Dynamics of Neospora caninum-Associated Abortions in A Dairy Sheep Flock and Results of a Test-and-Cull Control Programme

Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan parasite that can cause abortions and perinatal mortality in sheep. Although ovine neosporosis has been described worldwide, there is a lack of information about the relationship between N. caninum serostatus and the reproductive performance. In this study, we described the infection dynamics in a dairy sheep flock with an abortion rate up to 25% and a N. caninum seroprevalence of 32%. Abortions were recorded in 36% and 9% of seropositive and seronegative sheep, respectively. Seropositive sheep were more likely to abort twice (OR = 4.44) or three or more times (OR = 10.13) than seronegative sheep. Endogenous transplacental transmission was the main route of transmission since 86% of seropositive sheep had seropositive offspring. Within dams that had any abortion, seropositive sheep were more likely than seronegative ones to have female descendants that aborted (OR = 8.12). The slight increase in seropositivity with the age, the low percentage of animals with postnatal seroconversion or with low avidity antibodies, and the seropositivity of one flock dog, indicated that horizontal transmission might have some relevance in this flock. A control programme based on selective culling of seropositive sheep and replacement with seronegative animals was effective in reducing the abortion rate to 7.2%.

Download Full-text

Application of the Neospora Caninum IgG Avidity ELISA in Assessment of Chronic Reproductive Losses after an Outbreak of Neosporosis in a Herd of Beef Cattle

Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation ◽

10.1177/104063870301500102 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 3-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Camilla Björkman ◽

Milton M. McAllister ◽

Jenny Frössling ◽

Katarina Näslund ◽

Felicia Leung ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Source ◽

Pregnancy Rate ◽

Vertical Transmission ◽

Neospora Caninum ◽

Horizontal Transmission ◽

Beef Cows ◽

Abortion Rate ◽

Reproductive Effects ◽

Igg Avidity ◽

Beef Herd

Point-source infections are most likely the cause for Neospora caninum–induced abortion outbreaks in cattle, whereas an increased annual abortion rate may be a consequence of vertical transmission. The aims of the present study were to examine the reproductive effects of neosporosis in a beef herd for 3 years, after a point-source outbreak and to use IgG avidity serology to examine the chronicity of infections and patterns of transmission. During the study, 76–78% of animals were seropositive for N. caninum. The pregnancy rate varied from 88% to 94%, without any reduction in the pregnancy rate of seropositive cows compared with seronegative cows. The annual abortion rate was 2.5–5.5%, and all but 1 abortion occurred in seropositive dams. The efficiency of vertical transmission was estimated to be 85%. Several calves, born to seronegative dams, were seropositive at 6–13 months of age, indicating a 22% mean annual rate of horizontal transmission. The mean avidity in seropositive cows increased from 30 during the initial outbreak to 74 after 3 years. The mode of IgG avidity was 21–40 during the initial abortion outbreak, 41–60 after 1 year, and 61–80 after 2 and 3 years. The results reveal high annual rates of both vertical and horizontal transmission of N. caninum in a herd of beef cows and provide further validation on the ability of the N. caninum IgG avidity ELISA to accurately assess the chronicity of infection.

Download Full-text

Prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis in pre-school aged children: a pilot survey in Marolambo District, Madagascar

Infectious Diseases of Poverty ◽

10.1186/s40249-021-00871-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Caitlin Sheehy ◽

Heather Lawson ◽

Emmanuel H. Andriamasy ◽

Hannah J. Russell ◽

Alice Reid ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Epidemiological Survey ◽

Control Programme ◽

School Aged Children ◽

Regression Modelling ◽

Intestinal Schistosomiasis ◽

The Relationship ◽

Technical Guidance ◽

National Control ◽

Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis ◽

National Control Programme

AbstractSchool-aged children (SAC) have a considerable burden of intestinal schistosomiasis in Madagascar yet its burden in pre-school aged children (PSAC) is currently overlooked. To assess the at-risk status of PSAC, we undertook a pilot epidemiological survey in June 2019 examining children (n = 89), aged 2–4-years of balanced gender, in six remote villages in Marolambo District, Madagascar. Diagnosis included use of urine-circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) dipsticks and coproscopy of stool with duplicate Kato-Katz (K-K) thick smears. Prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis by urine-CCA was 67.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 56.5–77.2%) and 35.0% (95% CI: 24.7–46.5%) by K-K. The relationship between faecal eggs per gram (epg) and urine-CCA G-scores (G1 to G10) was assessed by linear regression modelling, finding for every increment in G-score, epg increased by 20.4 (6.50–34.4, P = 0.006). Observed proportions of faecal epg intensities were light (78.6%), moderate (17.9%) and heavy (3.6%). Soil-transmitted helminthiasis was noted, prevalence of ascariasis was 18.8% and trichuriasis was 33.8% (hookworm was not reported). Co-infection of intestinal schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis occurred in 36.3% of PSAC. These results provide solid evidence highlighting the overlooked burden of intestinal schistosomiasis in PSAC, and they also offer technical guidance for better surveillance data for the Madagascan national control programme.

Download Full-text

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL, INCENTIVES AND AVAILABILITY OF FACILITIES WITH PERFORMANCE OF THE TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL PROGRAMME

Jurnal Berkala Kesehatan ◽

10.20527/jbk.v3i2.5073 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 86

Author(s):

Dian Rosadi ◽

Fauzie Rahman ◽

Sasikarani Sasikarani

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Research ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Control Programme ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Pulmonary Tb ◽

Tuberculosis Control Programme ◽

Work Area ◽

Officer Performance ◽

Cross Sectional Design ◽

The Relationship

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The achievement of Pulmonary TB CDR in the working area of Banjarmasin City Health Office is still 49% in 2015 and increased by 52% in 2016. The low achievement of pulmonary TB CDR in Banjarmasin became a health problem related to the performance of P2TB officers in the Health Service Working Area City of Banjarmasin. This study aims to explain factors related to the performance of Proram Control Officers Tuberculosis in the Work Area of Banjarmasin City Health Office. This research is a quantitative research using cross sectional design. The population is all officers of P2TB in the working area of Banjarmasin City Health Office. The sample taken is a population of 57 people using total sampling technique. The results showed that the availability factor of the facility was related to the performance of the Proram Control Officer Tuberculosis (ρ-value = 0.049). While factors unrelated to officer performance are psychological factor (ρ-value = 1.000) and incentive (ρ-value = 0.260). The Conclusion of this study is the relationship between the availability of facilities with the performance of Proram Control Officers Tuberculosis, but there is no relationship between the psychological and incentives with the Proram Control Officer Tuberculosis in the Work Area of Banjarmasin City Health Office.

Download Full-text

Evaluation of Neospora caninum-Associated Abortion in a Seroepidemiological Study of Cattles Using IFAT Method

International Journal of Medical Parasitology and Epidemiology Sciences ◽

10.34172/ijmpes.2020.03 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 7-10

Author(s):

Seyed Razi Bahavarnia ◽

Pedram Ahli ◽

Arash Rasouli

Keyword(s):

Neospora Caninum ◽

Farming System ◽

Chi Square ◽

Related Risk ◽

Coccidian Parasites ◽

Chi Square Test ◽

Relationship Of ◽

Cattle Farms ◽

The Relationship

Background: Neospora caninum is a cyst forming coccidian parasites and one of the important factors in abortion of cows and neurologic disease in dogs around the world. This study was conducted to investigate the seroprevalence of N. caninum in dairy cows of Tabriz city using immunofluorescence method and related risk factors. Methods: In this study conducted in 2018, 100 samples from industrial cattle farms and 100 samples from traditional cattle farms of Tabriz were randomly collected. By fixing tachyzoites cultured in a culture medium, the kit was prepared in this study and the slides were examined by fluorescence microscopy (Zeiss). The results obtained in relation to the study variables (type of farming system, age, contact with dogs, and abortion history) were analyzed using SPSS software and chi-square test. Results: Neospora caninum antibodies were detected in 33 samples (16.5%). The relationship of positive serums with abortion and contact with dogs was significant statistically (P<0.05). Conclusions: Due to the significant relationship of infection rate in cows with abortion history and contact with dogs, further studies are needed to determine the exact role of Neospora in abortion of cows.

Download Full-text

Eradication of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) in Cattle in Switzerland: Lessons Taught by the Complex Biology of the Virus

Frontiers in Veterinary Science ◽

10.3389/fvets.2021.702730 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Matthias Schweizer ◽

Hanspeter Stalder ◽

Anja Haslebacher ◽

Martin Grisiger ◽

Heinzpeter Schwermer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Horizontal Transmission ◽

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus ◽

Control Programme ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Border Disease Virus ◽

Cattle Population ◽

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea ◽

Main Challenge ◽

Border Disease ◽

Diarrhoea Virus

Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) and related ruminant pestiviruses occur worldwide and cause considerable economic losses in livestock and severely impair animal welfare. Switzerland started a national mandatory control programme in 2008 aiming to eradicate BVD from the Swiss cattle population. The peculiar biology of pestiviruses with the birth of persistently infected (PI) animals upon in utero infection in addition to transient infection of naïve animals requires vertical and horizontal transmission to be taken into account. Initially, every animal was tested for PI within the first year, followed by testing for the presence of virus in all newborn calves for the next four years. Prevalence of calves being born PI thus diminished substantially from around 1.4% to <0.02%, which enabled broad testing for the virus to be abandoned and switching to economically more favourable serological surveillance with vaccination being prohibited. By the end of 2020, more than 99.5% of all cattle farms in Switzerland were free of BVDV but eliminating the last remaining PI animals turned out to be a tougher nut to crack. In this review, we describe the Swiss BVD eradication scheme and the hurdles that were encountered and still remain during the implementation of the programme. The main challenge is to rapidly identify the source of infection in case of a positive result during antibody surveillance, and to efficiently protect the cattle population from re-infection, particularly in light of the endemic presence of the related pestivirus border disease virus (BDV) in sheep. As a consequence of these measures, complete eradication will (hopefully) soon be achieved, and the final step will then be the continuous documentation of freedom of disease.

Download Full-text

The effect of nutrition on fibre characteristics and production in the alpaca

Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s1752756200590978 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 1995 ◽

pp. 101-101

Author(s):

A.J.F. Russel ◽

H. Redden ◽

J.W. Kay

Keyword(s):

Animal Species ◽

Fibre Length ◽

Fibre Production ◽

The Other ◽

South American ◽

Cashmere Goat ◽

Lack Of Information ◽

The Relationship ◽

Positive Effect ◽

Fibre Characteristics

In single-coated animal species selected for fibre production, such as sheep and Angora goats, nutrition is known to have a positive effect on fibre length and diameter, and hence on the weight of fibre produced, while in double-coated species, such as the cashmere goat, the fibre characteristics of the undercoat appear relatively insensitive to nutritional influence. Recent studies on the relationship between nutrition and fibre production in the llama, a double-coated species, indicate that it conforms to the above generalisation in that the growth rate and diameter of its fibre are not amenable to nutritional manipulation (Russel and Redden, 1994). There is a lack of information on the effects of nutrition on fibre characteristics and production in the other domesticated species of South American camelid, the single-coated alpaca. The experiment reported here was designed to provide such information.

Download Full-text

Joint Sentiment Part Topic Regression Model for Multimodal Analysis

Information ◽

10.3390/info11100486 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 486

Author(s):

Mengyao Li ◽

Yonghua Zhu ◽

Wenjing Gao ◽

Meng Cao ◽

Shaoxiu Wang

Keyword(s):

Regression Model ◽

Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽

Automatic Assessment ◽

Complementary Information ◽

Multimodal Analysis ◽

Lack Of Information ◽

Distribution Parameters ◽

Multimodal Sentiment Analysis ◽

The Relationship ◽

Single Modality

The development of multimodal media compensates for the lack of information expression in a single modality and thus gradually becomes the main carrier of sentiment. In this situation, automatic assessment for sentiment information in multimodal contents is of increasing importance for many applications. To achieve this, we propose a joint sentiment part topic regression model (JSP) based on latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), with a sentiment part, which effectively utilizes the complementary information between the modalities and strengthens the relationship between the sentiment layer and multimodal content. Specifically, a linear regression module is developed to share implicit variables between image–text pairs, so that one modality can predict the other. Moreover, a sentiment label layer is added to model the relationship between sentiment distribution parameters and multimodal contents. Experimental results on several datasets verify the feasibility of our proposed approach for multimodal sentiment analysis.

Download Full-text

Staphylococcal intramammary infection dynamics and the relationship with milk quality parameters in dairy goats over the dry period

Journal of Dairy Science ◽

10.3168/jds.2018-16030 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 102 (5) ◽

pp. 4332-4340 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Véronique Bernier Gosselin ◽

Simon Dufour ◽

Michael J. Calcutt ◽

Pamela R.F. Adkins ◽

John R. Middleton

Keyword(s):

Quality Parameters ◽

Milk Quality ◽

Dairy Goats ◽

Dry Period ◽

Intramammary Infection ◽

Infection Dynamics ◽

The Relationship

Download Full-text

Ecological correlates of pneumonia epizootics in bighorn sheep herds

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z01-103 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 79 (8) ◽

pp. 1423-1432 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Ryan J Monello ◽

Dennis L Murray ◽

E Frances Cassirer

Keyword(s):

Horizontal Transmission ◽

Bighorn Sheep ◽

Ovis Canadensis ◽

Domestic Sheep ◽

Population Declines ◽

Density Dependent ◽

Temperature Regimes ◽

Reservoir Hosts ◽

The Relationship ◽

Population Numbers

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) populations commonly experience pneumonia outbreaks caused by Pasteurella spp. that result in a partial or complete dieoff. Although several factors can contribute to Pasteurella spp. transmission or infectivity in bighorn sheep, to date the importance of such factors in population declines has not been rigorously examined. We evaluated the relationship between pneumonia-induced dieoffs in bighorn sheep and environmental and biological factors by analyzing demographic information for 99 herds across the species' geographic range. Our analysis revealed that 88% of pneumonia-induced dieoffs occurred at or within 3 years of peak population numbers, which implies that density-dependent forces such as food shortage or stress contribute to bighorns' susceptibility to pneumonia. There were few differences in the growth rates of dieoff and non-dieoff populations, suggesting that pneumonia did not manifest itself demographically prior to an outbreak. On average, abundance of lambs was most dramatically reduced post outbreak (66%) relative to that of either rams (35%) or ewes (42%). Deviations in normal precipitation and temperature regimes were not associated with the onset of pneumonia outbreaks, but herds found in proximity to domestic sheep tended to be more susceptible to dieoff. Our results suggest that bighorn sheep herds are rendered vulnerable to pneumonia principally through density-dependent factors, as well as through horizontal transmission of Pasteurella spp. from domestic sheep serving as reservoir hosts.

Download Full-text

Seroprevalence and risk factors for Neospora caninum infection in dogs in rural northeastern mainland China

Parasite ◽

10.1051/parasite/2019034 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xiang Gao ◽

Hongbin Wang

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Neospora Caninum ◽

High Reliability ◽

Horizontal Transmission ◽

Mainland China ◽

Antibody Test ◽

Caninum Infection ◽

Study Region ◽

Hunting Dogs ◽

Cattle Farms

Although Neospora caninum is an important veterinary pathogen, veterinarians in various areas including in Mainland China lack a full understanding of neosporosis distribution in dog populations. This study aims to determine the emergence of anti-N. caninum antibodies in canine populations classified based on breeders, herdsmen, and huntsmen in northeast mainland China. In addition, the risk factors associated with seropositivity were explored. An indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) was performed on canine serum to determine seroprevalence. Logistic regression models were used to collect and analyze individual and management data, in order to determine high-reliability predictors of seroprevalence as well as the level of anti-N. caninum antibodies. Among the 476 dogs tested, 95 (20%) were seropositive. Mixed breed (OR 1.53), former strays (OR 1.38), dogs living on cattle farms (OR 2.30), hunting dogs (OR 1.22) as well as raw meat feeding (OR 1.66) were correlated (p < 0.05) with N. caninum infection. Interestingly, the seropositivity of dogs on cattle farms was higher (28%) than that of those (24.8%) living in breeding facilities (p < 0.05). A large number of seropositive dogs were found on cattle farms in the study region, suggesting horizontal transmission between dogs and cattle. Therefore, this source of infection should be studied further, and should be a strong consideration in differential diagnoses of dogs raised on cattle farms.

Download Full-text