Australasian Veterinary Examination, formerly the National Veterinary Examination Preventive Veterinary Medicine II: Viral and Parasitic Diseases: practice questions

1 · Foot-and-mouth disease · easy

In an FMD epidemic, which species is described as the 'amplifier' host and why?

1. Pigs: they exhale far more airborne virus
2. Sheep, because they carry the virus silently and spread it through markets
3. Cattle, because they show the most obvious vesicles on the tongue and feet
4. African buffalo, because they carry SAT viruses in the pharynx for years

2 · Foot-and-mouth disease · easy

In pigs, vesicles on the snout and feet cannot be attributed to FMD on clinical grounds. Which disease produces identical lesions?

1. Classical swine fever
2. Porcine circovirus type 2
3. Swine erysipelas (diamond skin)
4. Swine vesicular disease

3 · Peste des petits ruminants · medium

A flock of goats bought at a market develops fever, matted eyelids, foul-smelling erosions on the gums, profuse diarrhoea and coughing; several die. Which disease is most likely?

1. Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia
2. Haemonchosis with bottle jaw
3. Contagious ecthyma (orf)
4. Peste des petits ruminants

4 · Bluetongue · easy

Which sample and test are most appropriate to detect current bluetongue infection in a febrile ewe?

1. Serum for a single competitive ELISA
2. Whole blood in EDTA for RT-PCR
3. Skin scraping for direct microscopy
4. Faeces for a sedimentation test

5 · Rabies · medium

A farmer calls about a cow that is bellowing, straining and drooling, and he thinks something is stuck in her throat. What is the most important first step?

1. Give a high dose of calcium intravenously for presumed milk fever
2. Ask the farmer to put his hand in the mouth and feel for the obstruction
3. Pass a stomach tube at once to dislodge the obstruction from the oesophagus and relieve bloat
4. Treat rabies as possible and do not examine the mouth without gloves and protection

6 · Canine distemper, canine parvovirus and infectious canine hepatitis · medium

A clinic needs 5 L of disinfectant at 0.2% sodium hypochlorite to clean a parvovirus isolation ward. The stock bleach is 5% sodium hypochlorite. How much stock is needed?

1. 2,000 ml
2. 200 ml
3. 1,000 ml
4. 20 ml

7 · Canine distemper, canine parvovirus and infectious canine hepatitis · hard

Why does WSAVA recommend that the final puppy core vaccine dose be given at 16 weeks of age or older?

1. Maternal antibody can block vaccine responses until about 16 weeks in some puppies
2. Earlier doses cause distemper in most puppies through vaccine reversion
3. The puppy immune system cannot respond to any vaccine before 16 weeks
4. Parvovirus infection does not usually occur before 16 weeks, so earlier doses waste vaccine

8 · Viral diseases of horses · medium

On a yard, a mare aborts in late gestation and a week later a gelding develops hindlimb ataxia and dribbles urine. Which virus is most likely?

1. Equine herpesvirus 1
2. Equine infectious anaemia virus
3. Equine herpesvirus 4
4. Equine influenza virus

9 · Helminthoses · medium

In the FAMACHA system for small ruminants, which animals are normally drenched?

1. Every animal in the flock at each check, whatever its individual score
2. Those with pale to white conjunctivae, scoring 4 or 5
3. Those with red conjunctivae, scoring 1 or 2
4. Only animals with diarrhoea, whatever the score

10 · National disease control programmes: FMD, brucellosis, rabies, HS and BQ · medium

A survey aims to show freedom from a disease with 95% confidence, assuming that if the disease were present at least 5% of animals in a large herd would be infected. With a perfect test, about how many randomly chosen animals must be tested, all negative?

1. About 149
2. About 95
3. About 59
4. 20