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Biomedical subjects

H Häni

Publications and source records attributed to H Häni.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

[Porcine malignant catarrhal fever: diagnostic findings and first detection of the pathogenic agent in diseased swine in Switzerland].

For the first time Ovine Herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2) was identified in Swiss pigs as the causative agent of Porcine Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF). Diseased animals from two farms were observed to show weakness, anorexia, fever up to 41 degrees C, and neurological symptoms, i.e. ataxia, convulsions and hyperesthesia, erosion on the snout and in the oral and nasal mucosa, as well as multiple skin lesions. Histopathological findings included severe non-purulent inflammation with mononuclear cell infiltration in several organs. Most dominant were meningo-encephalitis, disseminated nephritis as well as purulent catarrhalic bronchopneumonia. The findings were quite reminiscent of the lesions due to MCF in cattle and give therefore substantial proof to use Porcine Malignant Catarrhal Fever as the term for the disease. Identification of the causative agent was done with a quantitative PCR specific for OvHV-2. Different tissues from diseased animals were positive. Furthermore, one animal which had been ill for more than five days tested positive for antibodies against an epitope conserved among MCF viruses. Serum samples from diseased animals reacted negative towards Classical Swine Fever- and Pseudorabies virus antigen. A weakly positive reaction against porcine enterovirus type I argued against the involvement of enteroviruses in the observed disease. Moreover, by means of different conventional PCRs, we detected the newly discovered porcine lymphotropic herpesviruses for the first time in Switzerland and could at the same time exclude their involvement in Porcine Malignant Catarrhal Fever.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Detection of the beta2 toxin gene of Clostridium perfringens in diarrhoeic piglets in The Netherlands and Switzerland.

The two studies presented here were done to determine the prevalence of the alpha, beta, epsilon and enterotoxin genes and the novel beta2 toxin gene of Clostridium perfringens in neonatal or pre-weaned piglets with diarrhoea or necrotic enteritis. All C. perfringens isolates were positive for the alpha and negative for the epsilon and enterotoxin gene, implying that only non-enterotoxigenic type A and C strains were detected. The most important findings were the relatively high prevalence of the beta2 toxin gene in isolates from diarrhoeic piglets in both studies, and, in one of the two studies, absence of strains with only the alpha and beta toxin gene. These data are supportive for the suggestion of a causal relationship of beta2 toxin-producing strains with digestive tract diseases in piglets.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Non-suppurative myocarditis in piglets associated with porcine parvovirus infection.

The involvement of porcine parvovirus (PPV) in the aetiology of non-suppurative myocarditis in sucking piglets was investigated by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), designed to assess the presence of viral genome in formalin-fixed paraffin wax-embedded tissue of diseased animals. Myocardium and lung of stillborn piglets with a confirmed PPV infection were used to set up the PCR amplification method. Subsequently, 20 myocardia with inflammatory lesions were examined in parallel with 20 myocardia without lesions, from age-matched control piglets. Tissues were first tested for the presence and the integrity of porcine DNA by amplifying a sequence encoding the highly conserved nuclear protein histone H4. Tissue from 15 out of 20 animals with myocarditis contained amplifiable histone H4 DNA and in 12 of the 15 histone H4-positive samples, PPV DNA was detected. It proved possible to amplify histone H4 DNA in all 20 negative controls (without myocarditis), and PPV DNA was detected in three cases. In-situ hybridization with a digoxigenin-labelled probe homologous to PPV was performed in four PCR-positive cases of non-suppurative myocarditis. In two animals several positively stained nuclei were observed in the myocardium, within or close to the mild inflammatory cellular infiltrates. These results strongly suggest that PPV can cause non-suppurative myocarditis in sucking piglets.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Diagnosis of Clostridium perfringens type C enteritis in pigs using a DNA amplification technique (PCR).

Clostridium perfringens type C, which produces alpha- and beta-toxin, causes severe haemorrhagic and necrotic enteritis in animals and humans. A polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) assay was developed for the specific detection of the genes encoding alpha-, beta-, epsilon- and entertoxin of C. perfringens for rapid typing of C. perfringens strains, and especially for the identification of type C strains. Both the alpha- and beta-toxin genes were detected directly in porcine C. perfringens type C cultures and also in type B and type C collection strains to a sensitivity of 10(3) cells without purification of the DNA. The alpha-toxin gene was detected in all types of C. perfringens. The epsilon-toxin gene was found in type B and type D, and the enterotoxin gene in some type A strains. Nine other species of Clostridium and a variety of intestinal pathogenic bacteria showed no signal for these toxin genes in this PCR assay. The alpha- and beta-toxin genes PCR assay were used to identify C. perfringens strains isolated from intestinal contents of 36 necropsied piglets that had suddenly died or died after premonitory signs of diarrhoea. At necropsy, 20 piglets showed necrotizing enteritis (15 acute and 5 chronic cases) and were suspected to have suffered from a C. perfringens type C infection. All of them had C. perfringens which gave a positive PCR signal for alpha- and beta-toxin genes, and, hence, were identified as type C strains. From the 16 other piglets with lesions other than necrotizing enteritis, C. perfringens strains with the alpha-toxin gene, but no beta-toxin gene, were isolated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1994

[The former place of execution of the Lucerne herd in Emmen (1562-1798)(1562-1798) and slaughter yard belonging to it (1562-1866): pathologico-anatomic findings in excavated animal bones].

During archaeological excavations of the former knackers yard in Emmen (Canton Lucerne) skeletons and individual bones of more than 700 animals were recovered. 110 bone samples had lesions and were examined macroscopically and radiologically, 100 were from horses, 9 from dogs and only one from cattle. According to morphological and etiopathogenetical criteria, lesions are presented in the following groups: tooth irregularities (10), degenerative changes in bones and joints due to overload and aging (80), trauma and infection (10), other lesions (10). Over 80% of pathological bone samples presented degenerative changes: spondylosis and spondylarthrosis, arthropathies (mainly spavin and ringbone in horses) and ossifying periostitis due to mechanical stress (Periostitis of phalanx I and periostitis of the dorsal cortex of the third metacarpal bone).

Abattoirs↗
PubMed1993

[The "hemorrhagic bowel syndrome" of swine: clinical, pathologo-anatomic and etiopathogenic aspects].

In an analysis of autopsy findings from 16,384 pigs (1980-90) 436 cases of haemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) were found (2.66% of autopsies). In most cases fattening pigs (in the weight of 25-100 kg) were affected. HBS was significantly more frequent in females. Intestinal volvulus was confirmed in 56.2% of all cases of HBS, however by more careful examination between 1988 and 1990 even in 80% of cases. In most cases the degree of torsion was 180 degrees and the direction as seen with the pig lying on its back was anticlockwise. Clinical history as reported by owners revealed limited information: sudden death of one or several pigs within three months, association with whey feeding not uncommon. Significantly more cases of HBS were seen during spring and on mondays. Numerous yeasts could be detected in mucosal impression smears of ileum, colon and caecum. Additional analyses in six farms suffering from big losses due to HBS suggested that several environmental and management factors may be involved pathogenetically: feeding only once a day of excessive amounts of a liquid diet, especially whey (a highly fermentable substrate), poor hygiene of liquid diets (high bacterial counts and yeast concentrations). In mixed breeding and fattening units, the aforementioned factors could be responsible also for sudden deaths in dry sows caused by colonic bloat often associated with intestinal rupture and torsions of the stomach and/or the spleen.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1988

[Osteosarcoma of the distal femur, combined with multiple bone infarcts: the case of a 10-year-old poodle].

A ten-year-old female poodle was presented for left hindlimb lameness. Radiographically, irregular intramedullary densities of long bones (bone infarcts) and a lytic lesion in the left distal femur were detected. Two years after the first examination, the lesions in the distal femur were definitely identified as osteosarcoma and the dog was euthanized. Pathological and histological changes of the bone infarcts as well as of the osteosarcoma are described. Regarding bibliographical data, occurrence and aetiopathogenesis of osteosarcoma associated with multifocal bone infarction in man and dog are discussed.

Animals↗