From:
"Ulrike"
Date: 2009-01-11 13:50:23 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Wesley- Bacterial bronchopneumonia
To: "FHL" <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
I wrote about my Wesley who had "Severe lung and chest damage found at
necropsy"
( http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL7146 )
and want to send the histopathology report and bacteriology report.
To recap, Wesley was perfectly fine, he was playing, eating, acting like a
healthy, normal ferret. He still played and ate in the morning on Wednesday
the 17th of December. In the afternoon he started looking weak and flat, in
the evening he had developed bad hind leg weakness and could barely move, he
also didn't want to eat and brought the bit of food that I fed him back up.
The next day he looked extremely ill in the morning, severe hind leg
weakness, watery eyes and increased respiratory rate. I rushed him to the
vets where he was x-rayed straight away which showed fluid in the chest
cavity and seeing how ill he was he was put to sleep. His chest cavity
stank really badly when it was opened, you could already smell it when the
abdomen was opened, before the chest cavity was touched at all.
I would be grateful if people/ vets could comment on the histopathology
report, especially the lungs. How could he have been fine 24 hours before
his death and then gotten to such a bad stage in less than 24 hours? Is the
scenario of a burst abscess likely? Would he have had pneumonia for a while
or could a possible burst abscess have caused the pneumonia and all other
changes in those 24 hours?
I'm also updating this so people can see just how quickly you can loose an
apparently healthy ferret. The only symptom he'd had at all was an
occasional light cough for a month or so, not even every day, not bad. I
dismissed it because he was healthy and normal in every other way. No
fever, no weakness, no problems breathing, no lethargy or any other sign of
illness that you would expect to see with pneumonia. Now I wish we'd put
him on antibiotics "just in case". I'm not dealing well with this as it
could have been avoided and fixed in my opinion. Wesley could still be
here...
Post mortem pictures and reports can also be seen at
http://www.ferretlove.co.uk/wesleypm.htm
Ulrike
*******************************************************************************
Diagnosis
Bacterial bronchopneumonia
Prognosis
Not Applicable
Histopathology Report
Sections from necropsy samples of multiple tissues from a 5.5-year-old,
neutered male ferret, were examined microscopically.
LIVER: 1 sample received; 1 section examined. Microscopy reveals fairly
marked sinusoidal congestion, otherwise this sample is largely unremarkable.
KIDNEY: 2 samples received; 2 sections examined. Like the liver, both
kidneys are markedly congested. Microscopy additionally reveals moderate to
marked thickening of glomerular capillary basement membranes, but there is
minimal accompanying inflammation and no tubular proteinaceous casts.
SPLEEN: 1 sample received; 1 section examined. The splenic pulp is
moderately expanded owing to a combination of congestion and moderate
extramedullary haemopoiesis.
LUNG: 1 sample received; 1 section examined. Microscopy reveals severe,
necrotizing, purulent bronchopneumonia and pleuritis. The mainstem bronchus
is filled with partly necrotic, purulent exudate containing abundant
filamentous, Gram-negative bacteria. The wall of the bronchus has been
destroyed by the inflammation in places and inflammation extends throughout
the pulmonary parenchyma. There is widespread alveolar flooding and
haemorrhage. A thick layer of fibrino-necrotic material is present on the
pleural surface, with underlying inflammatory exudate.
HEART: 1 sample received; 2 sections examined. There is moderate fibrosis
and congestion of the papillary muscles, but the remainder of the myocardium
is largely normal. A very mild inflammatory infiltrate is present in the
epicardium.
SMALL INTESTINE: 1 sample received; 1 section examined. This is
histologically unremarkable.
LARGE INTESTINE: 1 sample received; 1 section examined. Possibly slightly
higher than normal numbers of mainly mononuclear leucocytes are present in
the lamina propria, otherwise this is histologically unremarkable.
PANCREAS: 2 samples received; 2 sections examined. One of these is
histologically unremarkable, apart from moderate autolytic damage. The other
contains a small, encapsulated islet cell adenoma (aka insulinoma).
ADRENAL GLAND: 2 samples received; 2 sections examined. There is mild
cortical hyperplasia In both of these adrenal glands.
LYMPH NODE: 3 samples received; 3 sections examined. These are congested,
haemorrhagic and oedematous but show minimal lymphoid activity.
ADIPOSE TISSUE: 1 sample received; 1 section examined. This is mildly
haemorrhagic, but in the absence of other accompanying pathological changes
(inflammation, fibrosis etc.) this may well be post-mortem artefact.
DIAGNOSIS: Bacterial bronchopneumonia.
DISCUSSION: The cause of death was evidently severe, bacterial,
bronchopneumonia. Several other changes were also identified in the tissues,
including mild adrenal cortical hyperplasia and a small pancreatic islet
cell tumour - common findings in middle-aged and older ferrets, but of
questionable significance in this case. There is also evidence of membranous
glomerulonephropathy - perhaps, but not unequivocally, an immune-mediated
phenomenon secondary to the inflammation in the lungs. Congestion in the
liver, kidneys and lymph nodes was probably agonal.
*******************************************************************************
Aerobic and anaerobic culture and sensitivity
[I hope the formatting comes through okay, if not there is a table on his
post mortem page.]
Organism Isolated ...... Non-haemolytic Streptococcus ...... Bacillus spp
.................. Bacteroides spp
................................. Isolate 1 from Swab
...................... Isolate 2 from Swab ..... Isolate 1 from Swab
Organism Type ........... Aerobic .........................................
Aerobic ....................... Anaerobic
Growth Rate ............... Scanty
.......................................... Scanty ..........................
Moderate
Enrofloxacin
............................................................................................................
Sensitive
Tetracyclin
..............................................................................................................
Sensitive
Sulphamet/Trimethop
...............................................................................................
Resistant
Amoxy/Clav.Acid
....................................................................................................
Sensitive
Clindamycin
.............................................................................................................
Sensitive
Cephalexin
..............................................................................................................
Sensitive
Marbofloxacin
..........................................................................................................
Sensitive
Metronidazole
..........................................................................................................
Sensitive
Laboratory comments
No further pathogens Isolated after prolonged culture.
Pathology comments
Non-haemolytic streptococci are found on the mucous membranes and skin of
healthy animals and if isolated from diseased tissue are usually regarded as
contaminants or unimportant secondary invaders.
Bacillus species are numerous and are widely distributed in air, soil and
water. While there are some highly pathogenic bacilli (e.g. B. anthracis, B.
cereus), the majority of the Bacillus species have little or no pathogenic
potential and occur simply as commensals on the animal.
Bacteroides spp are Gram-negative, obligate anaerobes that comprise one of
the most numerous constituents of the vertebrate intestinal flora. They are
also abundant in the oral cavity, where they are usually held in check by
the host defences, but under appropriate circumstances they can become
pathogenic, so it is possible that this isolate is aetiologically
significant.
------------------------------------
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