Infectious bursal disease (IBD) was diagnosed in a flock of 1,031 broilers and cockerels aged between 16 and 20 weeks. Affected birds passed whitish, watery feces. On postmortem examination, the bursa of Fabricius (bursa) was enlarged and the kidney tubules were well distended. Histopathological sections of the bursa were characterized by edema, destruction of lymphocytes, and heterophilic infiltration. Spread was rapid, and the average mortality rate was 3.5%. Bursal homogenates from dead chicks produced precipitation lines with known IBD antiserum in the agar-gel diffusion precipitation test. Sera collected from surviving chicks 10 days after the onset of the outbreak also gave precipitation lines with known IBD virus antigen. Fresh bursal homogenates from dead chicks administered intraconjunctivally to susceptible chicks exhibited typical IBD.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper describes the investigation of a disease outbreak among 10 adult pigs in Nsukka, Anambra State, Nigeria. Prior to the investigation one sow died of the disease. Trypanosomes were later detected in the blood of two of the nine pigs subsequently investigated. All the pigs were then treated with deep intramuscular injection of 8 mg/kg diminazene aceturate (Berenil). Thirty six days after treatment a boar and a sow relapsed with signs similar to the ones shown previously. Further examination of their blood and faeces revealed nothing of parasitological significance. Following deteriorating condition and development of nervous signs the boar was salvaged while the sow died of the infection. Brain impression smears taken from both animals during postmortem examination revealed numerous trypanosome parasites identified by morphology and blood incubation infectivity test (BIIT) as Trypanosoma brucei brucei. The clinical and economic significance of the outbreak are discussed.

Isolation, characterisation and antibiotic sensitivity of 18 strains of Corynebacterium pyogenes from different animals have been reported. All the C pyogenes isolates uniformly differed from the typical strains of this species by the utilisation of trehalose and their failure to acidify maltose. The majority of the strains failed to grow in the presence of 0.1 per cent potassium tellurite. Tuberculosis-like lung lesion in a seven-day-old calf yielded one of the strains of C pyogenes. Histopathological changes in the calf lung have also been described.