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Haemagglutination Inhibition Antibodies, Rectal Temperature and Total Protein of Chickens Infected with a Local Nigerian Isolate of Velogenic Newcastle Disease Virus

Changes in values of haemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titre, rectal temperature (RT) and total protein (TP) were determined for Shaver Brown chickens infected with Newcastle disease virus (NDV) Kudu 113. The infected chickens came down with Newcastle disease by day 3 post infection (PI). The major clinical signs were depression, greenish diarrhoea, paralysis of legs and wings, opisthotonus and torticolis. Mortality and morbidity were 52% and 100%, respectively. There were haemorrhagic lesions in the wall of the intestine, proventricular mucosa and caecal tonsils. There were necrosis and mononuclear cell infiltration of the liver, kidney and spleen. There was a significant increase in daily mean HI antibody titres from days 3 to 9 PI. Similarly, significant rise in daily mean RTs were noticed in the infected chickens from days 1 to 13 PI. On the other hand, there was a decrease in daily mean TP concentrations of infected chickens, beginning from day 3 PI, and the lowest concentration of 2.60±0.15 g/dl was obtained by days 7 and 11 PI. The values of HI, RT and TP for the control chickens were relatively constant during the experiment. The correlation coefficient (r) between HI and RT was positive and highly significant (r = 0.725, p<0.001), while the relationship between HI and TP was negative but highly significant (r = –0.712, p<0.001). It was concluded that NDV Kudu 113 induced increases in values of HI and RT, which occurred concurrently with a decrease in TP concentrations of infected chickens.

Aetiology and prevalence of canine anaemia in Zaria: a review of 2139 cases observed at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria (1990-2003)

Summary An investigation was conducted at the Ahmadu Bello University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (ABUVTH) between January, 1990 and September, 2003 to determine the aetiology and prevalence of canine anaemia in Zaria, Nigeria. Out of the 5278 mongrel dogs presented during the period 1990–2003, 2139 (40.5%) were found to be anaemic, with packed cell volume (PCV) values ranging from 7 to 36%. The clinical signs presented by these dogs include: Pale mucous membranes, weakness, depression, anorexia/inapettence and reduced activity. About 50 dogs (about 1%) with helminths and haemoparasitic infestations had high PCV values (37–40%) without clinical presentation of anaemia or disease. Most of the dogs with anaemia (n=2016 or 94.2%) had parasitic infestations. About 1580 (about 74%) of the anaemic cases, attributed to parasitic infestations occurred between May and October. A few dogs (n=55, 2.6%) had anaemia due to poor nutrition, while 68 (3.2%) had anaemia with unknown cause. The public health significance of the parasites reported in this study is discussed.

A nine - year retrospective study of avian neoplastic diseases in Zaria, Kaduna state, Nigeria

Avian neoplastic diseases have been identified as one of the leading causes of mortality and production losses in commercial chickens in Nigeria. Although available reports described the trend of Marek’s disease in Zaria, Kaduna state, they did not take cognizance of other neoplastic diseases of poultry hence the need for this study. The clinic records of the Avian Clinic of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, were examined for cases of all avian neoplastic diseases from 2002 to 2010. The overall prevalence of avian neoplastic diseases was 7.58% (234/3085). Marek’s disease (MD) and avian leukosis (AL) were the only avian neoplastic diseases of poultry reported during the period under review. Marek’s disease contributed 85.90% (201/234) of the total avian neoplastic diseases outbreaks while AL was responsible for only 14.10% (33/234) of the outbreaks. The overall prevalence of MD was 6.25% (201/3085) while that of AL was 1.07% (33/3085). Chicken (99.57%) and duck (0.43%) were the only species of birds affected by the diseases. The types of chickens that were affected include commercial layers (97.85%), exotic broilers (0.86%), exotic cockerels (0.86%) and Nigerian indigenous chicken (0.43%). The average age of poultry affected was 20.17 (SD=±2.6) weeks for MD and 41.43 (SD=±15.4) weeks for AL. Weight loss (55.98%), ruffled feathers (47.01%), diarrhea (39.79%) and leg paralysis (17.52%) were the most reported clinical signs. The most consistent gross lesions observed were hepatomegaly (76.50%), emaciated carcass (75.64%), renomegaly (52.56%) and splenomegaly (44.87%). Neoplastic growths were mostly observed on the liver (46.58%), kidney (28.2%) and heart (25.21%). The sciatic nerve (20.51%) and bursa of Fabricius (3.85%) were also affected. There is a remarkable increase in the cases of avian neoplastic diseases over the study period which underscores the importance of a National control program for these important diseases of poultry. Keywords: Avian neoplastic diseases, Avian leukosis, Clinico-pathological changes, Marek’s disease, Prevalence