Letters
Letters VETERINARY HISTORY
Postcards during World War I IT is important to understand that many of the scenes depicted in First World War photographs (‘Postcards from the Front’ by C. Trenton Boyd and Bruce Vivash Jones, VR, February 21, 2015, vol 176, pp 192194) were produced with posed Veterinary Officers (VOs) and do not represent the conditions in which many of the mobile veterinary sections had to operate in France and Belgium. As the authors correctly point out, the mud and the winter weather caused more suffering than casualties from enemy activities. I have recently been working through the war diaries of the Essex Yeomanry and of several mobile veterinary sections (currently Number 7), where the VOs recorded sickness and casualties among the horses and mules daily. Debility was a very common diagnosis and mange required evacuation by train to the base areas. Wounds from shrapnel or bullets were only a small proportion of cases dealt with, but kicks, quittor and punctured feet reflected the conditions that tethered cavalry horses were kept in, exposed in ‘lines’. Wet rugs were largely responsible for the spread of skin disease in the winter months. Captain Stokes, DAVC, who is identified by name in one of the diaries, told me in the 1960s of how he had to go to the division’s General to tell him that unless he ordered one cavalry brigade to be moved further back onto dry ground, none of the horses standing for days up to their fetlocks in liquid mud would ever be fit to take part in an attack. He had previously served on the beaches at Gallipoli and expressed his concern there about the welfare of the men and the animals. He got his way but much of the cavalry never played an effective part in trench warfare. The horses consumed large quantities of forage and this required supply ‘trains’ to bring fodder into the forward areas. In the last years of the war it was realised that cavalry were not effective in that type of warfare: in one action, the 19th Hussars had 119 horse casualties with 11 officers killed or wounded. Some of the cavalry were used as mounted infantry, others were dehorsed and used in units more concerned with trench maintenance. Motor ambulances appeared late on in the war to move sick horses but before then either a horse drawn ‘float’ might be
used or the casualties had to walk in to the nearest veterinary post. The mobile veterinary sections often seemed to be moved around behind the front, in anticipation of a planned attack in a new sector. Billeting and water supplies then became a frequent concern to the VOs writing in the daily war diary. My personal involvement with military postcards started in 1954 when, as a young National Service lieutenant, I was called out one Saturday afternoon at the Melton Mowbray camp to pose with a horse and radiography machines for army recruitment purposes – fortunately, the photos were never published to my knowledge.
been affected by a serovar not tested for in routine MAT serology. We are therefore performing PCR on blood in acute cases and urine in more longstanding cases (and in some cases both tests), in addition to serology, on suspected cases, for optimal diagnostic accuracy. We are also recommending the use of a tetravalent vaccine for dogs in our area. Helen Wilson, Catherine Bovens, Kate Murphy, Highcroft Veterinary Referrals, 615 Wells Road, Whitchurch, Bristol BS14 9BE e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.h929
D. R. Lane, 1 Trinity Court, Trinity Lane, York YO1 6EY e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.h1079
EQUINE HEALTH
One swallow makes a runner SURVEILLANCE
Increase in canine leptospirosis cases WE are writing to raise awareness about the high number of cases of leptospirosis we have seen in dogs in the Somerset area since November 2014. The majority of these cases have been diagnosed on blood PCR and have been negative on initial MAT serology; those that have subsequently seroconverted were positive for the Bratislava serovar. Most of the affected dogs have been from rural areas and the majority have been vaccinated with a bivalent vaccine and were up to date with vaccination when they developed the disease. Some of the dogs were unvaccinated and none had received a tetravalent vaccine. The cases have followed a wide variety of clinical presentations and courses. Some have presented with acute azotaemia, some with increased hepatic enzyme activities and some with haemorrhagic diarrhoea, without initial biochemical changes, but most have subsequently developed increased hepatic enzyme activities. Some cases have been severely clinically affected, while others have had few clinical signs. The lack of measurable titres on MAT serology on several cases suggests that these cases have been detected early, before seroconversion, or that they have
I WRITE to comment on the editorial ‘Palatal dysfunction in horses: where next?’ (VR, January 3, 2015, vol 176, pp 17-18) as well as the recent letter by Robert Cook (VR, February 14, 2015, vol 176, p 180) on thoughts concerning palatal dysfunction (PD) in horses. I have some experience of this (these) ‘problem(s)’ and with the various modalities that have been used and recommended for their diagnosis and for surgical and other methods of management – both with success and with failure, as we all have! Watching current racing on television, I constantly hear that horses have had ‘wind operations’. What were the diagnoses and what were the treatments? In a lot of racing in the USA my observations are that 60 per cent or more of horses race with a tongue tie; in the UK it is less than 20 per cent. Do we have different racing stock? Dr Cook has proposed an interesting causology based on his own hypotheses concerning atmospheric and oral compartment pressures. This may well be correct but I feel that in many cases the cause of the terminal palatal and pharangeal malfunction is nothing more than fatigue plus/minus lameness and soreness, towards the end of extreme exercise (ie, racing) and the efforts of the horse to breathe and swallow at the same time. Swallowing may, and can be, accommodated by a change of stride in the running horse if the February 28, 2015 | Veterinary Record | 235
Letters rider appreciates the problem, but is not easily managed in the harness horse, with a tight overcheck, where breaking stride is not permitted whether trotting or pacing in races. I believe that the most common cause of racing fatigue and, therefore, a major factor in the plethora of ‘wind problems’ and the myriad options for the management of PD, is nothing more than soreness/lameness. It might be time to think that most of our current treatments involve anaesthesia and some form of surgery and a recovery period (ie, rest)! Hardly any of the reports on the diagnosis and treatment of PD document lameness examination in the workup protocol and might suggest some deficiencies in our evaluation of horses with ‘wind problems’. May I suggest that rest cures most things and saves owners money! Gordon J. Baker, University of Illinois, College of Veterinary Medicine, Urbana , Illinois, 61801, USA e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.h1101
236 | Veterinary Record | February 28, 2015
Copyright of Veterinary Record: Journal of the British Veterinary Association is the property of BMJ Publishing Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Letters VETERINARY HISTORY
Postcards during World War I IT is important to understand that many of the scenes depicted in First World War photographs (‘Postcards from the Front’ by C. Trenton Boyd and Bruce Vivash Jones, VR, February 21, 2015, vol 176, pp 192194) were produced with posed Veterinary Officers (VOs) and do not represent the conditions in which many of the mobile veterinary sections had to operate in France and Belgium. As the authors correctly point out, the mud and the winter weather caused more suffering than casualties from enemy activities. I have recently been working through the war diaries of the Essex Yeomanry and of several mobile veterinary sections (currently Number 7), where the VOs recorded sickness and casualties among the horses and mules daily. Debility was a very common diagnosis and mange required evacuation by train to the base areas. Wounds from shrapnel or bullets were only a small proportion of cases dealt with, but kicks, quittor and punctured feet reflected the conditions that tethered cavalry horses were kept in, exposed in ‘lines’. Wet rugs were largely responsible for the spread of skin disease in the winter months. Captain Stokes, DAVC, who is identified by name in one of the diaries, told me in the 1960s of how he had to go to the division’s General to tell him that unless he ordered one cavalry brigade to be moved further back onto dry ground, none of the horses standing for days up to their fetlocks in liquid mud would ever be fit to take part in an attack. He had previously served on the beaches at Gallipoli and expressed his concern there about the welfare of the men and the animals. He got his way but much of the cavalry never played an effective part in trench warfare. The horses consumed large quantities of forage and this required supply ‘trains’ to bring fodder into the forward areas. In the last years of the war it was realised that cavalry were not effective in that type of warfare: in one action, the 19th Hussars had 119 horse casualties with 11 officers killed or wounded. Some of the cavalry were used as mounted infantry, others were dehorsed and used in units more concerned with trench maintenance. Motor ambulances appeared late on in the war to move sick horses but before then either a horse drawn ‘float’ might be
used or the casualties had to walk in to the nearest veterinary post. The mobile veterinary sections often seemed to be moved around behind the front, in anticipation of a planned attack in a new sector. Billeting and water supplies then became a frequent concern to the VOs writing in the daily war diary. My personal involvement with military postcards started in 1954 when, as a young National Service lieutenant, I was called out one Saturday afternoon at the Melton Mowbray camp to pose with a horse and radiography machines for army recruitment purposes – fortunately, the photos were never published to my knowledge.
been affected by a serovar not tested for in routine MAT serology. We are therefore performing PCR on blood in acute cases and urine in more longstanding cases (and in some cases both tests), in addition to serology, on suspected cases, for optimal diagnostic accuracy. We are also recommending the use of a tetravalent vaccine for dogs in our area. Helen Wilson, Catherine Bovens, Kate Murphy, Highcroft Veterinary Referrals, 615 Wells Road, Whitchurch, Bristol BS14 9BE e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.h929
D. R. Lane, 1 Trinity Court, Trinity Lane, York YO1 6EY e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.h1079
EQUINE HEALTH
One swallow makes a runner SURVEILLANCE
Increase in canine leptospirosis cases WE are writing to raise awareness about the high number of cases of leptospirosis we have seen in dogs in the Somerset area since November 2014. The majority of these cases have been diagnosed on blood PCR and have been negative on initial MAT serology; those that have subsequently seroconverted were positive for the Bratislava serovar. Most of the affected dogs have been from rural areas and the majority have been vaccinated with a bivalent vaccine and were up to date with vaccination when they developed the disease. Some of the dogs were unvaccinated and none had received a tetravalent vaccine. The cases have followed a wide variety of clinical presentations and courses. Some have presented with acute azotaemia, some with increased hepatic enzyme activities and some with haemorrhagic diarrhoea, without initial biochemical changes, but most have subsequently developed increased hepatic enzyme activities. Some cases have been severely clinically affected, while others have had few clinical signs. The lack of measurable titres on MAT serology on several cases suggests that these cases have been detected early, before seroconversion, or that they have
I WRITE to comment on the editorial ‘Palatal dysfunction in horses: where next?’ (VR, January 3, 2015, vol 176, pp 17-18) as well as the recent letter by Robert Cook (VR, February 14, 2015, vol 176, p 180) on thoughts concerning palatal dysfunction (PD) in horses. I have some experience of this (these) ‘problem(s)’ and with the various modalities that have been used and recommended for their diagnosis and for surgical and other methods of management – both with success and with failure, as we all have! Watching current racing on television, I constantly hear that horses have had ‘wind operations’. What were the diagnoses and what were the treatments? In a lot of racing in the USA my observations are that 60 per cent or more of horses race with a tongue tie; in the UK it is less than 20 per cent. Do we have different racing stock? Dr Cook has proposed an interesting causology based on his own hypotheses concerning atmospheric and oral compartment pressures. This may well be correct but I feel that in many cases the cause of the terminal palatal and pharangeal malfunction is nothing more than fatigue plus/minus lameness and soreness, towards the end of extreme exercise (ie, racing) and the efforts of the horse to breathe and swallow at the same time. Swallowing may, and can be, accommodated by a change of stride in the running horse if the February 28, 2015 | Veterinary Record | 235
Letters rider appreciates the problem, but is not easily managed in the harness horse, with a tight overcheck, where breaking stride is not permitted whether trotting or pacing in races. I believe that the most common cause of racing fatigue and, therefore, a major factor in the plethora of ‘wind problems’ and the myriad options for the management of PD, is nothing more than soreness/lameness. It might be time to think that most of our current treatments involve anaesthesia and some form of surgery and a recovery period (ie, rest)! Hardly any of the reports on the diagnosis and treatment of PD document lameness examination in the workup protocol and might suggest some deficiencies in our evaluation of horses with ‘wind problems’. May I suggest that rest cures most things and saves owners money! Gordon J. Baker, University of Illinois, College of Veterinary Medicine, Urbana , Illinois, 61801, USA e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.h1101
236 | Veterinary Record | February 28, 2015
Copyright of Veterinary Record: Journal of the British Veterinary Association is the property of BMJ Publishing Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
