Modification to histopathological lesion severity score in red deer (Cervus elaphus) affected by Johne's disease

Authors: Clark RG, Griffin JFT, Mackintosh CG
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 59, Issue 5, pp 261-262, Sep 2011
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Deer, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Bacterial, Diagnostic procedures, Disease/defect, Infectious disease, Mycobacterial, Pathology, Wasting disease/disorder
Article class: Peer-reviewed correspondence

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Abstract:

We would like to report an improvement to a histological lesion severity scoring (LSS) system that has been used in studies on Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) in red deer (Cervus elaphus) (Clark et al. 2010). The method has been very useful in determining differences in disease severity between deer in studies to date (Mackintosh et al. 2007, 2008, 2010; Thompson et al. 2007). It is based on an increasing intensity of granulomatous lesions, in jejunal/ileocaecal tissue and cortex/paracortex of associated mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and intestinal mucosal bluntening of villi as disease increases in severity. Numbers of acidfast organisms (AFO) for classifying lesions as paucibacillary and multibacillary are based on the highest number of AFO seen within macrophages/Langhan’s giant cells for each animal. Paucibacillary is ≤10 AFO and multibacillary ≥11 AFO per macrophage/Langhan’s giant cells (Clark et al. 2010)... etc

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