Camus E, Barré N
Mission Antilles-Guyane, INRA, Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, France.
Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1987 Sep;54(3):291-4.
A presumptive diagnosis of heartwater in the living animal can be based on clinical and epidemiologic observations. In Guadeloupe, heartwater can be confused with haemonchosis in goats or cerebral babesiosis in cattle. Confirmation of the clinical diagnosis by brain biopsy is useful in experimental infections but is hardly applicable in the field. Positive results were obtained from 92% of animals 16 to 18 days after experimental infection. In febrile animals the best results were obtained between the 3rd and 6th days of the thermal response. Diagnosis can also be supported by serological tests. These are useful for monitoring experimental infections and for checking recovered animals in the field. Nineteen goats out of 27 were negative on Day 1 of the febrile reaction but positive a week later. The remaining 8 goats were positive on Day 1 and had greatly increased antibody titres a week later. Confirmation of a diagnosis can also be achieved by subinoculating into susceptible animals either blood or suspensions of ticks collected from suspect animals and then homogenized. Ticks that have engorged on a suspect animal can be allowed to moult and then fed on a susceptible animal to test their infectivity. These methods are time consuming but useful for heartwater surveys.
对活体动物的心水病进行推定诊断可依据临床和流行病学观察结果。在瓜德罗普岛，心水病可能会与山羊的血矛线虫病或牛的脑巴贝斯虫病相混淆。通过脑活检来确诊临床诊断在实验性感染中是有用的，但在实际应用中几乎不可行。实验性感染后16至18天，92%的动物获得了阳性结果。在发热动物中，在热反应的第3天至第6天之间获得了最佳结果。血清学检测也可辅助诊断。这些检测对于监测实验性感染以及检查野外康复动物很有用。27只山羊中有19只在发热反应第1天呈阴性，但一周后呈阳性。其余8只山羊在第1天呈阳性，一周后抗体滴度大幅增加。通过将从疑似动物采集的血液或蜱虫悬液接种到易感动物体内，然后进行匀浆，也可确诊。让吸食过疑似动物血液的蜱虫蜕皮，然后喂食易感动物以检测其传染性。这些方法耗时，但对心水病调查很有用。
