Upper Respiratory Tract Disease (URTD), caused by the pathogens Mycoplasma agassizii and M. testudineum, has been documented in the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Although URTD was identified as a putative agent that led to federal listing of the Mojave population of the desert tortoise, little is known about this disease in the Sonoran population of the desert tortoise. The purpose of this study was to determine: 1) the prevalence of URTD across an urban gradient in Greater Tucson, Arizona, 2) the relationship between URTD and captive and free-ranging tortoises in Mohave, Maricopa, and Pima counties in Arizona, and 3) the effects of URTD on desert tortoise home range size and winter temperature selection.

Upper airway endoscopy at rest has been the diagnostic method of choice for diagnosing equine upper respiratory tract (URT) disease since its development in the 1970´s. The development of high-speed treadmill endoscopy (HSTE) improved the sensitivity of URT endoscopy by allowing the examiner to observe the horse’s nasopharynx and larynx during exercise. However, the level of exertion achieved during HSTE may not always represent that achieved during normal exercise as surface, rider, tack, and environmental variables are altered. Recently, the development of dynamic overground endoscopy (DOE) has addressed some of those shortcomings. A retrospective study was undertaken to describe the upper airway abnormalities detected during DOE in horses presenting with poor performance and/or abnormal respiratory noise in South Africa. Patient records of Thoroughbred racehorses undergoing DOE from November 2011 to August 2012 by the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital were reviewed. Data collected included signalment, primary complaint, distance exercised, maximum speed attained, and dynamic airway abnormalities detected. XIII A second study was carried out to evaluate agreement within and among examiners of three grading systems for laryngeal function at exercise. The grading systems assessed were an existing system for grading axial deviation of aryepiglottic folds (ADAF), a modified system for grading recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) at exercise, and a proposed system for grading vocal cord collapse (VCC). For investigation of intra-observer variability, recordings were watched by two of the investigators at the same time, on two different occasions, in real time, slow motion, and at frame-by-frame speed. To evaluate inter-observer variability, recordings were watched by four investigators on one occasion, as described for investigation of intra-observer variability, and scoring sheets completed. Kappa agreement was calculated for both intra- and inter-observer sessions. Fifty-two horses that underwent DOE for investigation of poor performance and/or abnormal respiratory noise were identified. The main abnormalities detected included dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) (13/52 horses, 25%); recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) (17/52 horses, 33%); axial deviation of the aryepiglottic folds (ADAF) (21/52 horses, 40%) and vocal cord collapse (VCC) (18/52 horses, 35%). A total of 40 horses presented one or more abnormalities of the URT (77%). Fifteen horses (29%) had a single abnormality, and 25 horses (48%) had multiple abnormalities. Results at frame-by-frame speed from the intra-observer evaluations for all the conditions showed substantial agreement for RLN by both observers (K = 74 - 80). Intra-observer evaluations for VCC were moderate to substantial (K 53 – 63). ADAF was the most difficult URT abnormality to assess for both observers, and agreement within observers was only fair to moderate (K = 36 - 52). Inter-observer evaluations for RLN showed substantial to moderate agreement (K = 62). Inter-observer evaluations for VCC showed moderate agreement (K = 47 – 54), and inter-observer evaluations for ADAF showed only slight to fair agreement and were the lowest for all the conditions (K = 14 – 22). This study showed that DOE is a useful technique for providing valuable information about disease of the URT. Finding multiple abnormalities in 48% of horses examined using DOE suggests that DOE may be indicated even for those horses with an obvious abnormality found during resting endoscopy. The intra-observer evaluations showed that RLN had higher agreement values than those for ADAF and VCC at all speeds, and that ADAF had lower agreement values than those for VCC and RLN at all speeds. Inter-observer agreement was less than intra-observer agreement, presumably because more observers were involved in the inter-observer assessment. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Companion Animal Clinical Studies / unrestricted

Orientador: Aramis Augusto Pinto / Banca: Mitika Kuribayashi Hagiwara / Banca: Tânia de freitas Raso / Resumo: O presente trabalho, primeiro estudo sobre clamidiose felina no Brasil, teve o objetivo de pesquisar a presença direta e indireta de Chlamydophila (elis em gatos domésticos provenientes de cinco municípios da região nordeste do estado de São Paulo. Adicionalmente, correlacionar os dados de ficha clínica com os resultados positivos obtidos nos três testes laboratoriais utilizados, ou seja, reação em cadeia pela polimerase (PCR), reação de imunotluorescência indireta (RI FI) e reação de fixação do complemento (RFC). O grupo experimental final foi constituído de 151 animais, dos quais 73 eram provenientes de gatis, 18 de clínica/hospitais veterinários e 60 de abrigos públicos para animais. Das 151 amostras de suabes de conjuntiva submetidas à PCR, em 6,0% (9/151) foi encontrado DNA de C. (elis. Anticorpos anti-Chlamydiaceae foram detectados em 72,1% (106/147) das amostras de soros submetidas à RIFI. Em somente 9,4% (10/106) dos soros positivos à RIFI, foram detectados anticorpos fixadores do complemento, revelando que a RFC, embora específica, apresenta baixa sensibilidade quando utilizada na pesquisa de anticorpos anti-Chlamydiaceae em gatos domésticos. Foi também observado que gatos provenientes de gatis, animais com idade maior que um ano e inferior a seis anos, bem como as fêmeas, estão mais predispostos a soroprevalência para C.felis pela RIFI. Entretanto, tais resultados não foram observados nos animais PCR positivo. Ademais, pode-se verificar uma estreita relação entre as presenças de DNA clamidial e de anticorpos anti-Chlamydiaceae em gatos domésticos brasileiros aos dados das fichas clínica relacionados à doença do trato respiratório superior, a secreção ocular e a conjuntivite. / Abstract: This work, first study about feline chlamydiosis in Brazil, had the objective to evaluate the direct and indirect presence to Chlamydophila felis in domestic cats coming trom tive cities of northeast of São Paulo state. Additionally, relate informations of clinical records with positives results get in the three laboratories tests used, whatever, complement fixation test (CFT), immunofluorescende assay (IFI) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Experimental group had 151 animais, witch 73 coming from catteries, 18 coming trom veterinary clinicallhospital and 60 coming from public animal shelters. From 151 samples of conjunctival swabs submitled to PCR, in 6% (9/151) were detect DNA of C.felis. Anti-Chlamydophila antibodies were detect in 72,1%(106/147) of samples of serum submitted to IFI. In just 9,4% (10/106) of the positive serums in IFI, had complement fixation antibodies, detected by CFT. The CFT, although specific, presented low sensibility when to use to research of anti-Chlamydiaceae antibodies in domestic cats. In cats from catteries, animais between one and six year, and female were more predispose to a presence of antibodies anti-Chlamydophila by IFI. However, these results were not observed in animais PCR positive. Thus, was observed a relationship between the presence of chlamydial DNA and antibodies anti-Chlamydiaceae in Brazilian domestic cats, added with informations of clinical records, like with upper respiratory tract disease, ocular discharge and conjunctivitis. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-02-21Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:57:07Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 seki_mc_me_jabo.pdf: 576519 bytes, checksum: d22961f6b04eb42b3628b080392fb7c3 (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O presente trabalho, primeiro estudo sobre clamidiose felina no Brasil, teve o objetivo de pesquisar a presença direta e indireta de Chlamydophila (elis em gatos domésticos provenientes de cinco municípios da região nordeste do estado de São Paulo. Adicionalmente, correlacionar os dados de ficha clínica com os resultados positivos obtidos nos três testes laboratoriais utilizados, ou seja, reação em cadeia pela polimerase (PCR), reação de imunotluorescência indireta (RI FI) e reação de fixação do complemento (RFC). O grupo experimental final foi constituído de 151 animais, dos quais 73 eram provenientes de gatis, 18 de clínica/hospitais veterinários e 60 de abrigos públicos para animais. Das 151 amostras de suabes de conjuntiva submetidas à PCR, em 6,0% (9/151) foi encontrado DNA de C. (elis. Anticorpos anti-Chlamydiaceae foram detectados em 72,1% (106/147) das amostras de soros submetidas à RIFI. Em somente 9,4% (10/106) dos soros positivos à RIFI, foram detectados anticorpos fixadores do complemento, revelando que a RFC, embora específica, apresenta baixa sensibilidade quando utilizada na pesquisa de anticorpos anti-Chlamydiaceae em gatos domésticos. Foi também observado que gatos provenientes de gatis, animais com idade maior que um ano e inferior a seis anos, bem como as fêmeas, estão mais predispostos a soroprevalência para C.felis pela RIFI. Entretanto, tais resultados não foram observados nos animais PCR positivo. Ademais, pode-se verificar uma estreita relação entre as presenças de DNA clamidial e de anticorpos anti-Chlamydiaceae em gatos domésticos brasileiros aos dados das fichas clínica relacionados à doença do trato respiratório superior, a secreção ocular e a conjuntivite. / This work, first study about feline chlamydiosis in Brazil, had the objective to evaluate the direct and indirect presence to Chlamydophila felis in domestic cats coming trom tive cities of northeast of São Paulo state. Additionally, relate informations of clinical records with positives results get in the three laboratories tests used, whatever, complement fixation test (CFT), immunofluorescende assay (IFI) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Experimental group had 151 animais, witch 73 coming from catteries, 18 coming trom veterinary clinicallhospital and 60 coming from public animal shelters. From 151 samples of conjunctival swabs submitled to PCR, in 6% (9/151) were detect DNA of C.felis. Anti-Chlamydophila antibodies were detect in 72,1%(106/147) of samples of serum submitted to IFI. In just 9,4% (10/106) of the positive serums in IFI, had complement fixation antibodies, detected by CFT. The CFT, although specific, presented low sensibility when to use to research of anti-Chlamydiaceae antibodies in domestic cats. In cats from catteries, animais between one and six year, and female were more predispose to a presence of antibodies anti-Chlamydophila by IFI. However, these results were not observed in animais PCR positive. Thus, was observed a relationship between the presence of chlamydial DNA and antibodies anti-Chlamydiaceae in Brazilian domestic cats, added with informations of clinical records, like with upper respiratory tract disease, ocular discharge and conjunctivitis.