scholarly journals Analysis of Different Diagnostis Methods of Influenza in Horses

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Mihajlo Erdeljan ◽  
Ivana Davidov ◽  
Ramiz Cutuk ◽  
Dragan Rogan ◽  
Aleksandar Potkonjak

Background: Equine Influenza is a serious, acute respiratory illness with characteristical clinical signs. The disease is caused by family of Orthomyxoviridae, genera Influenza virus A by two subtypes H7N7 and H3N8. Currently, there is believe that H7N7 has been replaced as a predominant subtype with the H3N8. Horse infection with influenza virus can be detected by serological tests on paired sera using HI test. Commercial rapid tests could be used for the detection of influenza virus. Recently it is widely use a PCR method as fast and more specific methods.Materials, Methods & Results: Fifty horses and one pony, age between one and 22 years have been included in experiment. Horses were of different race, sex, and age and vaccination status. Ten out of total 51 (10/51) have been regularly vaccinated against EI. Prior to initiation of these study epidemiological survey has been performed. The clinical examination has been followed by blood sampling for blood cell and serum extraction. The serums were evaluated by HI method. Nasal swabs are taken from both nostrils twice, one was frozen for virus detection by RT-qPCR while another was used for detection of EI virus by Directi-gen™ FLU A rapid test. Analysis of titers of antibody reveled that 7 horses (14%) had specific antibodies (IgG) against subtype H7N7, while 9 horses (18%) had specific antibodies against H3N8. In the same time 4 horses had specific antibodies against both subtypes. Serological data confirmed that from 48 horses (96%) had the titer of antibodies greater than 16 against H7N7, while 40 horses (80%) had the specific antibodies (IgG) against H3N8. We found quite unexpected presence of specific antibodies (IgG) for H7N7 in horses that have not been previously vaccinated with H7N7 subtype. These horses never been utilized for sport activity and there was no legal requirements for their vaccination. Could horses with specific antibodies for H7N7 be transfected from vaccinated horses we could not confirme with scientific evidence either we could not have evidence that wild and domestic birds played a significant role especially knowing that horses are dead end of further we could confirm it. Our findings unequivocally confirmed that EI virus subtype H7N7 antibodies (IgG) were present in horses that have not been vaccinated and this is serological evidence that virus H7N7 is circulating  in these geographical areas.Discussion: Fast and reliable diagnosis and isolation of suspicious horses represent the first line of defense against pandemic influenza. Recognition of clinical signs (fever, depression, sharp cough and nasal discharge) along with epizootical survey provides the basis for the early detection of infection. In some cases, cough and rapid spread of symptoms of cough in a group of horses that were either unvaccinated against influenza virus or have been in contact with influenza virus infected horses can clearly point out to the EI virus. The definitive confirmation of EI virus could be done by virus isolation on tissue culture or embrionated eggs followed by detection of virus nucleic acid by RT-PCR. Our data suggest that a substantial number of horses (90%) that have not been vaccinated or vaccinated irregularly had specific antibodies against both subtypes of EI, what suggest that those horses have been exposed to viruses sometimes during their lifetime. Additionally, despite the fact that 20% of horses had some signs of respiratory disease that resemble EI we were not able to confirm EI nucleic acid by RT-PCR while Directi-gene™ assay confirmed virus presence just in two horses. Failure to detect virus nucleic acid could be due to fact that nasal swab samples have been taken at the end of the clinical symptoms, other authors have simular PCR negative patient which displayed a significant rising titre to influenza type A.

2022 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Nespolo de David ◽  
Fernanda Hammes Varela ◽  
Ivaine Tais Sauthier Sartor ◽  
Márcia Polese-Bonatto ◽  
Ingrid Rodrigues Fernandes ◽  
...  

Point-of-care serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 have been used for COVID-19 diagnosis. However, their accuracy over time regarding the onset of symptoms is not fully understood. We aimed to assess the accuracy of a point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay (LFI). Subjects, aged over 18 years, presenting clinical symptoms suggestive of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection were tested once by both nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal RT-PCR and LFI. The accuracy of LFI was assessed in periodic intervals of three days in relation to the onset of symptoms. The optimal cut-off point was defined as the number of days required to achieve the best sensitivity and specificity. This cut-off point was also used to compare LFI accuracy according to participants’ status: outpatient or hospitalized. In total, 959 patients were included, 379 (39.52%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 with RT-PCR, and 272 (28.36%) tested positive with LFI. LFI best performance was achieved after 10 days of the onset of symptoms, with sensitivity and specificity of 84.9% (95%CI: 79.8-89.1) and 94.4% (95%CI: 91.0-96.8), respectively. Although the specificity was similar (94.6% vs. 88.9%, p = 0.051), the sensitivity was higher in hospitalized patients than in outpatients (91.7% vs. 82.1%, p = 0.032) after 10 days of the onset of symptoms. Best sensitivity of point-of-care LFI was found 10 days after the onset of symptoms which may limit its use in acute care. Specificity remained high regardless of the number of days since the onset of symptoms.


Author(s):  
Gerhard Dobler

• TBE appears with non-characteristic clinical symptoms, which cannot be distinguished from oth-er forms of viral encephalitis or other diseases. • Cerebrospinal fluid and neuro-imaging may give some evidence of TBE, but ultimately cannot confirm the diagnosis. • Thus, proving the diagnosis “TBE” necessarily requires confirmation of TBEV-infection by detec-tion of the virus or by demonstration of specific antibodies from serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid. • During the phase of clinic symptoms from the CNS, the TBEV can only rarely be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients. • Most routinely used serological tests for diagnosing TBE (ELISA, HI, IFA) show cross reactions resulting from either Infection with other flaviviruses or with other flavivirus vaccines.


TBE appears with non-characteristic clinical symptoms, which cannot be distinguished from other forms of viral encephalitis or other diseases. Cerebrospinal fluid and neuro-imaging may give some evidence of TBE, but ultimately cannot confirm the diagnosis. Thus, proving the diagnosis “TBE” necessarily requires confirmation of TBEV-infection by detection of the virus or by demonstration of specific antibodies from serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid. During the phase of clinic symptoms from the CNS, the TBEV can only rarely be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients. Most routinely used serological tests for diagnosing TBE (ELISA, HI, IFA) show cross reactions resulting from either infection with other flaviviruses or with other flavivirus vaccines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamadou Aliou Barry ◽  
Florent Arinal ◽  
Cheikh Talla ◽  
Boris Gildas Hedible ◽  
Fatoumata Diene Sarr ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Influenza is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa. However, a lack of epidemiological data remains for this pathology, and the performances of the influenza-like illness (ILI) case definitions used for sentinel surveillance have never been evaluated in Senegal. This study aimed to i) assess the performance of three different ILI case definitions, adopted by the WHO, USA-CDC (CDC) and European-CDC (ECDC) and ii) identify clinical factors associated with a positive diagnosis for Influenza in order to develop an algorithm fitted for the Senegalese context. Methods All 657 patients with a febrile pathological episode (FPE) between January 2013 and December 2016 were followed in a cohort study in two rural villages in Senegal, accounting for 1653 FPE observations with nasopharyngeal sampling and influenza virus screening by rRT-PCR. For each FPE, general characteristics and clinical signs presented by patients were collected. Sensitivity, Specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV) and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) for the three ILI case definitions were assessed using PCR result as the reference test. Associations between clinical signs and influenza infection were analyzed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. Sore throat, arthralgia or myalgia were missing for children under 5 years. Results WHO, CDC and ECDC case definitions had similar sensitivity (81.0%; 95%CI: 77.0–85.0) and NPV (91.0%; 95%CI: 89.0–93.1) while the WHO and CDC ILI case definitions had the highest specificity (52.0%; 95%CI: 49.1–54.5) and PPV (32.0%; 95%CI: 30.0–35.0). These performances varied by age groups. In children < 5 years, the significant predictors of influenza virus infection were cough and nasal discharge. In patients from 5 years, cough, nasal discharge, sore throat and asthenia grade 3 best predicted influenza infection. The addition of “nasal discharge” as a symptom to the WHO case definition decreased sensitivity but increased specificity, particularly in the pediatric population. Conclusion In summary, all three definitions studies (WHO, ECDC & CDC) have similar performance, even by age group. The revised WHO ILI definition could be chosen for surveillance purposes for its simplicity. Symptomatic predictors of influenza virus infection vary according the age group.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-15
Author(s):  
LR Barman ◽  
RD Sarker ◽  
BC Das ◽  
EH Chowdhury ◽  
PM Das ◽  
...  

A virological survey for avian influenza (AI) and Newcastle disease (ND) was conducted in two selected live bird markets (LBMs), namely Kaptan Bazar and Karwan Bazar in Dhaka city, Bangladesh from August 2011 to July 2012. A total of 513 dead chickens were collected. An immune-chromatographic rapid antigen test for Type A influenza virus and both conventional and real time RT-PCR were used for the detection and characterization of AI and ND viruses. All carcasses were first screened by the rapid antigen test kit and 93 were positive for Type A influenza virus. RT-PCR on a representative number of rapid antigen test positive samples (n = 24) confirmed the presence of Type A influenza virus and mostly H5 influenza virus (22 out of 24 tested samples). Influenza rapid test negative samples (n = 420) were subjected to routine necropsy. Heat stress, suffocation and physical injury were the most common cause of mortality (163 cases), followed by ND, suspected to be the cause of 85 deaths. On molecular investigation of these 85 samples, the presence of ND virus was confirmed in 59 and AI virus in 6; 15 were negative for both ND and AI viruses and 5 were unsuitable for investigation. Among the 59 ND confirmed cases 18 also contained AI virus. In summary, out of 513 carcasses 117 (22.81%) contained AI virus and 59 (11.50%) contained ND virus. Eighteen (3.51%) carcasses contained both AI and ND viruses. The findings suggest that both AI and ND should be considered as major threats to the poultry industry.Bangl. vet. 2016. Vol. 33, No. 1, 8-15


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1441
Author(s):  
Suelen Basgalupp ◽  
Giovana dos Santos ◽  
Marina Bessel ◽  
Lara Garcia ◽  
Ana Carolina de Moura ◽  
...  

Serological assays emerged as complementary tools to RT-PCR in the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 as well as being needed for epidemiological studies. This study aimed to assess the performance of a rapid test (RT) compared to that of serological tests using finger prick blood samples. A total of 183 samples were evaluated, 88 of which were collected from individuals with negative RT-PCR and 95 from positive RT-PCR individuals. The diagnostic performance of RT (WONDFO®) and LUMIT (PROMEGA®) were compared to that of ELISA (EUROIMMUN®) for detecting antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 according to time from symptoms onset. The IgG antibody tests were detected in 77.4% (LUMIT), 77.9% (RT), and 80.0% (ELISA) of individuals. The detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 increases in accordance with increasing time from symptoms onset. Considering only time from symptoms onset >21 days, the positivity rate ranged from 81.8 to 97.0% between the three tests. The RT and LUMIT showed high agreement with ELISA (agreement = 91.5%, k = 0.83, and agreement = 96.3%, k = 0.9, respectively) in individuals who had symptoms 15 to 21 days before sample collection. Compared to that of the ELISA assay, our results show sensitivity ranged from 95% to 100% for IgG antibody detection in individuals with symptoms onset between 15 and 21 days before sample collection. The specificity was 100% in individuals with symptoms onset >15 days before serological tests. This study shows good performance and high level of agreement of three immunoassays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel De Aguiar ◽  
Giovana Wingeter Di Santis ◽  
Melissa Cristina Müller ◽  
Ana Angelita Sampaio Baptista ◽  
Beatriz Queiroz Dos Santos ◽  
...  

Background: Calf diarrhea remains one of the main diseases affecting the cattle industry. Persistence of this significant problem is associated with the complexity of factors that may be involved (infectious, environmental). An accurate diagnosis is essential for confirming the cause and helping clinicians and cattle producers to apply appropriate strategies in a timely manner. This report describes the histological changes according to the degree of salmonellosis severity, which is a contagious infectious disease caused by Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica, a Gram-negative bacterium, in two beef calves in northern Paraná State, southern Brazil. Cases: Two 90-day-old crossbred Angus and Nellore calves from a beef farm in northern Paraná State were referred to a Veterinary Hospital. Animal 1- developed acute clinical signs (enteritis, ataxia, and muscle rigidity) and died the day after the signs began. Gross findings included heavy and non-collapsed lungs, pulmonary oedema, hepatomegaly, enteritis, and severe diffuse typhlitis. Microscopic analysis revealed severe diffuse necrotic enteritis, typhlitis, severe diffuse interstitial pneumonia, moderate centrilobular hepatic necrosis, mild multifocal nephritis, and severe spleen and lymph node necrosis. Paratyphoid nodules were evidenced on the liver, spleen, and mesenteric lymph nodes. Animal 2- presented apathy, green fibrinous diarrhea, and died three days after the onset of clinical signs. The macroscopic examination showed moderate diffuse enteritis and hepatosplenomegaly. At the microscopic examination, many paratyphoid nodules were observed on the liver, spleen, kidneys, and Peyer's patches, which were associated with intralesional and intravascular bacilli. Additional findings included severe diffuse fibrinous necrotic enteritis with intralesional bacilli, diffuse interstitial pneumonia, multifocal splenic necrosis, lymphoid depletion, and moderate multifocal to coalescent lymphocytic nephritis. Histological Gram staining was performed on selected samples, revealing intralesional Gram-negative bacilli in the liver and intestine. Thus, liver and intestine fragments were used for the microbiological examination. Microbiological culture, isolation and biochemical tests identified the genus Salmonella spp. Then, the colonies were subjected to serological tests for serovar identification, according to ISO/TR 6579-3, which determined the serovar Dublin. After identifying the disease etiological agent, the outbreak was controlled by appropriate antibiotic therapy combined with the correction of sanitary measures.Discussion: Enteritis is a frequent disease in calves, posing a diagnostic challenge in identifying the etiological agent. In the present case, the histological, microbiological, and serological results confirmed a disseminated Salmonella spp. infection. The microscopic findings, such as interstitial pneumonia, fibrinous necrotic enteritis markedly in ileum and paratyphoid nodules in various organs, are the most common aspects of the disease. However, fibrinous cholecystitis, which is considered pathognomonic for salmonellosis, was not observed in this study. Therefore, the absence of such a lesion should not exclude the disease in sick animals. A microscopic injury score was used to determine lesion severity by assigning values from 1 to 4, wherein: 1 = no apparent lesions, 2 = mild lesions, 3 = moderate lesions, and 4 = severe lesions. Both calves were scored as 4. Multiple predisposing factors for the condition were identified in this farm such as different age animals in the same paddock and no specific paddock for sick animals, given that the infectious agent remains in feces, saliva, and nasal discharge. The serovar Dublin induces several clinical signs such as septicemic, respiratory, and enteric manifestations, making a clinical diagnosis a challenge. Keywords: dysbiosis, calf diarrhea, infection, paratyphoid nodules, septicemia.Descritores: disbiose, diarreia neonatal, infecção, nódulos paratifoides, septicemia.Título:  Salmonelose em bezerros pelo sorovar Dublin no estado do Paraná, Brasil - aspectos clínico-patológicos 


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhanasekaran Sakthivel ◽  
David Delgado-Diaz ◽  
Laura McArthur ◽  
William Hopper ◽  
Jack S. Richards ◽  
...  

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a recently emerged and highly contagious virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As of August 24, 2021, there were more than 212 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 4.4 million deaths reported globally. Early diagnosis and isolation of infected individuals remains one of the most effective public health interventions to control SARS-CoV-2 spread and for effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases. Currently, SARS-CoV-2 infection is diagnosed presumptively based on clinical symptoms and confirmed by detecting the viral RNA in respiratory samples using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Standard RT-PCR protocols are time consuming, expensive, and technically demanding, which makes them a poor choice for large scale and point-of-care screening in resource-poor settings. Recently developed isothermal nucleic acid amplification tests (iNAAT), antigen and/or serological tests are cost-effective to scale COVID-19 testing at the point-of-care (PoC) and for surveillance activities. This review discusses the development of rapid PoC molecular tools for the detection and surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infections.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berhanu Nega Alemu ◽  
Adamu Addissie ◽  
Gemechis Mamo ◽  
Negussie Deyessa ◽  
Tamrat Abebe ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundAnti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests are being increasingly used for sero-epidemiological purposes to provide better understanding of the extent of the infection in the community, and monitoring the progression of the COVID-19 epidemic. We conducted sero-prevalence study to estimate prior infection with with SARS-CoV-2 in Addis Ababa.MethodsA cross-sectional study was done from April 23 to 28, 2020 among 301 randomly selected residents of Addis Ababa; with no known history of contact with confirmed COVID-19 person. Interviews on socio demographic and behavioural risk factor followed by serological tests were performed for SARS-CoV-2 IgM, and IgG antibodies, using COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Cassette. The test has sensitivity of 87·9% and specificity of 100% for lgM; and a sensitivity of 97·2% and specificity of 100% for IgG. RT-PCR test was also done on combined nasopharyngeal and oropharengeal swabs as an important public health consideration.FindingsThe unadjusted antibody-based crude SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was 7·6% and the adjusted true SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was estimated at 8·8% (95% CI 5·5%-11·6%) for the study population. Higher sero-prevalence were observed for males (9.0%), age below 50 years (8.2%), students and unemployed (15.6%), those with primary education (12.1%), smokers (7.8%), alcohol consumers (8.6%), chatt-chewers (13.6%) and shish smokers (18.8%). Seroprevalence was not significantly associated neither with socio-demographic not behavioral characteristics. According to the findings, possibly more individuals had been infected in Addis Ababa than what was being detected and reported by RT-PCR test suggestive of community transmission. The use of serological test for epidemiological estimation of the extent of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic gives a more precise estimate of magnitude which would be used for further monitoring and surveillance of the magnitude of the SARS CoV-2 infection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 215265671877360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urs C. Steiner ◽  
Lucas M. Bachmann ◽  
Micheal B. Soyka ◽  
Stephan Regenass ◽  
Lukas Steinegger ◽  
...  

Background Rhinitis is a very common disease with allergies being the most frequent causative factor. It can co-occur together with asthma and eczema in atopic as well as in nonatopic patients. Objectives To assess the prevalence of allergic sensitization within patient groups with rhinitis in consideration of the co-occurring disorders of asthma and eczema. Methods Students of the third year of medical school completed an anonymous questionnaire on age, gender, and clinical symptoms, such as seasonal rhinitis, perennial rhinitis, asthma, and eczema, and underwent an ImmunoCAP Rapid test. We calculated the prevalence of sensitization within subgroups of patients reporting allergic disorders, such as rhinitis, asthma, and eczema. Results Questionnaires and ImmunoCAP Rapid tests of 1513 medical students were analyzed. The participants’ self-reported presence of seasonal/perennial rhinitis, asthma, and eczema was compared to the presence of sensitization. Data of 1467 subjects could be analyzed. Seasonal rhinitis was the most common symptom, followed by eczema, asthma, and perennial rhinitis. The participants were differentiated into 16 subgroups according to the combined clinical manifestations of the different symptoms and association to sensitization within subgroups. The prevalence of sensitization ranged from 18% in subjects reporting only eczema without any other symptom to 100% in those reporting to have asthma, seasonal/perennial rhinitis, and eczema together. In subjects reporting no sign or symptom at all, the prevalence of sensitization was 19%. Seasonal rhinitis was the strongest single predictor for sensitization with the highest proportion of sensitized participants in all symptom combinations (67%–100%), followed by perennial rhinitis (31%–100%), asthma (30%–100%), and eczema (18%–100%). Conclusion Rhinitis most often is associated with allergen sensitization, and the probability of sensitization is substantially enhanced by co-occurrence of asthma. A careful assessment of clinical signs and symptoms is important and enables the selection of patients in whom targeted diagnostic analysis and therapy is appropriate. Trial registration: retrospectively registered by the Cantonal Ethics Committee Zurich on 22.01.2016; Nr: 08-2016.


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