these factors can potentially be affected by stress. The purpose of this study was to compare physiologic parameter data gathered from cats in the home environment with those gathered in a veterinary hospital. Thirty healthy cats were evaluated both at home and at Colorado State University's Veterinary Medical Center. Doppler systolic blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate were recorded, and the differences between the values obtained in the home and veterinary clinic environments were evaluated using the Wilcoxon sign rank test. A significant difference was found in blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate between the home and veterinary hospital environments. This information may help practitioners recognize that physiologic abnormalities can sometimes be due to transportation or environmental stress rather than medical illness.

Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection is common in young horses throughout the world, resulting in respiratory disease, epidemic abortion, sporadic myelitis, or latent infections. To improve on conventional diagnostic tests for EHV-1, a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was developed, using primers and probes specific for the EHV-1 gB gene. Amplification efficiencies of 100% +/- 5% were obtained for DNA isolated from a plasmid, infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and nasal secretions from infected ponies. The dynamic range of the assay was 8 log10 dilutions, and the lower limit of detection was 6 DNA copies. Fifteen ponies, seronegative for EHV-1, were experimentally infected with EHV-1, and nasal samples were used to quantify shedding of virus by both virus isolation and real-time PCR analysis. Virus isolation identified nasal shedding of EHV-1 in 12/15 ponies on a total of 25 days; real-time PCR detected viral shedding in 15/15 ponies on 75 days. Viremia was quantified using PBMC DNA, subsequent to challenge infection in 3 additional ponies. Viremia was identified in 1/3 ponies on a single day by virus isolation; real-time PCR detected viremia in 3/3 ponies on 17 days. When real-time PCR was used to analyze PBMC DNA from 11 latently infected ponies (documented by nested PCR), EHV-1 was not detected. We conclude that real-time PCR is a sensitive and quantitative test for EHV-1 nasal shedding and viremia and provides a valuable tool for EHV-1 surveillance, diagnosis of clinical disease, and investigation of vaccine efficacy.

The oligodendrocyte is the glial cell responsible for the formation and maintenance of CNS myelin. Because the development of neuronal morphology is known to depend on the presence of highly organized microtubule arrays, it may be hypothesized that the properties of microtubules influence the form and function of oligodendrocytes. The goals of the present study were to define the physical attributes of microtubules in oligodendrocytes maintained in vitro. The results of electron and confocal microscopy indicate that microtubules are present throughout the cell bodies and large and small processes of oligodendrocytes and are rarely associated with discrete microtubule-organizing centers. A modified "hooking" protocol demonstrated that the polarity orientation of microtubules is uniformly plus-end distal in small oligodendrocyte processes, compared with a nonuniform, predominantly plus-end distal orientation in large processes. Oligodendrocytes were exposed to the microtubule-depolymerizing drug nocodazole to examine microtubule stability in these cells. The results suggest that oligodendrocyte microtubules can be resolved into at least three distinct microtubule populations that differ in their kinetics of depolymerization in the presence of nocodazole. These findings suggest that the properties of the oligodendrocyte microtubule array reflect the functions of the different regions of this highly specialized cell.

Background:The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) is commonly used for the diagnosis of canine leptospirosis. In dogs it is sometimes suggested that the serogroup with the highest MAT titer is the infecting serogroup; however, this is not true in humans with confirmed leptospirosis. We sought to investigate the value of MAT results in predicting the infecting serogroup by comparing results across several laboratories and within individual dogs over time.Objectives: To examine the variability in MAT results across different laboratories in dogs recently vaccinated against leptospirosis, and in dogs with clinical leptospirosis, and to investigate variability over time in MAT results in individual dogs with leptospirosis.Animals: Eighteen dogs from a research colony, 9 of which had been vaccinated against leptospirosis, and 17 dogs clinically diagnosed with leptospirosis.Methods: Serum samples were submitted to up to 5 veterinary diagnostic laboratories for MAT titers from each dog on at least 1 occasion. MAT results also were followed over time in 6 dogs diagnosed with leptospirosis.Results: MAT results were discordant across different laboratories in dogs recently vaccinated against leptospirosis and in dogs with clinical leptospirosis. MAT results varied over time in individual dogs with the disease.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: The MAT is a valuable test for the diagnosis of leptospirosis in dogs, but it is unlikely that test results can be used to predict the infecting serogroup. Laboratories offering the MAT should consider participation in a proficiency scheme.