Disease in captive wild mammals and birds : $b incidence, description, comparisonFox, Herbert
Science
Disease in captive wild mammals and birds : $b incidence, description, comparison
Fox, Herbert
Veterinary medicine
The results of nephritis generally speaking are edema, anemia, cardiac
hypertrophy, inflammations of the serous surfaces and uremia. Aside from
the cases of chronic parenchymatous nephritis cited above, edema has
been decidedly inconspicuous. It may be found in avian cases of acute
and subacute nephritis, about the flanks and in the thoracic areolar
tissues, but is only exceptionally perceptible before the body is
opened. Anemia is almost never extreme. The bone marrow although
mentioned in but few histories, seems unchanged. Cardiac hypertrophy was
observed ten times in 652 cases of nephritis, twice in 460 acute and
subacute cases, eight in 192 chronic cases. In the former no myocarditis
was found, in six of the latter it was found. Clinical and pathological
experience teaches that serous surfaces are frequently inflamed during a
nephritis. Observations on our material coincide with this statement,
but do not offer an explanation of it. The figures should be examined
for mammals and for birds separately, since the serous cavities of the
former are closed, separated, and protected, whereas a close apposition
exists between the serous membranes and the lungs in birds, an
arrangement facilitating infection from without. Nevertheless the bird
has definitely less serositis accompanying nephritis than does the
mammal—4.4 per cent., _versus_ 8.6 per cent. In the former class 70 per
cent. of these accompany acute nephritis associated with acute general
disease while only 45 per cent. of the 8.6 per cent. of mammals had
serositis, acute nephritis and general infection. This indicates clearly
that mammalian renal disease has some effect upon serous membranes other
than the simple participating coincidence of the two types of changes
during an acute general infectious disease. No one kind of nephritis was
especially characterized by this complication.
Uremia, except under the best clinical conditions, is a term to use with
caution. I have seen several monkeys, a few marsupials and carnivores
and an occasional bird in a dazed ataxic condition, sometimes exhibiting
an atypical clonic or tonic convulsion, with fixed, rather small pupils.
To this picture I have applied the name uremia, and upon several
occasions have found a severe grade of nephritis. I must admit having
failed to find renal change, however, with this clinical picture,
especially in the carnivores and parrots, animals which “throw fits” at
times without apparent good reason. In so far as the monkey is
concerned, I am satisfied that the picture is similar to that seen in
the human being. The London Garden reports in 1917 the occurrence of
uremia in a Mandrill (_Papio maimon_).
CALCULI.
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