Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) is a poorly understood, sporadic and often fatal disease in cattle. Although, HBS is considered an important disease in dairy cattle, epidemiological data is largely lacking. This study describes the epidemiology of HBS in Belgium and the Netherlands, based on necropsy records from 2009 to 2022, and reports characteristics from 27 cows and 35 dairy operations with HBS, gathered through a survey. The annual incidence of HBS has a significantly increasing trend both at cow and herd level, with incidence above 3.2% in necropsied mature dairy cattle in the most recent years. Estimated herd-level incidence in the Netherlands was double the estimated incidence in Belgium, which might be explained by higher herd size in the Netherlands. Occurrence of HBS was most prevalent in fall, being 40.1% higher than the average of the other seasons. In 35 Flemish (Belgian) surveyed dairy herds with HBS, manifestation of HBS was mostly as solitary cases, and if multiple cases occurred, the time interval was highly variable. In addition, the majority of cows with HBS (61.1%; 16/26) were in more than 100 days lactation. In conclusion, HBS is an important and possibly emerging disease in dairy cattle in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) is characterized by a dissecting intramucosal hematoma at the small bowel, causing obstruction and severe hemorrhage in dairy cattle. Recent investigation revealed the presence of early-stage lesions in cows affected by HBS. These are presumed to be the initial stage of the hematoma, as both share unique dissection of the lamina muscularis mucosae (LMM) as histological hallmark. Early-stage lesions of HBS have not been characterized in greater detail, and neither has the hypothesis of mucosal abrasion as etiology been explored. Therefore, the first objective of the present study was to characterize the morphology of early-stage lesions, by gross examination, histochemistry, immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy. The second objective was to determine the effect of mucosal abrasion to the small intestine in an ex vivo model. A total of 86 early-stage lesions from 10 cows with HBS were characterized. No underlying alterations at the LMM were evident which could explain their occurrence. However, degeneration at the ultrastructural level of the LMM smooth muscle cells was present in 3 of 4 lesions, it is however unclear whether this is primary or secondary. Bacteriological examination did not reveal any association with a specific bacterium. Experimental-induced and early-stage lesions were gross and histologically evaluated and scored in three cows with HBS and seven controls. Experimentally induced lesions in both affected cows and controls, were histologically very similar to the naturally occurring early-stage lesions. Altogether, the results are suggestive for mucosal trauma to play a role in the pathogenesis of HBS.

Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) is a sporadic and fatal disease of predominantly lactating dairy cattle, characterized by segmental hemorrhage and luminal clot formation in the small intestine. Although, Clostridium perfringens and Aspergillus fumigatus have been associated with HBS, the pathogenesis and cause are currently unknown. In this study, 18 naturally occurring cases of HBS (7 necropsied immediately following euthanasia, 11 with 12-48 hour postmortem intervals) were investigated to characterize the pathology and the intestinal microbiome. Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome was characterized by a single small-intestinal, intramucosal hematoma with dissection of the lamina muscularis mucosae. In most cases necropsied immediately after euthanasia (4/7), the intestinal mucosa proximal to the hematoma contained 9 to 14, dispersed, solitary or clustered, erosions or lacerations measuring 4 to 45 mm. In 77% (37/48) of these mucosal lesions, microscopic splitting of the lamina muscularis mucosae comparable to the hematoma was present. These findings suggest the intramucosal hematoma to originate from small mucosal erosions through dissecting hemorrhage within the lamina muscularis mucosae. No invasive fungal growth was observed in any tissue. Bacteriological cultivation and nanopore sequencing showed a polymicrobial population at the hematoma and unaffected intestine, with mostly mild presence of C perfringens at selective culture. Gross and microscopic lesions, as well as the culture and sequencing results, were not in support of involvement of C perfringens or A fumigatus in the pathogenesis of HBS.

The rapid use of smartphones and devices leads to the development of crowdsensing (CS) systems where a large crowd of participants can take part in performing data collecting tasks in large-scale distributed networks. Participants/users in such systems are usually selfish and have private information, such as costs and identities. Budget-feasible mechanism design, as a sub-field of auction theory, is a useful paradigm for crowdsensing, which naturally formulates the procurement scenario with buyers' budgets being considered and allows the users to bid their private costs. Although the bidding behavior is well-regulated, budget-feasible mechanisms are still vulnerable to the Sybil attack where users may generate multiple fake identities to manipulate the system. Thus, it is vital to provide Sybil-proof budget-feasible mechanisms for crowdsensing. In this paper, we design a budget-feasible incentive mechanism which can guarantee truthfulness and deter Sybil attack. We prove that the proposed mechanism achieves individual rationality, truthfulness, budget feasibility, and Sybil-proofness. Extensive simulation results further validate the efficiency of the proposed mechanism.

SummaryBotryomycosis is an uncommon chronic bacterial pyogranulomatous infection of cutaneous and, rarely of visceral origin, that can rarely invade the osseous tissues. An 8‐year‐old Friesian gelding was presented with severe bilateral hindlimb ataxia and paresis of 2‐weeks' duration. Radiographic examination revealed a large osteolytic lesion at the T10‐T11 intervertebral disc space. Post‐mortem examination revealed discospondylitis with abscess formation and histological presence of pyogranulomatous inflammation with coccoform bacteria rimmed by Splendore‐Hoeppli material. Staphylococcus aureus was identified by bacteriological examination. This case report describes the clinical presentation, imaging features and post‐mortem findings of a Friesian gelding presenting with severe bilateral hindlimb ataxia and paresis caused by compression and degeneration of the spinal cord due to a botryomycosis‐like thoracic discospondylitis. Botryomycosis‐like infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of focal expansile bone lesions demonstrating diffuse osteolysis, sclerosis and interrupted bone margins.

Background Between 2007 and 2011 several thousands of calves died from bovine neonatal pancytopenia (BNP), a bleeding syndrome triggered by vaccine induced alloantibodies from the dams. Following withdrawal of the involved bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDv) vaccine, the incidence of this condition rapidly decreased, with no reported cases in the last 5 years. Here, we report a recent immune-mediated pancytopenia in three calves from two different suckler herds, clinically indistinguishable from BNP. Case presentation Three Belgian Blue suckler calves from two different farms, aged around two weeks, showed multiple bleedings disseminated on the skin and petechiae and ecchymoses on the mucosae. Blood examination confirmed anaemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. BVDv infection was excluded. Despite blood transfusion and cortisone therapy, all three animals died. Necropsy and histology confirmed bone marrow depletion. Binding of IgG from the dams on leukocytes of the calves was demonstrated by flow cytometry. Two calves, originating from the same farm, received colostrum from the same dam. None of the calves were given colostrum replacers or colostrum supplements. No link with the BNP causing BVDv vaccine could be evidenced. However, dams had been vaccinated against bovine herpesvirus 1, parainfluenza-3 virus, bovine respiratory syncytial virus and bluetongue virus serotype 8. Conclusions Alloimmune mediated pancytopenia was evidenced in three animals, clinically and pathologically indistinguishable from BNP. Whether this disease is again vaccine mediated remains to be determined.

We report a 9-year-old Thoroughbred gelding that had sudden onset lameness of the right forelimb with episodes of lateral decubitus and generalized pain after completion of a normal training session. The clinical signs subsequently became less pronounced with only mild right forelimb lameness. However, after further orthopaedic examination, it developed severe, acute ataxia and paraplegia, the Schiff-Sherrington phenomenon and risus sardonicus. At necropsy, a partial duplication of the cervical spinal cord was identified, consistent with split spinal cord malformation type II or diplomyelia. However, the clinical significance of this finding is not clear.

Infectious canine hepatitis (IHC) caused by canine adenovirus 1 (CAdV-1) is a classic disease in dogs causing severe illness in non-vaccinated dogs. For this reason, CAdV-1 is incorporated in the standard core vaccination. Because of widespread vaccination, this disease is only rarely seen by the veterinary practitioner. However, ICH does occur in Belgium, especially when vaccination is not adequate. In this brief review, the authors intend to refresh the knowledge of ICH illustrated by three recent cases.