Blood analysis revealed an extremely high piroplasmosis parasitaemia!
The most likely scenario is that the donor horse was an asymptomatic
piroplasmosis carrier, and the foal became infected via the blood
transfusion. Clinical piroplasmosis developed some time later and the
foal crashed due to a combination of pyrexia, haemolytic anaemia,
hypoxia and kernicterus (bilirubin-induced brain dysfunction). This
progressed to SIRS and the foal was euthanized shortly thereafter.
Plasma obtained by the sedimentation of double blood bags is not
entirely devoid of red cells. There is still some potential to transfer
blood borne diseases such as piroplasmosis by means of a “pure”
plasma transfusion. In the described scenario, however, delivering
whole blood posed an unnecessary additional risk to the foal, and
treatment should have been approached differently. This is an easy
decision to condemn in hindsight, though during frantic times of the
year, the sheer distance separating individual stud farms from each
other, as well as from the various clinics may preclude the attending vet
from treating according to best practice guidelines. Practitioners who
have experienced this type of complication previously have advocated
prophylactic administration of Imidocarb (Forray 65) to foals post
plasma or blood transfusion.
Donkeys are very stoic – don’t believe them!
Donkeys and horses are closely related, and many of the conditions
that affect them are
similar. However, detecting illness in the donkey can be made more
difficult by its stoical
nature. Dullness and ‘depression’ may be the only symptoms exhibited.
These subtle
behavioural changes may also be accompanied by anorexia. This
means that a donkey may already be in the advanced stages of a
disease before it is noticed. Large colon impactions are the most
common cause of colic in donkeys, though the often don ’t display
classical signs of colic. Instead they may just look slightly depressed
and inappetant. Signs of dehydration are not always obvious as
donkeys tend to cope better with dehydration than horses due to their
adaptation to arid climates. Treating colic in donkeys is very similar to
horses, and the goals are to eliminate pain, correct dehydration and
restore gut motility.
The case in point was an adult male donkey referred to the clinic 6 post
days post castration. The surgical site was swollen and malodourous,
and the donkey was clearly uncomfortable and depressed. A diagnosis
of post-surgical infection was made, and the donkey was prepped for
scrotal ablation under general anaesthetic. The surgery went smoothly
and the donkey had an uneventful, if somewhat prolonged recovery
from anaesthetic. He appeared to improve over the next 24-48 hours
15-‐18
February
2016
East
London
Convention
Centre,
East
London,
South
Africa
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