The Veterinary record
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The Veterinary record · Mar 2013
Intestinal clostridial counts have no diagnostic value in the diagnosis of enterotoxaemia in veal calves.
Enterotoxaemia is an important cause of sudden death in veal calves. This study aimed to evaluate intestinal Clostridium perfringens counts as a diagnostic tool for enterotoxaemia. Field necropsies were conducted on 48 sudden death cases in Belgian Blue veal farms. ⋯ Samples of the intestinal content were taken for quantification of C perfringens. After matching cases and controls for diet, and the interval between death and sampling, no significant differences could be detected between the mean C perfringens counts of the small intestines in enterotoxaemia cases and counts in the matching segments in the control group. These results indicate that intestinal C perfringens counts cannot be advised as a discriminative postmortem diagnostic tool for enterotoxaemia in veal calves, not even when sampled within three hours after death.
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The Veterinary record · Jan 2013
Historical ArticleEstablishing veterinary education in North America.
The American Veterinary Medical Association is marking its 150th anniversary in 2013, celebrating '150 years of education, science and service'. As Bruce Vivash Jones explains, veterinary surgeons from the UK played a key role in establishing a system of veterinary education in North America.