Taiwan Veterinary Journal 

About: Taiwan Veterinary Journal is an academic journal published by World Scientific. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Virus & Outbreak. It has an ISSN identifier of 1682-6485. Over the lifetime, 187 publications have been published receiving 281 citations. The journal is also known as: Taiwan veterinary journal.

Serological survey of equine piroplasmosis, equine granulocytic anaplasmosis, and equine lyme disease in Taiwan.

Abstract: A serological survey was carried out to investigate the prevalence rate of equine piroplasmosis (EP), equine granulocytic anaplasmosis (EGA), and equine Lyme disease (LD) in Taiwan. EP is an important infectious disease of equids, caused by the infection of Babesia caballi or Theileria equi. EGA is caused by the infection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and equine LD is caused by the infection of Borrelia burgdorferi; both these diseases are zoonotic. According to the distribution of horse raising facilities and horses kept, the target population for the survey was roughly grouped into three geographical regions, namely, the Northern, TaoZhuMiao, and Central-South region. A total of 489 horse blood samples were collected and evaluated with commercial competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (C-ELISA) and ELISA test kits for the detection of antibodies against EP, EGA, and LD in the horse serum. The C-ELISA examination results of EP were negative for all the serum samples. The overall prevalence of EGA was 2.05% (10/489) and 3.48% (17/489) for LD. In conclusion, the serological test for EP has shown no positive case, owing to the routine quarantine and examinations of imported horses. Even though the prevalence of EGA and LD is relatively lower compared with studies from other countries, further investigation will be needed to account for the epidemiological dynamics of A. phagocytophilum and B. burgdorferi infections in animals in Taiwan.

A retrospective study of pathological findings in endangered formosan pangolins (manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) from southeastern taiwan

Abstract: Formosan pangolin, a sub-species of Chinese pangolin is a critically endangered insectivorous mammal found only in Taiwan Pathological studies are helpful in the diagnosis and investigation of wildlife diseases Pathological findings in pangolins have not been well documented The present paper reports the pathological findings of 14 free-ranging Formosan pangolins External injuries and superficial wounds (6/14) were common finding in gross examination and were mostly found in the legs Respiratory system (78%, 11/14) lesions included interstitial pneumonia, atelectasis and emphysema Hepatic changes (43%, 6/14) included necrosis, bile duct hyperplasia, lipidosis and extensive hepatocyte degeneration Parasites were detected in 57% of pangolins (8/14) studied and included both endoparasites and ectoparasites Urinary system (21%, 3/14) lesions were interstitial nephritis and nephrolithiasis Brain lesions were found in three pangolins and included cerebral edema and hemorrhage and ventriculitis Additional pathological lesions included thyroid gland hyperplasia and left ventricular hypertrophy The presented pathological findings can aid in the understanding of diseases of pangolins and will contribute knowledge to future investigations on diseases of pangolins

Development of sybr green-based real-time pcr for the detection of canine, feline and porcine parvoviruses

Abstract: Parvovirus is now considered to be one of the most important infectious agents a®ecting canine, feline and porcine domestic animals. Canine parvovirus 2 (CPV 2) and feline parvovirus (FPV) are major infectious causes of mortality in puppies and kittens. Both CPV 2 and FPV have recently been shown to infect both dogs and cats. The characteristic symptoms of canine, feline and porcine parvovirus disease are intestinal hemorrhage with severe bloody diarrhea, leukopenia and reproductive failure, respectively. In this work, we describe the development of a novel real-time PCR system that is based on the use of SYBR Green and that allows the simultaneous detection of VP2 gene of CPV, FPV and porcine parvovirus (PPV). This system yielded low coe±cients of variation for intra-assay and inter-assay variabilities.

Survey of Species of Ticks Infesting Cattle in Taiwan

Abstract: This is the first systematic survey of tick infestation of cattle in Taiwan with species identification of these ectoparasites by morphology. Cattle in 6 (40%) of the 15 enrolled farms were infested by ticks, and ticks were collected from 133 (4.5%) cattle among the total of 2,950 cattle. A total of 783 ticks were collected, including 714 (91.2%) adults, 64 (8.2%) nymphs, and 5 (0.6%) larvae. Of the 714 adult ticks, 706 (98.9%) were identified as Rhipicephalus microplus and 8 (1.1%) were Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides. All nymphs end larvae were identified as Rhipicephalus spp. A. microplus was discovered on both beef and dairy cattle, while A. haemaphysaloides was observed only on dairy cows. Cattle grazed on pastures were more likely to be infested by ticks than those in free stall. Farming method was considered as a risk factor of farms, having higher tick prevalence, in Taiwan.

Exploring the chronic mortality affecting abalones in taiwan: differentiation of abalone herpesvirus-associated acute infection from chronic mortality by pcr and in situ hybridization and histopathology

Abstract: Abalone herpesvirus (AbHV) infection of cultured abalones Haliotis diversicolor supertexta induced acute high mortality in 2003. Years later, sporadic mortality was noted for an extended period of months, resulting in high cumulative mortality. Moribund abalones were analyzed using PCR, in situ hybridization, and histopathology, because thus far no viral particles have been observed by transmission electron microscopy. PCR using 20 primer sets, specifically designed from sequences of acute AbHV infection, failed to amplify any products from abalones suffering from chronic mortality. Subsequently, a 1406-bp sequence was amplified from chronic moribund abalones, and this sequence showed a 92% (553 bp/602 bp) homology with the gene of an AbHV Taiwan isolate (NCBI serial no. KF537536.1), suggestive of an AbHV pathotype. Histopathology of AbHV pathotype infection showed hemocyte infiltration in the lamina propia of the digestive tract, and hemocytes of various stages were evident, as well as the loss of seminal tubules in the gonad. In situ hybridization revealed that in AbHV infection, positive signals were restricted to the neural ganglia, while in AbHV pathotype infection, positive signals were observed only in the hemocytes. It appeared that the tropism of AbHV shifted from mainly neurotropic in AbHV infection to mainly hemocytotropic in abalone suffering from chronic mortality. Abalone shriveling syndrome-associated virus co-infection was detected in some of AbHV pathotype infection events. Further studies are needed to better understand the pathogenesis of AbHV pathotype affecting H. diversicolor in Taiwan.