Farm use of calcium hydroxide as an effective barrier against pathogens

AbstractLivestock farming is affected by the occurrence of infectious diseases, but outbreaks can be prevented by proper sanitary control measures. Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2), commonly called slaked lime, powder is traditionally used as a disinfectant to prevent infectious diseases in livestock. Since Ca(OH)2 can inactivate a wide variety of pathogens, has a small environmental impact, does not require a disinfection tank (i.e., can be spread directly on the ground) and is produced inexpensively worldwide, it is used for the prevention of epidemics on farms worldwide. Water is essential for the strong alkalinity that underlies its disinfecting effect, but it is unknown how much water is required under field conditions. In addition, Ca(OH)2 reacts with carbon dioxide in the environment, reducing its pH, but it is unclear how long its degradation takes under actual field use. Thus, we measured the water adsorption ability of Ca(OH)2-based disinfectants and its relation to disinfectant activity, as assessed by colony counts and live/dead staining and observation. We found that 15–20% (w/w) water in Ca(OH)2 was necessary for disinfection to occur in practice. Moreover, we found that the pH of Ca(OH)2 decreased within about two weeks to one month under actual use in practical conditions and lost its ability to disinfect. We further showed that granules prepared from Ca(OH)2 and zeolite maintained high alkalinity more than twice as long as calcium powder. These findings will help to establish a suitable method of applying Ca(OH)2 to protect farms from infectious diseases.

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Modelling to support health programs in modern livestock farming.

Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.18174/njas.v36i1.16695 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 35-42

Author(s):

A.A. Dijkhuizen

Keyword(s):

Animal Health ◽

Control Measures ◽

Health Programs ◽

Herd Health ◽

Livestock Farming ◽

Direct Evaluation ◽

Positive Approach ◽

Normative Approach ◽

Use Of Models ◽

Health Programmes

The application of herd health programmes in livestock farming is rarely an all-or-nothing affair. Usually several control measures are available, but none is ideal. The use of models in optimizing the application of herd health programmes is on the increase. Two broad categories of models have been reviewed: (1) statistical/sepidemiological models used for direct evaluation of any programme actually carried out (positive approach); and (2) economic models used for predicting the profitability of specific measures or programmes (normative approach). Priorities for further research in the field of animal health economics are also discussed. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)

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Effects of wood ash, calcium hydroxide and polyethylene glycol treatments on the nutrient availability and on the biological activity of tannins using gas production technique

Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s1752756200021232 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2007 ◽

pp. 220-220

Author(s):

E.F. Nozella ◽

I.C.S. Bueno ◽

P.B. Godoy ◽

D.M.S.S. Vitti

Keyword(s):

Biological Activity ◽

Polyethylene Glycol ◽

Chemical Composition ◽

Phenolic Compounds ◽

Calcium Hydroxide ◽

Nutrient Availability ◽

Nutritive Value ◽

Gas Production ◽

Production Technique ◽

High Alkalinity

Phenolic compounds, mainly tannins, depress the nutritive value of many feedstuffs. Tannins are hydrosoluble polymers which form complexes, essentially with proteins. These complexes are broken under conditions of high acidity (pH <3.5) or high alkalinity (pH =7.5). The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of different treatments on chemical composition and tannin bioassay of tanniniferous plants from the Northeast of Brazil.

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Aggravation of Human Diseases and Climate Change Nexus

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16152799 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (15) ◽

pp. 2799 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Mohd Danish Khan ◽

Hong Ha Thi Vu ◽

Quang Tuan Lai ◽

Ji Whan Ahn

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Infectious Diseases ◽

Strong Relationship ◽

Epidemiological Data ◽

Extreme Weather ◽

Control Measures ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Human Beings ◽

Impact Of Climate Change ◽

The Impact

For decades, researchers have debated whether climate change has an adverse impact on diseases, especially infectious diseases. They have identified a strong relationship between climate variables and vector’s growth, mortality rate, reproduction, and spatiotemporal distribution. Epidemiological data further indicates the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases post every single extreme weather event. Based on studies conducted mostly between 1990-2018, three aspects that resemble the impact of climate change impact on diseases are: (a) emergence and re-emergence of vector-borne diseases, (b) impact of extreme weather events, and (c) social upliftment with education and adaptation. This review mainly examines and discusses the impact of climate change based on scientific evidences in published literature. Humans are highly vulnerable to diseases and other post-catastrophic effects of extreme events, as evidenced in literature. It is high time that human beings understand the adverse impacts of climate change and take proper and sustainable control measures. There is also the important requirement for allocation of effective technologies, maintenance of healthy lifestyles, and public education.

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Geographically dependent individual-level models for infectious diseases transmission

Biostatistics ◽

10.1093/biostatistics/kxaa009 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

M D Mahsin ◽

Rob Deardon ◽

Patrick Brown

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Infectious Diseases ◽

Social Deprivation ◽

Spatial Location ◽

Control Measures ◽

Disease Models ◽

Individual Level ◽

New Class ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Infectious Disease Models

Summary Infectious disease models can be of great use for understanding the underlying mechanisms that influence the spread of diseases and predicting future disease progression. Modeling has been increasingly used to evaluate the potential impact of different control measures and to guide public health policy decisions. In recent years, there has been rapid progress in developing spatio-temporal modeling of infectious diseases and an example of such recent developments is the discrete-time individual-level models (ILMs). These models are well developed and provide a common framework for modeling many disease systems; however, they assume the probability of disease transmission between two individuals depends only on their spatial separation and not on their spatial locations. In cases where spatial location itself is important for understanding the spread of emerging infectious diseases and identifying their causes, it would be beneficial to incorporate the effect of spatial location in the model. In this study, we thus generalize the ILMs to a new class of geographically dependent ILMs, to allow for the evaluation of the effect of spatially varying risk factors (e.g., education, social deprivation, environmental), as well as unobserved spatial structure, upon the transmission of infectious disease. Specifically, we consider a conditional autoregressive (CAR) model to capture the effects of unobserved spatially structured latent covariates or measurement error. This results in flexible infectious disease models that can be used for formulating etiological hypotheses and identifying geographical regions of unusually high risk to formulate preventive action. The reliability of these models is investigated on a combination of simulated epidemic data and Alberta seasonal influenza outbreak data ($2009$). This new class of models is fitted to data within a Bayesian statistical framework using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods.

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1682. Dengue Fever Outbreak Investigation in Upper Egypt in 2015

Open Forum Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/ofid/ofz360.1546 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. S616-S616 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hamdi Mohammed. Ibrahim ◽

Mahmoud Khalil ◽

Mohamed Elsawy ◽

Mohamed Samir. Ismail ◽

Mostafa Alfishawy

Keyword(s):

Infectious Diseases ◽

Dengue Fever ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Control Measures ◽

Fever Hospital ◽

Adult Mosquito ◽

Entomological Surveillance ◽

Dramatic Decline ◽

Rapid Control

Abstract Background Surveillance is the backbone of infectious diseases control but an outbreak of a new pathogen to a developing country may have devastating consequences given less prepared healthcare systems in such countries. In October 2015, there was a sharp rise of febrile illnesses reported in Dairot Fever Hospital which prompted the general department for fever hospitals in the Egyptian ministry of health (MOH) to constitute a scientific committee for field visit study in Dairot fever hospital. Methods The committee held meetings at Dairot fever hospital, educated local healthcare providers, examined all isolated patients and requested samples of 118 isolated patients to be sent to central laboratories of MOH. Entomological services were also part of the committee and surveillance was started in the affected area. Results Out of 118 samples, 28 came back positive for Dengue virus type 1 by ELISA and PCR. Entomological surveillance revealed the presence of Aedes aegypti larvae and adult mosquito at the sites where cases were living; consequently, entomological control measures for dengue vector were immediately set leading to a dramatic decline in the density of adult mosquito (from 23% to 0%) and larvae (from 25% to 0.5%). Conclusion The prompt response of the MOH in Egypt led to rapid control of Dengue fever outbreak but educating healthcare workers about possible imported infectious diseases would have halted the outbreak much earlier which shows the importance of Infectious Diseases training in developing countries. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

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Pathoprevalence of infectious diseases of goat emphasizing on endoparasitic lesions at Dinajpur Sadar

Asian Journal of Medical and Biological Research ◽

10.3329/ajmbr.v3i2.33578 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 254-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mahfuza Akther ◽

Md Nazrul Islam ◽

Md Haydar Ali ◽

SM Harun ur Rashid ◽

Md Anowarul Haque

Keyword(s):

Infectious Diseases ◽

Histopathological Examination ◽

Clinical History ◽

Summer Season ◽

Control Measures ◽

Parasitic Diseases ◽

Bacterial Diseases ◽

Laboratory Techniques ◽

Veterinary Hospital ◽

Common Laboratory

This study was conducted to investigate the pathoprevalence of different infectious diseases of goat at Sadar upazilla of Dinajpur district in Bangladesh. Infectious cases were recorded with respect to breed, sex, age and season from Upazilla Veterinary Hospital and District Veterinary Hospital, Sadar, Dinajpur during July, 2014 to June, 2015 and diagnosis was made on the basis of clinical history, clinical examinations and common laboratory techniques with histopathological examination. A total of 2139 infectious diseases were founded and categorized by the causal agents where the highest prevalence was observed in mixed infectious diseases (46.06%) followed by viral diseases (28.93%), internal parasitic diseases (9.77%), external parasitic diseases (8.42%), bacterial diseases (3.00%), protozoal diseases (2.01%) and lowest was in fungal diseases (1.83%). The prevalence of infectious disease was significantly higher at Jamunapari (55.12%) than Black Bengal (44.88%). Female goats were more susceptible (54.32%) than male (45.68%). The prevalence was varied according to age and highest was in G-1 (45.48%) followed by G-2 (36.48%) and G-3 (17.68%). Summer season (33.60%) was common for infections followed by winter (33.51%) and rainy (32.89%). Most of the internal lesions were produced by the endoparasitic infections which were examined microscopically. These results indicate that, the prevalence of various infectious diseases in the goats was higher at Sadar, Dinajpur thus, there is a need for an appropriate control measures in order to prevent and minimize the loss caused by such diseases and this study may help to develop strategies against the infectious diseases of goat.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2017, 3(2): 254-266

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Attitudes and practices of infection control among senior dental students at college of dentistry, university of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates

European Journal of Dentistry ◽

10.4103/1305-7456.119058 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 07 (S 01) ◽

pp. S015-S019 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Betul Rahman ◽

Sheela Balu Abraham ◽

Amna Mohammed Alsalami ◽

Fatima Eisa Alkhaja ◽

Shaikha Ibrahim Najem

Keyword(s):

Infectious Diseases ◽

Infection Control ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Dental Students ◽

Control Measures ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Infection Control Measures ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Control Procedures ◽

Students Attitudes

ABSTRACT Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate compliance, awareness and practices of infection control procedures among senior dental students at the College of Dentistry, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Materials and Methods: The study comprised of 119 subjects of 4 th and 5 th year dental students. A questionnaire was developed with 25 open and closed-ended questions related to barrier techniques, vaccination status, infection control practices and awareness. This was distributed among the senior dental students and completed upon signing the consent form. Each questionnaire was coded to ensure the confidentiality of responses. Results: The questionnaire was distributed among 223 senior dental students at the University of Sharjah of which only 119 students (53%) responded. Compliance with the use of protective barriers was high with the exception of protective eye wear, utilized by a mere 27% of students. There was a significant difference between 4 th and 5 th year dental students′ attitudes (p < 0.05) regarding the treatment of patients with infectious diseases. Compared with 44.4% of the 5 th year students, 68.5% of the 4 th year students did not mind treating patients with infectious diseases. Owing to this, 61.9% of the 5 th year students suffered from non-sterile percutaneous and mucous membrane exposures compared with 44.6% of the 4 th year students (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Efforts are needed to improve attitudes, implement information and motivate students in the correct and routine use of infection control measures. With all infection control protocols already implemented in dental schools, the challenge remains on improving compliance with infection control recommendations.

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Design and analysis of small-scale transmission experiments with animals

Epidemiology and Infection ◽

10.1017/s095026880600673x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 135 (2) ◽

pp. 202-217 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

A. G. J. VELTHUIS ◽

A. BOUMA ◽

W. E. A. KATSMA ◽

G. NODELIJK ◽

M. C. M. DE JONG

Keyword(s):

Infectious Diseases ◽

Population Level ◽

Field Studies ◽

Control Measures ◽

Experimental Designs ◽

Small Scale ◽

Controlled Environment ◽

Single Factor ◽

Final Size ◽

Transmission Data

Interactions between pathogens and hosts at the population level should be considered when studying the effectiveness of control measures for infectious diseases. The advantage of doing transmission experiments compared to field studies is that they offer a controlled environment in which the effect of a single factor can be investigated, while variation due to other factors is minimized. This paper gives an overview of the biological and mathematical aspects, bottlenecks and solutions of developing and executing transmission experiments with animals. Different methods of analysis and different experimental designs are discussed. Final size methods are often used for analysing transmission data, but have never been published in a refereed journal; therefore, they will be described in detail in this paper. We hope that this information is helpful for scientists who are considering performing transmission experiments.

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