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12 THE RURAL VOICE
DIAGNOSTICS
DIAGNOSTIC TESTS AND TIME
by Dr. S. ERNEST SANFORD, D.V. M. — VETERINARY LABORATORY SERVICES
As the pace of life gets faster, we
all climb on that treadmill of increased
expectations: we expect things to hap-
pen faster. In the diagnostic lab too,
there is a constant drive to make tests
faster and more accurate.
What follows is a description of
the typical tests done at the lab after a
carcass is submitted for a post mortem
(or after a veterinarian does a post
mortem, selects certain tissues, and
submits them to the lab for testing).
POST MORTEMS are done on
the day of submission, usually in the
afternoon. Carcasses should be sub-
mitted before 1:00 p.m. The vet
should be notified if the vet has not
personally directed that the animal be
submitted. A phone call to the lab
before hand is advisable.
A gross post mortem seldom gives
all the necessary answers — usually
less than 10 per cent. The rest of the
information comes from tests which
may take from hours to even weeks
and, occasionally, months to complete.
Here is a brief sampling of the tests:
BACTERIOLOGY: Samples of
diseased tissues from a dead animal
are checked for bacteria. These bac-
teria grow on specially prepared plates
in 24 to 36 hours. Some, however,
take 48 hours to grow, and a few
require 72 or even 96 hours.
After they have grown, they are
checked and tested further for exact
identification, and the disease -causing
bacteria are selected and recultured
using sensitivity disks to identify
which antibiotics the bacteria are sen-
sitive to (this takes another 24 hours).
HISTOPATHOLOGY: In most
cases, bacteriology (described above)
and histopathology (histo) produce the
most information (about 80 per cent).
For histo, diseased tissues are taken
from the carcass and fixed in formalin
for at least 24 hours. These tissues are
then trimmed, processed, embedded in
wax, cut into very thin sections, put on
glass slides, and stained. Then they
are ready to be read by the pathologist.
The pathologist diagnoses what
disease(s) killed the animal. Even if
nothing else was in the lab, it would
take about 72 hours to fix and prepare
the slides. Given the routine workload
in most diagnostic labs, preparing the
slides usually takes about 4 days to 1
week. During busy periods, however,
the time could be double that or more.
VIROLOGY: The pathologist,
who puts the case together and makes
the final diagnosis, might want more
tests either to confirm the results or,
quite often, to make sure that some-
thing else is not also there. Looking
for viruses (virology) is an expensive,
time-consuming, technology -inten-
sive, and frequently unrewarding task.
Virology tests can take 2, 3, or 4
weeks and even up to 8 weeks. But
the longer it takes, the more likely that
no viruses will be found! This can be
frustrating but very necessary. And a
negative answer is vital information.
It doesn't mean that no viruses were
there, only that no viruses were found.
TOXICOLOGY (POISONS):
Nowadays we are bombarded by
information about innumerable toxic
things in our food, soil, air, etc. These
things are, of course, toxic to animals
also. To test for them can be even
more expensive, technology -intensive,
and time-consuming than virology
tests. Most toxicology tests take 1 to
2 months and longer to complete.
OTHER TESTS: Not all tests are
so time-consuming. Parasitology,
Hematology (blood) and some Serol-
ogies (antibodies to diseases) can
usually be done in less than 24 hours.
Faster, easier, and more specific tests
are always being developed.
In addition, other technologies are
rapidly changing the ground rules.
Ontario Veterinary Laboratories have
become computerized, and veterinary
practices are receiving reports elec-
tronically. This means that as soon as
results are completed and entered into
the lab computer, they are immediate-
ly available to the veterinarian.°