Input please: isolated lung lesion.

xavierdoc

Well-Known Member
I shot this young lady in West Sussex.



She was behaving normally prior to the shot and was part of a healthy looking group. Earlier in the week I'd counted a group of 74 on a neighbouring piece of land. I have taken countless deer off this land, without significant signs of disease in any.

At gralloch (in the field), the green offal gave no cause for concern (no lymphadenopathy). However, once home, inspection of the pluck revealed a small lesion, peripherally in the lower lobe of one the lungs. The bronchial nodes were normal, there were no their lesions and no parasites seen. The parietal surface of the thorax was normal.

Lump at tip of knife blade:



Away from the carcass (and with a different knife than would be used for butchering, etc) I incised the lesion, revealing a faintly yellow/green material. Part thick liquid, part friable solid. Not typically caseous but nonetheless, not normal.


Pluck turned over and lesion incised:


Closer:


In the absence of other lesions/lymphadenopathy, any thoughts what this might be? Primary pulmonary TB lesion?

The meat is not destined for public consumption, just me and family. For now, I've kept the pluck and meat double-bagged and separate from other food.

Thanks for advice/opinions.
 
With the semi-liquid contents, I too would regard that as TB unless otherwise proven. Especially as Sussex is one of the edge areas for TB and fallow can be a sentinel animal.
 
TB was my concern.

I've e-mailed Chelmsford AHVLA and will call the Reigate branch tomorrow.
 
I had an email back with the number of the duty vet. In fact, when I called it I encountered a menu, one of which was for TB related enquiries. This got me through to a receptionist of sorts. She took details and said the vet would call back. This subsequently happened, though I got the impression the vet herself was not au fait with TB in deer. She said she'd discuss it with a TB expert.


Upshot is, someone is going to collect material tomorrow-ish. Hopefully they'll feedback the results.


Do you think I'll receive much in the way of further info/advice from the "ministry"?
 
Communication from DEFRA to us vets is notoriously bad, and I've no experience of reporting TB as a stalker. Bear in mind that it can take 12 weeks to culture M. bovis and that the other diagnostic tests (acid fast stain and PCR) are not very reliable. I'd be interested to know how it turns out.
 
Bear in mind that it can take 12 weeks to culture M. bovis and that the other diagnostic tests (acid fast stain and PCR) are not very reliable.

And keeping those 9-banded Armadillos in the lab is such a hassle! No. Wait. That's mycobacterium leprae! My mistake.

I'm not holding my breath.
 
You know how they test for botulism? The mouse lethality assay! Ethically not allowed in this country so we send samples abroad and they kill mice on our behalf......
 
Curious as to what biochemical are being referred to? please advise if any ideas, keen to see the results posted when known. atb
 
I have been down this road, expect to wait about 6 months, and then only after numerous emails/phone calls did i get confirmation it was TB.
Cheers!
Richard
 
I have been down this road, expect to wait about 6 months, and then only after numerous emails/phone calls did i get confirmation it was TB.
Cheers!
Richard

By which point the 'horse has bolted' - how can it take so long, seems ridiculous doesn't it?
 
Hi Nick, culturing the lesion takes ages as I mentioned earlier - it's a reflection of the Mycobacteria as a group they are very slow growing organisms. Richard's 6 month delay is ridiculous and will be a combination of factors that are mostly due to the culture within MAFF/DEFRA. It's a lethal mixture of poor efficiency and an attitude of not giving out disease information that has been a problem for many years.
 
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