Renal AA amyloidosis in a dairy cow in Turkey

Abstract

AMYLOIDOSIS usually occurs in association with a chronic suppurative process elsewhere in the body (Blood and Radostits 1989). Extensive infiltration of the organs with amy loid suppresses the function of the organs involved (Blood and Radostits 1989, Monoghan and Boy 1990). The most common form of the disease that is clinically recognisable is renal amyloidosis (Andrews 1992). It occurs sporadically in cattle more than four years of age; affected animals usually have a profuse, watery diarrhoea, polydipsia, proteinuria, ven tral oedema, weight loss, hypoalbuminaemia and high serum urea and creatinine concentrations. Gross enlargement of the kidneys can also be detected on rectal examination (Johnson and Jamison 1984, Blood and Radostits 1989, Monoghan and Boy 1990, Andrews 1992). Diagnosis of the disease depends on the clinical and laboratory findings; histological examination of the kidneys may be used as confirmation. However, other causes of chronic diarrhoea, such as Johne’s disease, should be consid ered as a differential diagnosis (Monoghan and Boy 1990). This short communication describes a case of renal AA amy loidosis in a cow.