 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
26th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, March 16-18, 2001
Abstracts
2000 Health Survey of Sonoran Desert Tortoises
Jay D. Johnson, DVM1 and Roy C.
Averill-Murray2
1University Animal Hospital, 2500 South
Hardy Drive, Tempe, AZ 85282
2Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W Greenway Road,
Phoenix, AZ 85023
Blood samples were drawn from 36 tortoises at 3 different study sites in the fall of 2000. The sites included Sugarloaf Mountain (26 tortoises), Florence Military Reservation (FMR; 8 tortoises), and Ragged Top Mountain (2 tortoises). Samples were submitted for mycoplasma ELISA, herpes ELISA, Packed Cell Volume (PCV), plasma chemistries, and bile acids. All tortoises tested negative for mycoplasma antibodies. Fifteen (42%) tortoises tested positive for herpes antibodies: 10 from Sugarloaf, 5 from FMR, and none at Ragged Top. PCV's, plasma chemistries, and bile acids appear to be similar to previously reported values, however they have not been completely evaluated yet.
The significance of the herpes positive tortoises is unknown. Awareness of herpes virus in tortoises has increased over the past decade. The majority of reported cases are in Testudo spp., however cases of clinical disease have been reported in Gopherus spp. The ELISA test for herpes virus was validated for Testudo spp., and it is unknown if the validity holds true for other tortoise species. Clinical signs of herpes virus include stomatitis, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, and central nervous system disease. None of the tortoises sampled showed any signs of disease. Future plans are to increase study size and locations for prevalence of ELISA positive tortoises in central and southern Arizona. Samples will be submitted for PCR's on all ELISA positive tortoises identified.