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Archive Number 20100707.2260
Published Date 07-JUL-2010
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed deaths, porcine - Uganda: (LW) RFI
UNDIAGNOSED DEATHS, PORCINE - UGANDA: (LUWERO) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
**********************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: 4 Jul 2010
Source: All Africa [edited]
<http://allafrica.com/stories/201007050137.html>
Luwero On Anthrax Alert
-----------------------
Luwero district veterinary authorities are on the alert for anthrax
after reports that some pigs in Kasaala parish in Butuntumula
sub-county died after passing blood. Three pigs belonging to nuns of
Kasaala Catholic Parish were reported to have bled through the rear
last week.
The district veterinary officer, Dr. Aloysius Lumbuye, said his team
had carried out investigations and had not yet confirmed the disease.
He said apart from the passing of blood, no other signs and new cases
had been reported. Lumbuye said he advised the nuns to bury the dead
animals and to call the veterinary doctors if any other animal is
suspected to be sick.
The minister in charge of animal husbandry, Bright Rwamirama, could
not be reached for comment.
However, health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga said human beings could
catch the almost 100 percent fatal disease from the sick animals.
"People could catch the disease if they ate meat or handled the
affected animals. Such animals should be handled by veterinary
doctors and dead ones should be buried," he said. Mallinga said
anthrax spores are difficult to get rid of. "They stay in the soil
for a very long time (more than 10 years), causing infections from
time to time," he said.
[Byline: Anne Mugisa; Frederick Kiwanuka]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Bleeding through the "rear," presumably the anus, of sick pigs is
not a pathognomonic sign of porcine anthrax. Post-mortem blood
extravasation is sometimes seen with ruminants that had died of
anthrax; if it occurs in pigs it is rare. The "Consultant" Diagnostic
Support System for Veterinary Medicine lists 38 differential
diagnoses involving a bloody porcine stool, including anthrax. Logic
would speculatively suggest that as these pigs are probably
pen-raised and not in a field, that a toxic cause may have been in
their food. Would any of our members care to hazard a guess as to
what this Ugandan condition might be?
To find Luwero, go to:
<http://www.fallingrain.com/world/UG/70/Luwero.html>
- Mod.MHJ]
[My differential list might include transmissible gastroenteritis
(TGE). Or swine dysentery (Brachyspira (Serpulina) hyodysenteriae)
where sows are silent carriers, but new introductions and piglets may
be more affected.
We are not told if there was some other diarrhea prior to the blood,
or if the animals were dehydrated. Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome may
appear as blood and sudden death. Proliferative ileitis can cause
sudden death with hemorrhagic stools. Whipworm will cause bloody
diarrhea and can result in death if the animals are not treated.
As to why the ministry thinks this a zoonotic, I don't understand.
Unless it is Salmonella, which has a unique yellowish diarrhea, and
distinctive, horrible smell, which is zoonotic, but the description
does not fit it. Alternatively, the ministry doesn't know what this
and simply wants to protect people. - Mod.TG]
Archive Number 20100707.2260
Published Date 07-JUL-2010
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed deaths, porcine - Uganda: (LW) RFI
UNDIAGNOSED DEATHS, PORCINE - UGANDA: (LUWERO) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
**********************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: 4 Jul 2010
Source: All Africa [edited]
<http://allafrica.com/stories/201007050137.html>
Luwero On Anthrax Alert
-----------------------
Luwero district veterinary authorities are on the alert for anthrax
after reports that some pigs in Kasaala parish in Butuntumula
sub-county died after passing blood. Three pigs belonging to nuns of
Kasaala Catholic Parish were reported to have bled through the rear
last week.
The district veterinary officer, Dr. Aloysius Lumbuye, said his team
had carried out investigations and had not yet confirmed the disease.
He said apart from the passing of blood, no other signs and new cases
had been reported. Lumbuye said he advised the nuns to bury the dead
animals and to call the veterinary doctors if any other animal is
suspected to be sick.
The minister in charge of animal husbandry, Bright Rwamirama, could
not be reached for comment.
However, health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga said human beings could
catch the almost 100 percent fatal disease from the sick animals.
"People could catch the disease if they ate meat or handled the
affected animals. Such animals should be handled by veterinary
doctors and dead ones should be buried," he said. Mallinga said
anthrax spores are difficult to get rid of. "They stay in the soil
for a very long time (more than 10 years), causing infections from
time to time," he said.
[Byline: Anne Mugisa; Frederick Kiwanuka]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Bleeding through the "rear," presumably the anus, of sick pigs is
not a pathognomonic sign of porcine anthrax. Post-mortem blood
extravasation is sometimes seen with ruminants that had died of
anthrax; if it occurs in pigs it is rare. The "Consultant" Diagnostic
Support System for Veterinary Medicine lists 38 differential
diagnoses involving a bloody porcine stool, including anthrax. Logic
would speculatively suggest that as these pigs are probably
pen-raised and not in a field, that a toxic cause may have been in
their food. Would any of our members care to hazard a guess as to
what this Ugandan condition might be?
To find Luwero, go to:
<http://www.fallingrain.com/world/UG/70/Luwero.html>
- Mod.MHJ]
[My differential list might include transmissible gastroenteritis
(TGE). Or swine dysentery (Brachyspira (Serpulina) hyodysenteriae)
where sows are silent carriers, but new introductions and piglets may
be more affected.
We are not told if there was some other diarrhea prior to the blood,
or if the animals were dehydrated. Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome may
appear as blood and sudden death. Proliferative ileitis can cause
sudden death with hemorrhagic stools. Whipworm will cause bloody
diarrhea and can result in death if the animals are not treated.
As to why the ministry thinks this a zoonotic, I don't understand.
Unless it is Salmonella, which has a unique yellowish diarrhea, and
distinctive, horrible smell, which is zoonotic, but the description
does not fit it. Alternatively, the ministry doesn't know what this
and simply wants to protect people. - Mod.TG]