Enlarged lymph node

[JMikeyH]

Singular large lymph node on CWD, interior texture granular like coarse sand

Buck110 for scale

Lungs, spleen and liver all clear, no other enlarged nodes

No abnormal behaviour, only thing of note outside of the enlarged gland is a broken tusk

Any ideas? Cheers

 

[Roedeer 1962]

That looks quite large next to the knife

 

[VSS]

If that's the only enlarged gland, and all organs and other bits look normal, I wouldn't be worrying about it. The fact that the interior is granular, not filled with pus, suggests to me that this is a remnant from a historical infection, not a current problem.

 

[JMikeyH]

That looks quite large next to the knife

It was bloody big, 2 inches long or thereabouts. Normally the size of a baked bean!

 

[Buchan]

Hmm. The typical cattle TB is described as caseous - cheese like:

 

[75]

that’s a very enlarged node from a muntie! Not worth the risk for the small amount of meat off a muntjac carcass so it’d be bin for me.

 

[Andyquadra]

that’s a very enlarged node from a muntie! Not worth the risk for the small amount of meat off a muntjac carcass so it’d be bin for me.

Where's the muntjac

 

[75]

Where's the muntjac

Haha, sorry - got distracted during typing. CWD not muntie but still hugely enlarged for a deer of that size (imho).

 

[potshotpat]

Singular large lymph node on CWD, interior texture granular like coarse sand

Buck110 for scale

Lungs, spleen and liver all clear, no other enlarged nodes

No abnormal behaviour, only thing of note outside of the enlarged gland is a broken tusk

Any ideas? Cheers

I would suggest a problem obviously with the lymph node that the body has reacted to, which it should. Looking at the node it looks to me that what would have been pussed filled has now started to recover. The nodes go from yogurt like puss, to cottage cheese texture, to drying out putty. Would I eat it? Yes. Eh not the node.

 

[big ears]

Difficult to tell from a picture but does look cheese like. Called caeseation. Calcification in caeseating nodes is common. Hence grittiness

Both are signs of TB. Needs reporting.

BE

 

[jsimpson]

Singular large lymph node on CWD, interior texture granular like coarse sand

Buck110 for scale

Lungs, spleen and liver all clear, no other enlarged nodes

No abnormal behaviour, only thing of note outside of the enlarged gland is a broken tusk

Any ideas? Cheers

Ummm Always difficult from just a picture but would be a little concerned about TB???

 

[.222roebuck]

Personally I’d play it safe and bin the carcass

 

[NickJ]

As the two highly qualified vets have said above I would be getting in touch with the APHA with a suspected Bovine TB case, it costs you nothing.

The only positive bTB case I have had in a (fallow) deer was identified from two infected mesenteric lymph nodes, the consistency of the infections were much more like cottage cheese than pus, it felt gritty (just as it says in the guides) basically it looked rather like yours. The biggest one was 1/2 inch in diameter. The sub mandibular lymph nodes were enlarged but not infected.

I have had a similarly infected mesenteric LN in a roe more recently but that came back negative for bTB. They only test for bTB so they don't tell you what else it was. It takes a few weeks to get a result as they have to grow the culture apparent

As for @.222roebuck's response, with respect 'playing it safe' is not 'binning the carcass' - playing it safe is reporting a potential case of a notifiable disease. Even if it tested positive for bTB you could still eat the carcass, they do with cattle, they just cut the infected area out (not that I did or would to be honest.)

 

[South of the M4]

The question to ask of any indication of infection in a carcass: is it local or generalised/systemic? This is standard inspection protocol.
A single infection site, with no other signs of ill health including emaciation, poorness etc usually means infection that has been contained in one specific area.
This abscess in this case must have been there for quite a while to have turned caseous. Plenty of opportunity for infection to spread, so as much as it looks bad, it obviously has not, so could well mean the carcass is good to go.
I would be having a second look at the carcass condition and all lymph nodes.
Sometimes there just isn’t a straightforward answer to conditions that present themselves. A judgement has to be made, which is difficult for the average stalker with little general experience.So perhaps it’s best to err on the side of caution and ‘ditch’ the carcass. On the other hand, TB is easily killed with a little heat, so cooked venison would not be infectious, however distasteful that may sound.
Here is a muntjac I recently shot (attached). Numerous sites, so it didn’t go into the food chain (but was reported - not the first time in my area). If there had been just 1 abscess or pus filled node that would have been a different call, especially as the carcass was in good condition.

It seems that post 13 above from NickJ has had experiences fitting my description - 2 nodes infected, TB. One node in a roe infected, but not TB. Of course you cannot generalise from NickJ’s isolated cases, but it does nicely show the local/generalised difference.

 

[Buchan]

One LN can be an issue for TB - don't under estimate.

 

[South of the M4]

One LN can be an issue for TB - don't under estimate.

I've described how it works in the red meat industry, 100%. If every carcass with a single abscess or infected node was tested for TB, the system would be overwhelmed. There needs to be a judgement.

 

[Buchan]

I've described how it works in the red meat industry, 100%. If every carcass with a single abscess or infected node was tested for TB, the system would be overwhelmed. There needs to be a judgement.

Yup. Deer however are slightly different in how they respond to TB and I've been told (by other vets) to treat even a singel node with suspicion. Which this one most definitely is!