What will it NOT do? It will not

make most of us into bench scien-
tists or instant experts. You may not
be able to do a PCR or know about
Baerman tests, but you will certainly
learn a great deal about what these
tests can tell you and when they are
(and aren’t) worth the time and
money.

Depending on your interests, ex-

pertise, and experience, many veter-

inarians using this volume will find
that they may already know much of
what’s presented in one or more
chapters. But I am certain that no
matter your level of experience, you
will find gems of information and
new ideas in this journal. I congrat-
ulate the National Wildlife Rehabili-
tators Association and the authors
on this effort and look forward to
seeing what comes next.

MARK POKRAS, DVM

Wildlife Clinic

Tufts Cummings School of

Veterinary Medicine

North Grafton, MA

© 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1055-937X/05/1404-$30.00
doi:10.1053/j.saep.2005.09.008

Abstracts

Bertelsen MF, Mosley C, Craw-
shaw GJ, et al: Inhalation anes-
thesia in Dumeril’s monitor
(Varanus dumerili) with isoflu-
rane, sevoflurane, and nitrous
oxide: effects of inspired gases
on induction and recovery.
J Zoo Wild Med 36(1):62-
68, 2005

Induction and recovery times of
Dumeril’s monitors from inhala-
tion anesthesia using isoflurane,
sevoflurane, and nitrous oxide
were studied. The study was per-
formed on 10 captive-bred moni-
tors, and each animal received
each of 4 treatments once in a ran-
domized order, with at least 7 days
between treatments. The treat-
ments were isoflurane in 100% O

2

,

sevoflurane in 100% O

2

, sevoflu-

rane in room air, and sevoflurane
in 66% N

2

:34% O

2

. The flow rate

was 1 L/min, and the vaporizers
were dialed to maximum (5% for
isoflurane and 8% for sevoflu-
rane).

Mask

induction

with

sevoflurane was significantly faster
than with isoflurane. There was no
significant difference between the
induction time for sevoflurane in
O

2

or in room air, but sevoflurane

combined with N

2

O resulted in

significantly faster inductions than
were obtained with sevoflurane in
100% O

2

. All protocols involving

handling resulted in markedly ele-

vated respiratory rates compared
with undisturbed animals. The
number of breaths was signifi-
cantly higher during induction
with isoflurane than with sevoflu-
rane. The sequence in which com-
plete muscle relaxation occurred
was consistent: the front limbs lost
tone first, followed by the neck
and hind limbs. The righting re-
flex was then lost and finally tail
tone. Recovery time after anesthe-
sia was not affected by the percent-
age of inhaled O

2

.

Gibbs JP, Steen DA: Trends in
sex ratios of turtles in the
United States: implications of
road mortality. Conservation
Biol 19(2):552-556, 2005

Road mortality has been impli-
cated as a significant demographic
force in turtles, particularly for fe-
male turtles, which are killed dis-
proportionately on overland nest-
ing movements. The authors syn-
thesized published estimates of
population-level sex ratios in fresh-
water and terrestrial turtles in the
United States (165 estimates for 36
species). From this analysis, the
proportion of male turtles in pop-
ulations has increased linearly
(P

⫽ 0.001), and this trend is syn-

chronized with the expansion of
surfaced roads. In addition, sex ra-
tios became more male biased in

states with higher densities of
roads, and in aquatic species, in
which movement differentials be-
tween male and female turtles are
greatest. They are least biased in
semiaquatic and terrestrial spe-
cies, in which overland movements
are more comparable between
sexes. These findings may have sig-
nificant implications, because it
has been found that slight in-
creases in turtle adult mortality
can lead to large declines in pop-
ulations.

Harrenstein LA, Tornquist SJ,
Miller-Morgan TJ, et al: Evalu-
ation of a point-of-care blood
analyzer and determination of
reference ranges for blood pa-
rameters in rockfish. J Am
Vet Med Assoc 226(2):255-
265, 2005

Captive

adult

black

rockfish

(Sebastes melanops) and adult blue
rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) were
anesthetized with tricaine meth-
anesulfonate

for

collection

of

blood samples. Heparinized blood
samples were immediately ana-
lyzed with a point-of-care analyzer
(i-STAT portable clinical analyzer;
Heska Corp, Fort Collins, CO).
Blood sodium, potassium, chlo-
ride, urea nitrogen, and glucose
concentrations were determined.
In addition, hematocrit, pH, par-

292

Abstracts

tial pressure of CO

2

, total CO

2

concentration, bicarbonate con-
centration, base excess, and he-
moglobin concentration were
also determined. Paired hepa-
rinized blood samples were sent
to a veterinary diagnostic labora-
tory (VDL) for comparative anal-
yses. Although the data obtained
with the point-of-care analyzer
was reproducible, most of the re-
sults were lower than and dif-
fered significantly from those
obtained by the VDL. Fish in
poor body condition had signif-
icantly lower mean total protein,
albumin, glucose, cholesterol,
and phosphorus concentrations
than did clinically normal fish
when values were determined by
the VDL. The authors conclude
that point-of-care analyzers may
prove useful in rockfish, though
a larger number of clinically nor-
mal fish must be obtained for
reference ranges to be calcu-
lated.

Jacobson

ER,

Ginn

PE,

Troutman JM, et al: West Nile
virus infection in farmed
American alligators (Alligator
mississippiensis) in Florida. J
Wild Dis 41(1):96-106, 2005

In

September

and

October

2002, a central Florida alligator
farm had a large die-off of alliga-
tors up to 1.3 meters in length
and up to 3 years old. Pens with
affected and unaffected alliga-
tors were randomly dispersed.
Mortality was highest in the
youngest

alligators.

Approxi-

mately 300 from a population of
9,000 died over a 2-month pe-
riod. Clinical signs included an-
orexia, lethargy, intention trem-
ors, swimming on their sides,
and opisthotonus. Three of the
youngest alligators with neuro-
logical signs were submitted
alive to the University of Florida
College of Veterinary Medicine.

Blood was obtained, and the an-
imals were killed. The most sig-
nificant

microscopic

lesions

were a moderate meningoen-
cephalomyelitis, necrotizing hepa-
titis and splenitis, pancreatic ne-
crosis, myocardial degeneration
with necrosis, stomatitis, and
glossitis. Immunostaining indi-
cated the presence of West Nile
virus (WNV) antigen in multiple
tissues. Virus isolation and RNA
detection by reverse transcrip-
tase polymerase chain reaction
confirmed WNV infection in
plasma and tissue samples. Virus
titers in plasma exceeded the
threshold needed to infect Culex
mosquitoes. Thus, alligators may
serve as a vertebrate-amplifying
host for WNV.

Kinde H, Hullinger PJ, Char-
lton B, et al: The isolation of
exotic

Newcastle

disease

(END) virus from nonpoultry
avian species associated with
the epidemic of END in
chickens in southern Califor-
nia: 2002-2003. Avian Dis 49:
195-198, 2005

Velogenic

viscerotropic

New-

castle disease, also known as ex-
otic Newcastle disease (END),
was detected in southern Califor-
nia in 2002. The outbreak even-
tually spread to Texas, Nevada,
and Arizona, affecting many
poultry flocks. It was determined
that the virus in this outbreak
had the same nucleotide se-
quence as that found in a pet
ringneck parakeet from north-
ern California early that year.
Nonpoultry species that were af-
fected included psittacines, wa-
terfowl, game birds, and pi-
geons. These species were most
likely infected from contact with
infected domestic game fowl and
probably did not play an impor-
tant role in the dissemination of
the disease. Over 27,000 cloacal

and tracheal (oropharyngeal)
swab pools and/or tissue pools
from 86 different avian species
other than chickens and turkeys
were submitted for Newcastle
disease virus isolation. Of these,
57 specimens were positive, rep-
resenting 12 species of birds and
13 unspecified species. None of
the

END-positive

nonpoultry

species showed clinical signs or
lesions except for 5 pheasants.
These birds showed clinical signs
of lethargy, diarrhea, and in-
creased mortality. Pathologic le-
sions included oropharyngitis,
necrohemorrhagic enteritis, and
fibrinohemorrhagic enteritis. The
Newcastle disease virus isolate
was characterized as END virus
by real-time reverse transcriptase
polymerase chain reaction. All
of the positive avian species were
located on premises either on or
within a 1-km radius of known
infected premises. In this epi-
demic, premises with positive
avian species were significantly
more likely to have chickens and
were

also

significantly

more

likely to have positive chickens.
Interestingly, psittacines repre-
sented only 0.12% of the positive
END virus birds in the 2002 to
2003 outbreak. This is in con-
trast to the last major END virus
epidemic in 1972 to 1973, in
which psittacines, pittas, and
toucans accounted for 92% of
the positive virus isolations from
exotic birds. This may be ex-
plained by the active surveillance
for velogenic viscerotropic New-
castle disease in pet birds initi-
ated after the 1972-1973 out-
break, as well as by the estab-
lishment

of

United

States

Department of Agriculture quar-
antine stations for imported ex-
otic psittacines.

Moore GE, Glickman NW,
Ward MP, et al: Incidence of
and risk factors for adverse

Abstracts

293

events associated with dis-
temper and rabies vaccine
administration

in

ferrets.

J Am Vet Med Assoc 226(6):
909-912, 2005

A retrospective study was con-
ducted to determine the inci-
dence of and risk factors associ-
ated with distemper and rabies
vaccine administration in ferrets.
Electronic medical records for
3,587 ferrets that were vaccinated
with one or both vaccines were
searched for possible vaccine-asso-
ciated adverse events (VAAE). Of
this number of records, only 30
VAAEs were identified. Adverse
event incidence rates after admin-
istration of rabies vaccine alone,
distemper vaccine alone, and
both rabies and distemper vac-
cines were 0.51%, 1.00%, and
0.85%, respectively. The most
common VAAE was vomiting
and/or diarrhea. Age, sex, and
body weight were not significantly
associated with occurrence of
VAAE, but adverse event inci-
dence rate significantly increased
as the cumulative number of dis-
temper or rabies vaccinations re-
ceived increased. Each successive
distemper vaccination increased
the risk of a VAAE by 80%. This
reaction may be due to hypersen-
sitization, though the benefit of
antihistamine or glucocorticoid
administration before vaccination
was not determined.

Paul-Murphy

J,

Hess

JC,

Fialkowski JP: Pharmacoki-

netic properties of a single in-
tramuscular

dose

of

bu-

prenorphine in African grey
parrots (Psittacus erithacus er-
ithacus). J Avian Med Surg
18(4):224-228, 2004

A single dose of buprenorphine
(0.1 mg/kg) was administered ei-
ther intramuscularly (5 birds) or
intravenously (1 bird) to African
grey parrots. Serial plasma sam-
ples were taken before and at set
intervals up to 8 hours after injec-
tion. For a single intramuscular
dose, buprenorphine was rapidly
absorbed, and plasma concentra-
tions had a mean residence time
of 1 hour, elimination half-life of
1 hour, and maximum concentra-
tion of 68 ng/mL. A concentra-
tion of 0.5 to 1.0 ng/mL is consid-
ered analgesic in humans. By us-
ing the preliminary data from the
single intravenous dose, and ex-
trapolating from the human dose
of 0.3 to 0.6 mg/person (approx-
imately

0.004-0.008

mL/kg)

which produces a therapeutic
plasma concentration, the calcu-
lated mean dose to achieve a sim-
ilar plasma concentration in grey
parrots was 0.25 (

⫾ 0.09) mg/kg,

with a dosing frequency of 6.8
hours.

Williams RB: Avian malaria:
clinical and chemical pathol-
ogy of Plasmodium gallina-
ceum in the domesticated fowl
Gallus gallus. Avian Pathol
34(1):29-47, 2005

Domestic fowl were infected
with

Plasmodium

gallinaceum

(Wellcome line of strain 8A)
through jugular venipuncture.
Clinical signs after infection in-
cluded depression, fever, an-
orexia, reduced weight gain,
poor feed conversion, anemia,
green feces, and death. After ad-
ministration of the parasites,
mortality 5 to 10 days after infec-
tion varied between 10% and
93%: the older the birds, the
lower the mortality and the
longer the time to death. Peak
parasitemia occurred on the
sixth day in 85% of the surviving
birds. Low hematocrit values of
ⱕ24% and high colonic temper-
atures

ⱖ42°C were recorded.

Hepatomegaly,

splenomegaly,

and enlarged gall bladders were
seen on gross necropsy. Statisti-
cally

significant

changes

oc-

curred in the distribution of
plasma proteins by 8 days postin-
fection. These included reduced
albumin and

␣

2

-globulins and in-

creased

␥

1

- and

␥

2

-globulins. At

the same time, there were signif-
icant increases in plasma total
protein, aspartate aminotrans-
ferase,

glutamate

dehydroge-

nase, and a decrease in creati-
nine. Birds acquired nonsterile
immunity after a single primary
infection.

© 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1055-937X/05/1404-$30.00
doi:10.1053/j.saep.2005.09.007

294

Abstracts