Salmon poisoning disease

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Salmon poisoning disease (SPD) is a fatal disease of dogs and other canids caused by a rickettsial bacterium, Neorickettsia helminthoeca . [1] It results from eating raw salmon, trout, or salamander and is common in the Pacific Northwest. These fish and amphibians are infected with the larvae of a fluke, Nanophyetus salmincola through an intermediate host, the snail Oxytrema plicifer [ citation needed ]. The larvae attaches to the intestine of the dog and the rickettsial bacteria are released, causing severe gastrointestinal disease and systemic infection.

Dog domestic animal

The domestic dog is a member of the genus Canis (canines), which forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant terrestrial carnivore. The dog and the extant gray wolf are sister taxa as modern wolves are not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated, which implies that the direct ancestor of the dog is extinct. The dog was the first species to be domesticated and has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.

Canidae family of mammals

The biological family Canidae is a lineage of carnivorans that includes domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, dingoes, and many other extant and extinct dog-like mammals. A member of this family is called a canid.

Neorickettsia helminthoeca is a bacterium in the Neorickettsia genus that causes Salmon poisoning disease.

Contents

Neorickettsia elokominica , carried by the same fluke, causes a similar disease known as Elokomin fluke fever (EFF) in canids, bears, raccoons, and ferrets. [2]

Bear family of mammals

Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.

Raccoon medium sized procyonid mammal native to North America

The raccoon, sometimes spelled racoon, also known as the common raccoon, North American raccoon,, northern raccoon, or coon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. The raccoon is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm and a body weight of 5 to 26 kg. Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates it against cold weather. Three of the raccoon's most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail, which are themes in the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Raccoons are noted for their intelligence, with studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for at least three years. They are usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates.

Ferret subspecies of mammal

The ferret is the domesticated form of the European polecat, a mammal belonging to the same genus as the weasel, Mustela of the family Mustelidae. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur. They have an average length of 51 cm (20 in) including a 13 cm (5.1 in) tail, weigh about 1.5–4 pounds (0.7–2 kg), and have a natural lifespan of 7 to 10 years. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females.

Symptoms

Symptoms of SPD begin about one week after eating the salmon and include vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, depression, high fever, and enlarged lymph nodes. Untreated, mortality reaches 90 percent. [3] Death occurs seven to ten days after symptoms begin. [1]

Lymph node organ of the lymphatic system

A lymph node or lymph gland is an ovoid or kidney-shaped organ of the lymphatic system, and of the adaptive immune system, that is widely present throughout the body. They are linked by the lymphatic vessels as a part of the circulatory system. Lymph nodes are major sites of B and T lymphocytes, and other white blood cells. Lymph nodes are important for the proper functioning of the immune system, acting as filters for foreign particles and cancer cells. Lymph nodes do not have a detoxification function, which is primarily dealt with by the liver and kidneys.

Mortality rate measure of the number of deaths in a population

Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1,000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 in a population of 1,000 would mean 9.5 deaths per year in that entire population, or 0.95% out of the total. It is distinct from "morbidity", which is either the prevalence or incidence of a disease, and also from the incidence rate.

EFF has less severe symptoms than SPD, with less gastrointestinal signs and more lymph node involvement. The mortality in untreated cases is about 10 percent. [2]

A similar disease has been identified in Brazil. [4]

Brazil Federal republic in South America

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 208 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the fifth most populous. The capital is Brasília, and the most populated city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states, the Federal District, and the 5,570 municipalities. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas; it is also one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is through finding the fluke eggs microscopically in a stool sample. A needle aspiration biopsy of an enlarged lymph node will reveal rickettsial organisms within macrophages in many cases. [5] The rickettsial infection can be successfully treated with tetracycline, and the fluke infection can be treated with fenbendazole.

Macrophage type of white blood cell

Macrophages are a type of white blood cell, of the immune system, that engulfs and digests cellular debris, foreign substances, microbes, cancer cells, and anything else that does not have the type of proteins specific to healthy body cells on its surface in a process called phagocytosis. These large phagocytes are found in essentially all tissues, where they patrol for potential pathogens by amoeboid movement. They take various forms throughout the body, but all are part of the mononuclear phagocyte system. Besides phagocytosis, they play a critical role in nonspecific defense and also help initiate specific defense mechanisms by recruiting other immune cells such as lymphocytes. For example, they are important as antigen presenters to T cells. In humans, dysfunctional macrophages cause severe diseases such as chronic granulomatous disease that result in frequent infections.

Tetracycline chemical compound

Tetracycline, sold under the brand name Sumycin among others, is an antibiotic used to treat a number of infections. This includes acne, cholera, brucellosis, plague, malaria, and syphilis. It is taken by mouth.

Fenbendazole chemical compound

Fenbendazole is a broad spectrum benzimidazole anthelmintic used against gastrointestinal parasites including: giardia, roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, the tapeworm genus Taenia, pinworms, aelurostrongylus, paragonimiasis, strongyles and strongyloides and can be administered to sheep, cattle, horses, fish, dogs, cats, rabbits and seals. Drug interactions may occur if salicylanilides like dibromsalan and niclosamide are co-administered. Abortions in cattle and death in sheep have been reported after using these medications together.

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References

  1. 1 2 Ettinger, Stephen J.; Feldman, Edward C. (1995). Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine (4th ed.). W.B. Saunders Company. ISBN   978-0-7216-6795-9.
  2. 1 2 "Salmon Poisoning Disease and Elokomin Fluke Fever". The Merck Veterinary Manual. 2016. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
  3. Lobetti, Remo (2006). "Infectious Diseases of the GI Tract" (PDF). Proceedings of the 31st World Congress of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association. Retrieved 2007-03-26.
  4. Headley S, Vidotto O, Scorpio D, Dumler J, Mankowski J (2004). "Suspected cases of Neorickettsia-like organisms in Brazilian dogs". Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1026 (1): 79–83. Bibcode:2004NYASA1026...79H. doi:10.1196/annals.1307.010. PMID   15604473.
  5. Johns J, Strasser J, Zinkl J, Christopher M; Strasser; Zinkl (2006). "Lymph node aspirate from a California wine-country dog". Vet Clin Pathol. 35 (2): 243–6. doi:10.1111/j.1939-165X.2006.tb00123.x. PMID   16783722.