Ocular Surface Disease in New World Camelids

A Literature Review of Selected Bacterial Diseases in Alpacas and Llamas-Epidemiology, Clinical Signs and Diagnostics

The breeding of South American Camelids (SACs), particularly llamas and alpacas, is becoming increasingly popular in regions that are not their natural habitat, including Europe. These animals are considered to be relatively disease resistant. However, due to their growing popularity, special attention should be given to infections in llamas and alpacas. Knowledge of bacterial infections is very important to veterinarians and breeders. Many of these diseases also have zoonotic potential, so these animals must be considered as sources of potential zoonotic infections. Due to the limited information on many diseases occurring in llamas and alpacas, veterinarians often rely on data collected in other animal species, focusing on cattle, sheep and horses. This work aims to summarise the knowledge of diseases caused by Clostridium spp., Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, Streptococcus spp., Escherichia coli, Pasteurella multocida, Manheimia haemolytica and Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis in llamas and alpacas, with particular attention to epidemiology, clinical signs and diagnostics.

Clinical parameters obtained during tear film examination in domestic rabbits

Background

One of the contributing factors to ocular surface health is a stable precorneal tear film. Considering the increasing interest in rabbits as pets and the limited literature available on domestic rabbit tearing, the aim of this study was to establish normative data for examination of the tear film in domestic rabbits.

Results

The study included 75 client-owned domestic Holland Lop rabbits (150 eyes). The following examinations were performed in each eye: Schirmer tear test-1, tear osmometry, interferometry, tear meniscus height measurement and meibography (quantifying meibomian gland loss as a percentage). The resulting median (95% central range) values were 10.0 (5.0–17.3) mm/min for the Schirmer tear test-1, 345.0 (280.5–376.1) mOsm/L for tear osmolarity, grade 2 (1–4) of interferometry, 0.28 (0.20–0.47) mm for tear meniscus height and 0.0 (0.0–67.6) % meibomian gland loss. A significant association was found between tear osmolarity and age, with an estimated decrease of − 4.0 mOsm/L with each additional year of age (p < 0.001). The distributions of interferometry grades were significantly different between males and females (p < 0.001), with grade 1 and grade 2 being the most frequent in females and males, respectively. A weak negative correlation was also observed between interferometry grade and the percentage of meibomian gland loss (r = − 0.22, p = 0.006).

Conclusions

This is an original study that documents extensive tear film parameters in healthy Holland Lop rabbits. The results can be used as normative data for the examination of the tear film in this lagomorph breed.