Much has been learnt during the last 50 years about the causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity and about practical means for minimising them in newborn lambs, kids, bovine calves, deer calves, foals and piglets. The major causes of problems in these newborns are outlined briefly and include hypothermia due to excessive heat loss or to hypoxia-induced, starvation-induced or other forms of inhibited heat production. They also include maternal undernutrition, mismothering, infection and injury. The published literature reveals that the scientific investigations which clarified these causes and led to practical means for minimising the problems, involved iterative successions of self-reinforcing laboratory and field or clinical investigations conducted over many years. These studies focused largely on solutions to the problems, not on the suffering that the newborn might experience, so that an analysis of the associated welfare insults had not apparently been conducted until now. The present assessment focuses on potentially noxious subjective experiences the newborn may have. The account of the causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity outlined early in this review indicates that the key subjective experiences which require analysis in animal welfare terms are breathlessness, hypothermia, hunger, sickness and pain. Reference to documented responses of farm animals and, where appropriate, to human experience, suggests that breathlessness and hypothermia usually represent less severe neonatal welfare insults than do hunger, sickness and pain. Major science-based improvements in the management of pregnancy and birth have markedly reduced the overall amount of welfare compromise experienced by newborn farm animals and further improvements may be expected as knowledge is refined and extended in the future.

Animal welfare implications of neonatal mortality and morbidity in farm animals.

Streptococci pathogenic for the horse include S equi (S equi subsp equi), S zooepidemicus (S equi subsp zooepidemicus), S dysgalactiae subsp equisimilis and S pneumoniae capsule Type III S equi is a clonal descendent or biovar of an ancestral S zooepidemicus strain with which it shares greater than 98% DNA homology and therefore expresses many of the same proteins and virulence factors Rapid progress has been made in identification of virulence factors and proteins uniquely expressed by S equi Most of these are expressed either on the bacterial surface or are secreted Notable examples include the antiphagocytic SeM and the secreted pyrogenic superantigens SePE-I and H The genomic DNA sequence of S equi will greatly accelerate identification and characterization of additional virulence factors and vaccine targets Although it is the most frequently isolated opportunist pyogen of the horse, S zooepidemicus has been the subject of few contemporary research studies Variation in the protectively immunogenic SzP proteins has, however, been well characterized Given its opportunist behavior, studies are urgently needed on regulation of virulence factors such as capsule and proteases Likewise, information is also very limited on virulence factors and associated gene regulation of S dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis It has recently been shown that equine isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae are clonal, a feature shared with S equi All equine isolates express capsule Type III, are genetically similar, and have deletions in the genes for autolysin and pneumolysin In summary, the evolving picture of the interaction of the equine pathogenic streptococci and their host is that of multiple virulence factors active at different stages of pathogenesis The inherent complexity of this interaction suggests that discovery of effective combinations of immunogens from potential targets identified in genomic sequence will be laborious

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The pathogenic equine streptococci

A sepsis scoring system was developed and tested prospectively in a blind study of 190 neonatal foals admitted to the University of Florida Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. The system used 14 readily available historical, clinical or laboratory variables and weighted each item to arrive at a sepsis score. The score was found to have a sensitivity of 93 per cent, a specificity of 86 per cent, positive accuracy rate of 89 per cent and negative accuracy rate of 92 per cent. The sepsis score was far more sensitive and specific for infection, even in very early cases, and had fewer false positive and false negative values than did any parameter taken individually.

Development of a scoring system for the early diagnosis of equine neonatal sepsis

Postnatal characteristics of calves produced by nuclear transfer cloning

Observer ratings: validity and value as a tool for animal welfare research

In an effort to identify improved methods for diagnosis of infection in the neonatal foal, clinical records from 38 septicaemic foals of less than one week of age were examined for trends in history, physical examination and clinicopathological findings. The survival rate of septicaemic foals, 26 per cent, was markedly less than the rate for all other foal admissions. Blood cultures were valuable in diagnosis and treatment of septicaemia and identified a preponderance of Gram-negative infection. Zinc sulphate turbidity test results were abnormally low in all septicaemic foals tested. The clinical course was often distinguished by severe complications and multiple organ dysfunction, leading to death. Conditions present in the mare pre-partum resulted in weak or diseased foals; bacterial placentitis, vaginal discharge and premature lactation were most common. There was no single diagnostic criterion of the septicaemic foal. Fever was not a consistent finding. The most useful white blood cell parameters were neutropenia, the presence of band neutrophils (greater than 0.2 X 10(9)/litre) and toxic changes in the neutrophil population. Hypoglycaemia, metabolic acidosis and hypoxaemia were also common findings.

Clinical and clinicopathological characteristics of the septicaemic neonatal foal: Review of 38 cases

Equine Clinical Neonatology

Comparison of empirically developed sepsis score with a computer generated and weighted scoring system for the identification of sepsis in the equine neonate

Summary

The medical records of 18 neonatal foals, in which exploratory celiotomies were performed for suspected urinary tract lesions, were reviewed. Despite clinical signs and laboratory values indicative of disruption of the urinary tract, three foals did not have a site of urinary tract leakage at surgery. Eight foals had ruptured bladders and seven foals had urachal lesions. Ultrasonography was used as a pre-operative diagnostic procedure in eight foals to evaluate the presence of free peritoneal fluid and urinary tract integrity. Nine foals were alive six months after discharge. Seven of the nine non-surviving foals died or were destroyed because of fungal or bacterial infections.

Anne M. Koterba

Papers

Development of a scoring system for the early diagnosis of equine neonatal sepsis

Clinical and clinicopathological characteristics of the septicaemic neonatal foal: Review of 38 cases

Equine Clinical Neonatology

Comparison of empirically developed sepsis score with a computer generated and weighted scoring system for the identification of sepsis in the equine neonate

Exploratory celiotomy for suspected urinary tract disruption in neonatal foals: A review of 18 cases