The digestive tract of the whiteback vulture (Gyps africanus) is described. Some disease organisms were fed to a captive bird to discover if they could survive passage through the tract, and the role of these scavenging birds in the spread of diseases among wild ungulates is discussed.

A ganglioneuroma is described on the integument of a fish, Tengra tengra, together with intense parasitization of its gill filaments with the protozoon, Henneguya ophiocephali.

Mature and immature red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) were fed varying numbers of white mice infected with street isolates and a fixed strain of rabies virus. Rabies deaths and the development of serum neutralizing antibody to rabies virus occurred in both species. The epizootiological implications of these findings are discussed.

Necropsy was performed on a sea lion (Zalophus californianus wollebaeki), sacrificed in an advanced (pre-terminal) stage of disease, possibly representative of the Galapagos epizootic of 1970-71. Predominant features of the disease were non-umbilicated multiple suppurative cutaneous nodules, debilitation and loss of motor power. Histopathological studies of the skin lesions disclosed suppurative cellulitis, with leucocytic invasion extending, in some instances, to all layers of the epidermis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was recovered from cultures of blood and pus.

Serotypes 1 and 4 Listeria monocytogenes were isolated from 14 of 72 wapiti among four of five herds studied in northwestern California. More isolations of Listeria were made during the summer months than during the other months of the study from one of the herds. The pathogenicity of the strains varied with their ability to ferment xylose and rhamnose.

Ketamine hydrochloride was observed to be an effective anesthetic for recently captured raccoons (Procyon lotor) when they were injected intramuscularly with 20-29 mg/kg body weight. Excellent anesthesia occurred from 5 to 15 min after injection. No respiratory difficulties were encountered. The only undesirable clinical sign was excessive salivation.

An extract of spleens from three pheasants affected with marble spleen disease was used as an intravenous inoculum to transmit the disease to pen reared pheasants (Phasianus colchicus x Phasianus torquatus). The disease was prevented by specific convalescent pheasant antiserum and by antiserum from turkeys that had recovered from hemorrhagic enteritis of turkeys. The causative agent of the disease passed through 0.22 μ filters, resisted chloroform and retained its precipitin antigen quality after propagation by bird passage. Filterability, chloroform resistance, antigenic characteristics and in vivo response to antibody strongly indicate that the causative agent of marble spleen disease is a virus very similar to the virus which causes hemorrhagic enteritis of turkeys.

Lesions, grossly and histologically typical of pox infection, occurred in a white-backed magpie from Melbourne, Australia. Electron microscopic examination revealed typical poxvirus particles in lesion material. The disease was experimentally transmitted to other magpies, but chickens, turkeys, pigeons and canaries were refractory to experimental infection with magpie poxvirus. The epidemiology of magpie pox and the probable occurrence of pox-like disease in other native Australian birds are discussed.

Wildlife species from 38 of Florida's 67 counties were surveyed over a 10 year period for the presence of antibody to the five major arboviruses circulating in the state. The routine screening of 7891 sera from wild birds and mammals via the hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test with selected reactors subjected to serum neutralization testing has 1) provided information regarding geographic distribution and seasonality of circulation of these viruses 2) identified enzootic foci of infection and those species of wildlife most commonly infected and 3) documented the potential value of certain wild mammals as indicators of St. Louis Encephalitis and Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus activity prior to the detection of human cases. Limited studies of Tamiami and Tensaw virus on sera from mammals collected for other purposes provided additional baseline information on the activity of these viruses in Florida mammals. Isolations of eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus were made from the heart of a loggerhead shrike (Lanius excubitor), Tensaw virus from the brain of a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and Keystone virus from the heart of a bluejay (Cyanocitta cristata).

Enterolithiasis was observed on necropsy of a Hartman's mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae). A single enterolith had caused obstruction and rupture of the small colon. The gross lesions are described and the possible etiology discussed.

Four type A influenza viruses were isolated from tracheal swabs taken from apparently healthy ducks (mallards, Anas platyrhynchos) along the Mississippi fly-way in Minnesota. Initial identification of group A influenza was made possible by the use of the agar gel precipitin test.

Pulmonary lesions associated with naturally acquired Paragonimus kellicotti infection were studied in mink (Mustela vison), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and a coyote (Canis latrans). In mink a fibrous capsule was formed around mature flukes in dilated bronchioles or bronchi, and there was mild focal interstitial pneumonitis adjacent to fluke eggs in alveoli and migrating parasites. A thick wall, infiltrated heavily with mononuclear cells and eosinophils, surrounded mature P. kellicotti in skunks and an extensive inflammatory reaction was found around fluke eggs. In red foxes the wall was thin, hemorrhagic and contained little collagen; necrosis was associated with migrating parasites. Thick capsules formed by marked fibroplastic changes in the lamina propria of affected bronchi were found in the coyote.

In raccoons with pleural adhesions massive fibroplasia with eosinophil infiltration beneath the pulmonary pleura suggested a reaction to a migrating parasite entering the lung from the thoracic cavity. It was thought that immature P. kellicotti may have caused the lesion.

Freshly embryonated eggs of Heterakis gallinarum gathered from naturally infected domestic turkeys and chickens developed the first 4 weeks essentially as well in young wild turkeys as in domestic poults, but then became progressively retarded and failed in most birds to result in females with fertile eggs. There was no significant difference in the prevalence or progress of infections with Histomonas meleagridis in the two kinds of turkeys, both of which differed from chickens only in that the latter had neither liver involvement nor mortality. In a second test, heterakids hatched from eggs stored 5-6 months at 4 C (comparable to overwintering) sustained very heavy losses in all birds, with greatly accelerated liberations of H. meleagridis. Few worms reached maturity and still fewer produced fertile eggs. In turkeys, and especially in wild turkeys, replacement of infective stages was so poor, that these birds were of no importance in contaminating the soil.

A method for immunizing foxes against rabies was evaluated. Fifteen of 36 red foxes (Vulpes fulva) fed baits impregnated with modified live virus rabies vaccine developed serum rabies neutralizing antibody. The vaccine-bait proved unstable when held at 4 C or 25 C for 96 hours prior to feeding. For safety testing the vaccine virus was administered to opossums (Didelphis virginiana), cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus), hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), and chickens (Gallus domesticus) in either liquid or bait form. One of ten cotton rats fed liquid vaccine died of vaccine induced rabies. No animals which ate the vaccine-baits died of vaccine induced rabies.

Packed cell volume, haemoglobin and erythrocyte counts are given for 52 East African birds of prey of 21 species. Whilst the majority of the birds sampled were “normal”, some were injured or diseased. The results are discussed and attention is drawn to the possible value of haematology in clinical diagnosis.

Blood was collected at slaughter from 132 adult American bison (Bison bison) raised in an anaplasmosis endemic area where the vector Dermacentor andersoni (= venustus) is indigenous. Hematologic studies revealed no indications of clinical anaplasmosis. Card agglutination and complement-fixation tests on all bison serums were negative. Eleven anaplasmosis-susceptible calves each inoculated with 204 ml of blood pooled from 12 bison did not develop anaplasmosis. Results of this study indicate American bison have resistance to natural A. marginale infection.

Twin white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns captured in Morris County, New Jersey, displayed papular, darkly pigmented scabs principally on the skin overlying the nasal bones, dentary, commissure of the lips and ears. Histopathological and bacterial examinations revealed Dermatophilus congolensis. The epidermitis caused by this bacterium apparently had developed within the first 12 to 14 days after birth and had begun to regress by one month of age. The location of the lesions suggested transmission during nursing from an infected doe. This is believed to be the first confirmed report of this zoonotic disease in white-tailed deer, with isolation of the etiologic agent, outside the State of New York. Epizootiological considerations are discussed.

Eimeria confusa Joseph, 1969 from the gray squirrel Sciurus carolinensis was transmitted to the fox squirrel Sciurus niger rufiventer. This is the first report of the successful cross-transmission of a gray squirrel coccidium to the fox squirrel.

A history is given of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge and the losses of goslings of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) recorded since inception of the refuge in 1935. Since 1960, when more reliable data became available, losses have been extensive every 4 years. Gosling deaths are attributed to the infection with Leucocytozoon simondi. The blackfly (Simulium innocens) is considered to be the prime vector in the transmission of this blood parasite to goslings.

Three species of coccidia, found in American bison sampled in Wyoming, are identified. The described coccidial species, common to cattle, have not been reported previously from American bison, (Bison bison). Identification of the parasites was determined by oocyst structural measurements and by oocyst sporulation times.

Anatomical dissections were done to show the innervation of the teeth and mandible of the bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Using structural landmarks, a method has been devised for anesthetizing the lower jaw. With this procedure teeth can be extracted and age determined by counting dentine layers in sections of etched teeth. Animals of the most desirable ages can thus be selected and the ages of animals already in captivity can be determined.

Chronic debilitation and anemia were observed in a free-living opossum (Didelphis marsupialis) heavily parasitized by Physaloptera turgida, Brachylaima virginianum, and Cruzia americana. Chronic interstitial pneumonia associated with Capillaria aerophila and a metastrongyloid nematode also was present.

Contamination of streams by Francisella tularensis, a fastidious pathogen, was discovered by Miller in Russia.¹⁴ Subsequently that contamination was found to be the source of extensive human outbreaks, and to occur as well in North America. Circumstantial evidence supports a hypothesis that infected voles are responsible for the contamination, but when freshly isolated F. tularensis palaearctica is inoculated parenterally, only acute illness and death result whereas long-term contamination of streams would seem to demand a more chronic process. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that voles have an apparent predilection to tularemic nephritis when partially immunized before parenteral infection, but also when naive voles are infected orally. Associated chronic bacteriuria would seem to fulfill requirements for protracted contamination of watersheds.

Results of a serologic study of a plague outbreak among rats (Rattus norvegicus) and associated wild rodents are presented. Bacteriologic and serologic evidence points toward mutual exchange of fleas and plague infection between the intermingled rat and wild rodent populations. Results emphasize the value of serologic methods for epizootiologic studies of plague in North American rat populations.