Acute necrotizing colitis with pneumatosis intestinalis in an Amazonian manatee calf

Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

Marina Galvão Bueno¹  Juliana Plácido Guimarães¹  Gregory D. Bossart¹  Guilherme Guerra Neto¹  Miriam Marmontel¹  Francisco Carlos Faria Lobato¹  Rodrigo Otavio Silveira Silva¹ 

关键词: Trichechus inunguis;    Rehabilitation;    Health;    Conservation;    Clostridium perfringens;   

DOI  :  10.3354/dao03019

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: On 25 January 2014, a 1 mo old female Amazonian manatee Trichechus inunguis calf weighing 12 kg was rescued by air transport in Guajará, Brazil, and transferred to Mamirauá Institute’s Community-based Amazonian Manatee Rehabilitation Center. The calf presented piercing/cutting lesions on the back, neck, and head, in addition to dehydration and intermittent involuntary buoyancy. X-ray analysis revealed a large amount of gases in the gastrointestinal tract. Daily procedures included wound cleaning and dressing, clinical and laboratory monitoring, treatment for intestinal tympanism, and artificial feeding. Adaptation to the nursing formula included 2 kinds of whole milk. Up to 20 d post-rescue the calf presented appetite, was active, and gained weight progressively. Past this period the calf started losing weight and presented constant involuntary buoyancy and died after 41 d in rehabilitation. The major findings at necropsy were pneumatosis intestinalis in cecum and colon, pulmonary edema, and hepatomegaly. The microscopic examination revealed pyogranulomatous and necrohemohrragic colitis with multinucleated giant cells, acute multifocal lymphadenitis with lymphoid depletion in cortical and paramedullary regions of mesenteric lymph nodes, and diffuse severe acinar atrophy of the pancreas. Anaerobic cultures of fragments of cecum and colon revealed colonies genotyped as Clostridium perfringens type A. We speculate that compromised immunity, thermoregulatory failure, and intolerance to artificial diet may have been contributing factors to the infection, leading to enterotoxemia and death.

【 授权许可】

Unknown