Parasite prevalence, intensity, and diversity in Nebraska pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) were studied during the fall of 1971. Fifty-four of 63 (86%) pheasants examined for helminths harbored at least one parasite species. Heterakis gallinarum (65% of the pheasants), Choanotaenia infundibulum (48%), Echinoparyphium recurvation (1.6%), and Zygocotyle lunata (1.6%) were recovered. Two of 15 (13%) birds examined for coccidia possessed Eimeria phasiani. None of 35 pheasants examined for hematozoa had patent infections.

An abscess in the nasal region of a cod fish, held for experimental work, resulted in a large swelling. Purulent exudate filled the nostrils. Among the signs of distress was an apparent lack of equilibrium. Histological examination of the nasal area showed extensive destruction of the muscle and connective tissue and leucocytic infiltration.

Six microorganisms were isolated from the infected region. The suspected pathogen was identified as Vibrio anguillarum. The other isolates, felt to be secondary invaders or bacteria normally present in sea water, were Achromobacter, Flavobacterium and Pseudomonas species. The vibrio grew well at salinities of 2–5% and at temperatures of 10–24 C. It exhibited strong proteolytic activity.

Intramuscular injection of the suspected pathogen into mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) resulted in a lesion similar to that originally observed.

The results of electron microscopy are described.

In the Rangeley Lakes region of western Maine, where Diphyllobothrium sebago (Ward) is enzootic, the spawning of the smelt (Osmerus mordax) in late April and early May and the ensuing die-off of the spent fish coincide with the return and reproductive activities of the gulls (Larus argentatus). The gulls feed on the dead plerocercoid-infected smelt, which results in a high infection during the late spring and early summer. Thus, from early July onward, at least until the fall turnover in the lake, a constant source of coracidia is available for the copepod, the first intermediary, which constitutes the chief food of the smelt. The procercoid in the copepod becomes a plerocercoid in the smelt, which serves as a source of infection for the gulls, during either the spring-summer of the next year or of the subsequent year. Epizootiologically, due to the prolonged preservation of the plerocercoids in the fish, the smelt is the natural reservoir. Despite the common occurrence of the plerocercoids in the salmon (Salmo salar), its role as an intermediary is negligible.

A Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, was found infected with the opisthorchiid trematode, Amphimerus elongatus. The liver was badly riddled with a massive infection of thousands of these parasites. Histologically, trematodes were found in the bile ducts of almost all the lobules of the liver. These were completely occluded and there was hyperplasia or complete desquamation of the epithelium of the duct walls. In areas which contained numerous parasites there was extensive fibrosis. In lobules which were free of the parasites the hepatic cells exhibited cloudy swelling, their nuclei were karyolytic in areas adjacent to fibrosis, and there was a considerable increase in the periportal tissue. A localized inflammatory response was noted with lymphocytes and eosinophils as the main cellular components. This is the first record of A. elongatus from the Double-crested Cormorant.

The endoparasitic isopod, Artystone trysibia, was found within a pouch-like encapsulation in the abdomen of a naturally-infected, fresh water discus fish, Symphysodon discus, imported from South America. Larval stages released from the female isopod penetrated various body sites in the albino catfish, Corydoras aeneus, where they caused mechanical damage and hemorrhage. In one case, a larva that penetrated behind a pectoral fin was observed during a 72 day period to grow and develop into an immature male isopod which was separated from the internal organs of the catfish by a host-produced capsule. The isopod maintained an opening to the outside by the continuous movement of its abdominal appendages. The capsules surrounding isopods in both the discus fish and albino catfish contained tissue elements of body wall origin suggesting that the growing isopod causes fibrous changes of the body wall which expands to form a protective invagination. A proposed life history is discussed.

Impaired function of the mylo-hyoideus muscles was associated with and possibly caused by arterial worm, Elaeophora schneideri, infection in an aged white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Subsequent to this observation, E. schneideri was found in 12 white-tailed deer from four widely separated coastal plain counties in the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, U.S.A.

A 10 year old male Indian leopard developed a rapidly enlarging mass on the volar left forepaw. Histopathologic examination revealed a basal cell tumor. No reoccurrence has been reported to date, 1 year after excision.

To investigate possible reasons for the high percentage of eosinophilia in cetacean blood, the distribution of these cells between capillary and peripheral blood was investigated in nine bottle-nosed dolphins. There were no differences in blood values which could be attributed to site selection.

The ruminant arterial worm Elaeophora schneideri is reported for the first time from the moose, Alces alces, in Montana. One of four infected animals examined during 1971 was blind and had extensive intimal proliferation in the leptomeningeal arteries, areas of cerebrocortical neuronal necrosis, and numerous hemorrhages in the brain. Similarities were noted in the lesions of elaeophorosis in moose and wapiti.

Linear regressions were calculated to evaluate the distribution of reports of rabid animals and some of the factors that might influence reporting rates in Oklahoma. There was a significant relationship between the distribution of human populations and reports of rabid animals other than cattle and skunks. There was no evidence that the presence of the livestock industry per se had an influence on reporting rates. Distance to the laboratory was apparently a factor influncing submission of heads of cattle and skunks, but not other rabid animals. Reporting rates for rabid skunks are probably poor and those reported may represent only a small fraction of actual numbers. Reports of rabid pets, and to a lesser extent rabid cattle, are probably better biological indicators of the true distribution and intensity of the skunk rabies problem. These reports indicate that problem areas for rabies in Oklahoma, where skunks are the primary rabies vector, are characterized by high indices of habitat diversity.

A wide range of environmental and genetic factors cause fish to respond differently to given levels of fluorides, but they do display characteristic fluoride intoxication signs. Some of the variation can also be explained by postulating a chloride-fluoride excretion mechanism over the epithelial tissues. Such a mechanism would explain variations in toxicity correlated with different chloride concentrations and the survival of natural populations of fish at fluoride concentrations which are lethal under laboratory conditions.

Nine species of Monogenea of the subfamily Ancyrocephalinae were collected from Lepomis macrochirus in Walter F. George Reservoir at 2 week intervals from December 1967 to January 1969. The abundance patterns and size of the organism formed three distinct groups: (1) The large species most abundant during the autumn and least abundant during the mid summer period were Anchoradiscus triangularis and Clavunculus bifurcatus; (2) the large species most abundant during the spring and least abundant during the mid summer period were Lyrodiscus seminolensis and Cleidodiscus robustus; and (3) the small species abundant during the summer but having a prewinter peak at water temperatures near 10 C were Actinocleidus fergusoni, Urocleidus dispar, U. ferox, U. acer and Cleidodiscus nematocirrus.

Agar gel precipitin (AGP) antibody was detected in 31 of 283 (11%) pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) serum samples using antigen prepared with spleen tissue from a pheasant dying of marble spleen disease (MSD). These same serum samples failed to react with normal pheasant spleen or antigens of chick embryo lethal orphan (CELO) virus or Marek's disease virus.

Lead poisoning was diagnosed post-mortem in 34 simian primates, 11 parrots, and 3 Australian fruit bats at the National Zoological Park. Diagnoses were made by the finding of acid-fast intranuclear inclusion bodies in renal epithelia or hepatocytes and, in most cases, by finding excess lead in samples of liver. The estimated prevalence of lead intoxication among autopsied primates and parrots was 44% and 50% respectively. Leaded paint was found in many animal enclosures at this zoo and it was available to all the lead-poisoned animals in this study.

The finding of renal intranuclear inclusion bodies in animals at several zoos, scattered reports of lead intoxication of animals dwelling in various zoos, the occurrence of leaded paint in many zoos and the high incidence of lead poisoning at this zoo, indicated that lead poisoning of zoo animals is much more common than was previously thought.

Rickettsia-like organisms are described from erythrocytes of Turdus abyssinicus from the Northern Frontier District of Kenya. Similar organisms from captive Balearica pavonina in England have been transmitted by blood inoculation to laboratory birds.

A captured box turtle, Terrapene carolina, was found to have a large swelling on the neck, the result of a massive, mixed bacterial infection of Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Proteus morganii, Proteus rettgeri, and a non-pigmented strain of Pseudomonas. A well-defined caseous mass between the superficial and deep cervical muscles was surrounded by purulent material. An eroded squamosal bone allowed purulent material to gain access to the pharynx. The skull was markedly asymmetrical, due primarily to left squamosal enlargement. Initial entry of the pathogens via pharyngeal trauma is suggested.

Wild rodents involved in a plague epizootic were trapped on a bimonthly schedule at 15 trap sites distributed throughout the San Bruno Mountain plague pocket located in northern San Mateo County, California. The percentage of positive sera obtained from Microtus californicus varied from zero in two sites in which Y. pestis had not been recovered from rodent flea or tissue pools to as high as 90% to 97% positives in Microtus trapped in four sites in which Y. pestis was recovered.

Analysis of the data available indicates that the rate of seropositive rodents, Peromyscus maniculutus and Microtus californicus, is correlated with gross numbers of fleas found per trapline.

The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) was anesthetized with halothane following induction with halothane/nitrous oxide or thiopental sodium. Halothane concentrations of 0.75 - 1.5% were required for surgical anesthesia. The depth of anesthesia was best assessed by heart rate, muscle relaxation and the presence or absence of shivering. Controlled ventilation was required throughout anesthesia and CO₂ homeostasis was maintained by tidal volumes of 22–25 ml/kg at a rate of 10/min. There were two anesthetic deaths: one related to hypothermia, and one to a prolonged induction period.

Pasteurella multocida was isolated from the tonsillar fossa of five of twelve wild raccoons (Procyon lotor) and one of two red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) which were collected with humane wire-cage traps near turkey farms. In one raccoon, the organism was recovered from the mouth in addition to the tonsillar fossa. The fermentation pattern of these isolates was the same as that for 84% of the 214 isolates of P. multocida recovered from turkeys in Missouri veterinary medical diagnostic laboratories during the last 5 years. Although these isolates were pathogenic for turkeys, the organism was not transmitted from raccoons to turkeys.