Donald C. Blenden

The Microepidemiology of Wasting Syndrome, a Common Link to Diarrheal Disease, Cancer, Rabies, Animal Models of AIDS, and HIV-AIDS (HAIDS)

Infant cats were inoculated intracranially with rabies or feline leukemia viruses in an experimental study of wasting syndrome. The daily pre- and postinoculation body weights were recorded until kittens were moribund. Affected animals in both groups manifested growth failure or wasting syndrome. Immunodepression, manifested by a conspicuous depletion of thymic cortex, the thymus dependent areas of the spleen, and growth hormone producing-alpha adenopituicytes was significantly (p less than 0.01) related to the wasting status of the animals. The ability of pituitary glands from these animals to produce growth hormone was studied by in situ immunoperoxidase staining and showed a significant (p less than 0.01) difference between healthy and wasted animals. Rabies and feline leukemia viruses were each found responsible for the low immunoreactivity of growth hormone producing alpha adenopituicytes. Because the hypothalamus and the hypophysis were both found infected, it was concluded that regardless of the triggering agent in primary wasting, the hypothalamic-hypophyseal-thymic axis was always involved through a decrease in growth hormone production.

Effect of Oral Tetracycline on the Occurrence of Tetracycline-Resistant Strains of Escherichia coli in the Intestinal Tract of Humans

Serial samples of feces from normal human subjects were analyzed for tetracycline-resistant strains of Escherichia coli. Subjects were found to be excreting tetracycline-resistant strains in amounts fluctuating with time. Ingestion of tetracycline increased both the number of individuals excreting tetracycline-resistant strains of E. coli and the proportion of the total E. coli isolates resistant to the antibiotic.

Applications of Laboratory Technology in the Evaluation of the Risk of Rabies Transmissions by Biting Dogs and Cats

While rabies is not a common disease in domestic animal species of the United States, potential exposures to rabies in the form of bites are very common and increasing. A nationwide study conducted among general hospitals shows that 1 percent of emergency room visits are for animal bites, of which 80–90 percent are inflicted by the dog (Callaham 1980). This figure is conservative, as the study did not include pediatric hospitals, the bite of victims that progress only to a physician’s office, or those that receive no medical care at all. In Missouri alone, this study would infer about 1500 dog bites per year reaching only the general hospital. The number of dog and other animal bites across the country is unknown but may safely be assumed to be staggering in magnitude.