RESUMO.-Visando-se determinar as características e frequência das doenças na população suína na região de abrangência do Laboratório de Patologia Veterinária (LPV) da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), foi realizado um estudo retrospectivo de todos os diagnósticos de necropsias realizadas nesta espécie no período de 1964 a 2011. Foram separados 564 casos com diagnósticos conclusivos. A criação suína na região de abrangência do estudo é predominantemente familiar e as doenças diagnosticadas, refletem esta realidade. As doenças infecciosas e parasitá-rias foram as mais prevalentes [380(68,1%) was carried out in order to determine the characteristics and frequency of diseases in the swine population raised in the region the region covered by the activities of LPV. Five hundred and four cases with conclusive diagnosis were found. The type of pig-raising in the area is mainly a familiar enterprise and the diseases found in this survey reflect this reality Infectious and parasitic diseases were the most prevalent [380(68.1%)], followed, in descending order of frequency, by nutritional and metabolic diseases [64(11.5%)], poisonings and toxi-infections and development disorders [15(2.7%)]. Other disorders due to varying etiologies, especially trauma, were cause of death in just over 11% of the cases. Bacterial diseases were responsible for more than half of the causes of death in pigs of the studied population, pointing to the influence of management, environmental and nutritional regional husbandry. The moist frequent disease diagnosed in pigs in the region in the region covered by the study was edema disease which along with other forms of infection by Escherichia coli was responsible for 23% of deaths. Viral diseases and neoplasm were not major causes of death in pigs in the region studied. Nutritional hepatosis and aflatoxicosis are important diseases in pigs in this region and and there causation are mainly linked to nutritional management.INDEX TERMS: Swine diseases, veterinary pathology, epidemiology, causes of death, retrospective study.

RESUMO.-Esporotricose é uma infecção fúngica causada por espécies do complexo Sporothrix, vista com maior frequência em gatos, equinos e cães. Os principais objetivos deste estudo retrospectivo foram caracterizar os aspectos histomorfológicos e histoquímicos da esporotricose em 10 gatos, além de avaliar os aspectos epidemiológicos, clíni-cos e os achados macroscópicos desses 10 casos, obtidos dos protocolos de biópsias e necropsias dos arquivos do Laboratório de Patologia Veterinária da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. A doença acometeu predominantemente gatos machos, sem raça definida e apresentou-se principalmente na forma cutânea disseminada. As lesões macroscópicas caracterizaram-se como nódulos cutâneos (ulcerados ou não) e como massas e placas ulceradas. Na histopatologia observou-se uma relação entre a quantidade de leveduras observada e dois padrões de resposta infla- glaukommers@yahoo.com Sporotrichosis is a mycotic infection caused by the Sporothrix complex species, affecting mostly cats, horses, and dogs. The main objectives of this retrospective study were to characterize the histomorphological and histochemical aspects of sporotrichosis in 10 cats, and also to evaluate epidemiological and clinical aspects, and gross findings obtained from the biopsy and necropsy protocols of these ten cases, obtained from the archives of the Laboratório de Patologia Veterinária of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. The disease affected mostly male mongrel cats, and was mostly observed in the cutaneous disseminated form. Gross lesions were characterized by cutaneous nodules (ulcerated or not) and by ulcerated masses or plaques. By histopathology, there were a relationship between the fungal load and two patterns of inflammatory response. The first pattern was characterized by high fungal load, and most yeasts were inside of numerous macrophages with abundant, many times vacuolated cytoplasm. The amount of neutrophils ranged from mild to moderate in this pattern. The second pattern was characterized by numerous epiteliod cells and many neutrophils. The fungal load was low and most yeasts were observed in the extracellular space. The yeasts were round, oval or cigar-shaped. Several histochemical techniques, such as Grocott's silver stain, periodic Schiff acid, and Alcian blue were utilized and they made it easier to visualize, to characterize the morphology, and to quantify the organisms. The Giemsa stain allowed visualizing the agent, but it not allowed to sharply highlight them from other intralesional components. Organisms were negative for melanin granules through the Fontana-Masson stain in all cases. The histomorphological and histochemical study allowed demonstrating determinant fungal characteristics to the establishment of the diagnosis by means of this diagnostic tool.INDEX TERMS: Feline sporotrichosis, Sporothrix spp. complex, diseases of cats, subcutaneous mycosis.

Main clinical signs were weight loss, excessive lacrimation or mucopurulent ocular discharge, nasal serous discharge, ventral diphteric glossitis, crusts in the nose, teats, dorsum of ears, and vulva. Liver biopsy was performed in all the cows under risk; the histopathological findings in the liver biopsies consisted of fibrosis, megalocytosis, and biliary ductal proliferation and were present in 73.4% of the biopsied animals. Six cows had increased serum activity of gamma glutamyl transferase. Three affected cows were necropsied. The main necropsy findings were a hard liver, distended gall bladder, edema of the mesentery and abomasum. Liver histological changes in the necropsied cows were similar to those of the biopsied livers. Spongiosis was detected in the brain of necropsied cows and is characteristic of hepatic encephalopathy.

This paper describes an outbreak of chronic Senecio spp. poisoning in grazing sheep in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, causing the death of 10 out of 860 adult sheep. Eight sick ewes were euthanized and necropsied. Cattle from this farm were also affected. Clinical signs included progressive weight loss, apathy and photosensitization. Four out of seven tested sheep had increased gamma-glutamyl transferase serum activity and two of them presented serum elevation of alkaline phosphatase. At necropsy, three out of eight ewes presented slightly irregular toughened livers with multifocal nodules, two out of eight ewes had a whitish liver with thickened fibrotic Glisson's capsule partially adhered to the diaphragm, and three out of eight ewes had smooth and grossly normal livers. Necropsy findings attributed to liver failure included hydropericardium (7/8), ascites (5/8), icterus (2/8), hydrothorax (1/8), and edema of mesentery (1/8). The main hepatic histological findings that allowed the establishment of the diagnosis were megalocytosis, proliferation of bile ducts and fibrosis. Spongy degeneration was observed in the brains of all eight necropsied sheep and was more severe at the cerebellar peduncles, mesencephalon, thalamus, and pons. These are suggested as the portions of election to investigate microscopic lesions of hepatic encephalopathy in sheep with chronic seneciosis. The diagnosis of Senecio spp. poisoning was based on epidemiology, clinical signs, laboratory data, necropsy and histological findings.

This paper reports a case of a rare variant of the cervical spinal cord astrocytoma diagnosed in a dog with progressive neurological signs, initially asymmetrical, not ambulatory tetraparesis, segmental reflexes and normal muscle tone in all four limbs and absence of pain upon palpation of the cervical spine. Myelography revealed attenuation of the ventral and dorsal contrast line in the third region of the fifth cervical vertebra. At necropsy intramedullary cylindrical mass that stretched from the third to the sixth cervical vertebra, which replaced all the gray matter of the spinal cord was observed. In the histological study, there was the replacement of the substance by neoplastic cells mantle arranged loosely. The cells were large and slightly rounded. The eosinophilic cytoplasm was well defined, sometimes forming processes interconnecting cells. The nucleus was eccentric, round, oval or kidney-shaped, and the nucleolus was evident. Thus, the microscopic changes observed in the cervical spinal cord were consistent with gemistocytic astrocytoma.