Swine Conjunctivitis Associated with a Novel Mycoplasma Species Closely Related to Mycoplasma hyorhinis

Effect of light intensity on behaviour, health and growth of growing-finishing pigs

The effect of light intensity has been explored in relation to endocrine functions and reproduction in pigs, but effects on health and behaviour are scarcely documented. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different light intensities on behaviour, health and growth of growing-finishing pigs. An experiment was conducted on a commercial farm equipped with light-emitting diode-based luminaires creating four light intensity treatments: low (45 lux), medium (198 lux), high (968 lux) and spatial gradient of intensity (from 71 lux to 330 lux). Per treatment, 112 pigs were studied in two batches of eight pens. Once every two weeks behaviours such as exploration, positive and negative social interactions, play and abnormal behaviours were observed. Health issues were assessed weekly and included biting lesions, skin lesions, leg and respiratory disorders. The average daily gain over the experiment was calculated and after slaughter carcasses were inspected. Generalised linear mixed models were used for the analysis of behaviours, binary health scores, carcass abnormalities, ordinal logistic regression for multilevel health scores, and linear mixed models for average daily gain. Interactions between intensity and week were found for some behaviours (i.e., exploration, negative social interactions and abnormal behaviour) and health issues (i.e., tear stains, conjunctivitis, body lesions, bursitis and tail lesions). However, none of the treatments consistently outperformed another one. Light treatments did not affect pig growth and carcass abnormalities. These variable results support studies suggesting that pigs are adaptable to light intensities, and inconsistencies over weeks might have been caused by environmental factors that could not be controlled in a commercial farm setting. To conclude, tested light intensities had no clear effects on pig behaviour, health and growth.

Cytological and microbiological evaluation of conjunctiva in camels with and without conjunctivitis

OBJECTIVE

To describe the cytological analysis of conjunctiva from normal camels and camels with bacterial conjunctivitis.

ANIMALS STUDIED

This study was conducted on 7 normal camels and 15 camels affected with conjunctivitis. The affected camels had a history of conjunctivitis with signs including chemosis, blepharospasm, frequent blinking, and mild-to-moderate serous, mucoid, or purulent ocular discharge.

PROCEDURES

Bacterial swabs were collected from the inferior conjunctival sac of the affected eye without topical anesthetics. Conjunctival smears were obtained from the conjunctival surface for cytological analysis.

RESULTS

The cellular analysis of ocular smears revealed a higher percentage of basal cells, neutrophils, eosinophils, and macrophages in camels with conjunctivitis compared with normal camels. In contrast to this, smears from normal camels showed an increased percentage of superficial epithelial cells compared with affected camels. The microbiological assessment of conjunctival swabs collected from affected animals identified a bacterial growth of Staphylococcus aureus., Bacillus sp., Streptococcus sp., Enterococcus faecium., Staphylococcus sp., Corynebacterium sp., Coryne pseudotuberculosis., Saprophytica, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulagaris, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

CONCLUSIONS

It was observed that bacterial conjunctivitis in camels was associated with increased percentages of basal epithelial cells, neutrophils, eosinophils, and macrophages compared with normal camels, while normal camels showed an increased percentage of superficial epithelial cells compared with affected camels.

Ottowia testudinis sp. nov., isolated from the cloaca of a giant Asian pond turtle (Heosemys grandis)

A bacterial strain designated 27CT isolated from the cloaca of a giant Asian pond turtle was subjected to polyphasic taxonomic characterization. The strain was Gram-stain negative and oxidase- and catalase-positive. It had highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Ottowia beijingensis GCS-AN-3T (97.6 %) and Ottowia flava GY511T 96.0% and less than 96.0 % to other established species including Ramlibacter rhizophilus YS3.2.7T, Ottowia konkukae SK3863T, Acidovorax caeni E-24608T and Ottowia thiooxydans DSM 14619T. Phylogenetically, strain 27CT formed a branch with O. beijingensis GCS-AN-3T within the Ottowia clade. The genome size was 4.32 Mbp and the G+C content was 65.7 mol%. Strain 27CT shared highest ANIb values with O. beijingensis GCS-AN-3T (82.71/82.73 %) followed by O. oryzae KADR8-3T (78.9/79.0 %) and O. caeni BD-1T (73.3/75.2 %). The diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan was meso-diaminopimelic acid and the quinone system was ubiquinone Q-8. Predominant compounds in the polar lipid profile were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine. Major polyamines were 2-hydroxyputrescine and putrescine. In the fatty acid profile, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1  ω7c and/or C16 : 1  ω6c), C16 : 0, summed feature 8 (C18 : 1  ω7c and/or C18 : 1  ω6c), C14 : 0, C10 : 0 3-OH and C16 : 0 2-OH were detected. All these data identify strain 27CT as representing a novel species of the genus Ottowia and hence we propose the name Ottowia testudinis sp. nov. The type strain is 27CT (=CCM 9138T=LMG 32213T).