scholarly journals Seroprevalences of Newly Discovered Porcine Pestiviruses in German Pig Farms

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelitsch ◽  
Dalmann ◽  
Wernike ◽  
Reimann ◽  
Beer
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
State Level ◽  
Test System ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Diarrhea Virus ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
Pig Farms ◽  
Chimeric Construct

Several novel porcine pestiviruses that are linked to disease outbreaks in commercial pig farms were discovered during recent years. Bungowannah pestivirus (BuPV; new species Pestivirus F) causes sudden death in young pigs, but has only ever been isolated in the Australian region Bungowannah. Atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV; new species Pestivirus K) on the other hand has been found in multiple countries worldwide and is potentially linked to congenital tremor, a disease that causes considerable production problems in pig farms. To assess the seroprevalences of both viruses in German commercial farms during the years 2009/10 and 2018, two approaches were selected. Antibodies against Pestivirus F were detected by a traditional in-house indirect immunofluorescence test against the culture-grown virus isolate, while for the detection of Pestivirus K-specific antibodies, a newly developed test system utilizing a chimeric construct of bovine viral diarrhea virus 1 (BVDV1; species Pestivirus A) containing the E1 and E2 encoding sequences of APPV was established. A total of 1115 samples originating from 122 farms located in seven German federal states were investigated. Antibodies against Bungowannah virus could not be detected, confirming the absence of this virus in other regions than the initially affected Australian pig farm complex. In contrast, antibodies against APPV were highly prevalent throughout Germany at both investigated time points. The seroprevalence at the state level fluctuated to some degree, but the overall percentage remained stable, as is to be expected for an endemic pestivirus lacking any form of control measures.

scholarly journals Two consecutive large outbreaks of Salmonella Muenchen linked to pig farming in Germany, 2013 to 2014: Is something missing in our regulatory framework?

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anika Schielke ◽  
Wolfgang Rabsch ◽  
Rita Prager ◽  
Sandra Simon ◽  
Angelika Fruth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Back Analysis ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Trace Back ◽  
Pig Farms ◽  
Pork Sausages

In 2013, raw pork was the suspected vehicle of a large outbreak (n = 203 cases) of Salmonella Muenchen in the German federal state of Saxony. In 2014, we investigated an outbreak (n = 247 cases) caused by the same serovar affecting Saxony and three further federal states in the eastern part of Germany. Evidence from epidemiological, microbiological and trace-back investigations strongly implicated different raw pork products as outbreak vehicles. Trace-back analysis of S. Muenchen-contaminated raw pork sausages narrowed the possible source down to 54 pig farms, and S. Muenchen was detected in three of them, which traded animals with each other. One of these farms had already been the suspected source of the 2013 outbreak. S. Muenchen isolates from stool of patients in 2013 and 2014 as well as from food and environmental surface swabs of the three pig farms shared indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns. Our results indicate a common source of both outbreaks in the primary production of pigs. Current European regulations do not make provisions for Salmonella control measures on pig farms that have been involved in human disease outbreaks. In order to prevent future outbreaks, legislators should consider tightening regulations for Salmonella control in causative primary production settings.

scholarly journals Declining regional disparities in mortality in the context of persisting large inequalities in economic conditions: the case of Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 486-496
Author(s):  
Alyson A van Raalte ◽  
Sebastian Klüsener ◽  
Anna Oksuzyan ◽  
Pavel Grigoriev
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
State Level ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
German State ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
Regional Mortality ◽  
East West ◽  
Economic Inequalities

Abstract Background Subnational regional mortality inequalities are large and appear to be mostly increasing within industrialized countries, although comparative studies across high-income countries are scarce. Germany is an important country to examine because it continues to experience considerable economic disparities between its federal states, in part resulting from its former division. Methods We analyse state-level mortality in Germany utilizing data from a newly constructed regional database based on the methodology of the Human Mortality Database. We compare time trends (1991–2015) in the German state-level standard deviation in life expectancy to that of other large, wealthy countries and examine the association between mortality and economic inequalities at the regional level. Finally, using contour-decomposition methods, we investigate the degree to which age patterns of mortality are converging across German federal states. Results Regional inequalities in life expectancy in Germany are comparatively low internationally, particularly among women, despite high state-level inequalities in economic conditions. These low regional mortality inequalities emerged 5–10 years after reunification. Mortality is converging over most ages between the longest- and shortest-living German state populations and across the former East–West political border, with the exception of an emerging East–West divergence in mortality among working-aged men. Conclusions The German example shows that large regional economic inequalities are not necessarily paralleled with large regional mortality disparities. Future research should investigate the factors that fostered the emergence of this unusual pattern in Germany.

Die Nichterfüllung der Beschäftigungspflichtquote schwerbehinderter Menschen – Eine empirische Untersuchung möglicher Ursachen auf Ebene der deutschen Bundesländer

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 973-998
Author(s):  
Melanie Borah ◽  
Kathrin Hahn ◽  
Andreas Knabe
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
Disabled Persons ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Employment Rate ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Empirische Untersuchung ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Statistische Analyse ◽  
German Federal States

Zusammenfassung Diese Studie untersucht Faktoren, die die teilweise starken Unterschiede in der Beschäftigungsquote Schwerbehinderter zwischen den deutschen Bundesländern im Zeitraum von 2003 bis 2015 erklären können. Sie legt dabei besonderen Wert auf die Situation in Sachsen-Anhalt, das in diesem Zeitraum die deutschlandweit niedrigste Beschäftigungsquote aufweist. Die multivariate statistische Analyse liefert Hinweise darauf, dass der Erfüllungsgrad der Beschäftigungspflichtquote nach § 154 SGB IX in stärkerem Ausmaß von soziodemografischen als von ökonomischen Strukturmerkmalen der Länder bestimmt wird. Als Hauptdeterminante tritt in dem hier spezifizierten Modell der Anteil der (registrierten) Schwerbehinderten an der Gesamtbevölkerung hervor. Abstract: Non-Compliance With The Compulsory Employment Quota Of Severely Disabled People – An Empirical Investigation Of Potential Causes At The German Federal State Level This paper examines factors that can explain substantial differences in the employment rate of severely disabled people between the German federal states from 2003 to 2015. It puts special emphasis on the situation in Saxony-Anhalt, which had the lowest employment rate of disabled persons nationwide during this time. The multivariate statistical analysis provides evidence that the degree of compliance with the compulsory employment quote is determined by socio-demographic rather than economic characteristics of the states. Within the specified model, the main determinant of the employment rate appears to be the share of (registered) severely disabled people in the population.

Education of Refugee Adolescents at the End of Secondary School: The Role of Educational Policies, Individual and Family Resources

Soziale Welt ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 160-200
Author(s):  
Gisela Will ◽  
Christoph Homuth
Keyword(s):  
Educational System ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
State Level ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Lower Grade ◽  
Ethnic Inequality ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States

In the recent wave of refugee immigration to Germany, many children and adolescents were among the migrants. Their integration into the German educational system will be a major challenge for the years and decades to come. The paper’s aim is to examine both general and refugee-specific mechanisms that likely explain ethnic and social inequality in education among refugee adolescents. The study is based on ReGES (Refugees in the German Educational System) data collected in five German federal states. Our results show that refugee adolescents attend lower grade levels and lower school types than the general pupil population in Germany. We further posit that established mechanisms to explain social and ethnic inequality are also applicable to refugee adolescents. Among refugee-specific aspects, we identify factors at the federal state level that influence the school placement of young refugees. Furthermore, at the individual level, post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with differences in educational achievement among refugee students.

scholarly journals Global Distribution and Genetic Heterogeneity of Border Disease Virus

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 950
Author(s):  
Cecilia Righi ◽  
Stefano Petrini ◽  
Ilaria Pierini ◽  
Monica Giammarioli ◽  
Gian Mario De Mia
Keyword(s):  
Disease Virus ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Interspecies Transmission ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Border Disease Virus ◽  
Diarrhea Virus ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Border Disease

Border disease virus (BDV) belongs to the genus Pestivirus of the family Flaviviridae. Interspecies transmission of BDV between sheep, cattle, and pigs occurs regularly, sometimes making diagnosis a challenge. BDV can yield substantial economic losses, including prenatal and postnatal infections in lambs, which are the primary source of infection and maintenance of the virus in the population. Since BDV is antigenically and genetically related to bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), it might pose a significant risk to cattle, influencing BVDV eradication campaigns. Similarly, the presence of BDV in swine herds due to pestivirus spillover between small ruminants and pigs might cause uncertainty in classical swine fever virus (CSFV) diagnostics. Therefore, knowledge of BDV epidemiology in different geographical regions will help prevent its spread and optimize control measures. Previous epidemiological studies have shown that various BDV genotypes are predominant in different countries. This review provides an overview of the spread of BDV world-wide in different host species.

scholarly journals Kleinstaaterei im Dienstrecht der deutschen Bundesländer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolai Dose ◽  
Felix Wolfes ◽  
Carolin Burmester
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Human Resource Managers ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
German Federal States

With the federalism reform of 2006, the German federal states gained legislative power over their civil servants. This did not only lead to a substantial difference in pay levels but also to fragmented civil service regulations with different degrees of attractiveness. Requests to move to another state have created various problems in the different areas of the civil service. They are partly caused by the fragmented regulations and partly by an informal agreement between the states. By making use of an online survey among human resource managers in the different areas of public administration and 32 case studies of civil servants who either aspire to move to or have moved to another state, this book systematically identifies and analyses civil servants’ motivations for and hindrances to doing so. In this way, it reveals both obstructive and conducive factors which explain mobility. Moreover, the authors put forward some reform proposals.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Nipah epidemic containment and multisectoral involvement in Kerala using an appropriate management framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 2813
Author(s):  
Asma A. Rahim ◽  
Sujina C. Muthukutty ◽  
Sabitha R. Jacob ◽  
Rini Ravindran ◽  
Jayakrishnan Thayyil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Personnel ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Nipah Virus ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Outbreak Response ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
The Government

Kozhikode district of North Kerala, India witnessed an outbreak of Nipah virus (NiV) in the month of May 2018. Two adjacent districts were affected leaving 17 patients dead out of the 19 confirmed. United Nations and WHO lauded the expeditious response of the state’s health system in the diagnosis and containment of the outbreak which was unprecedented. The authors being in the contact tracing and surveillance operation district team, had kept a record of timeline of events and actions at the state level, compiled the news clippings and tracked events. In the absence of an end‑of‑epidemic report for reference, these records served as a valuable tool for the present review. We used the Management science for health frame work tool (MSH framework) to evaluate the district and state coordinated actions which helped in curbing the outbreak. Though NiV outbreak in South India (2018) had similar epidemiological features to previous disease outbreaks, it stands out as the one to be detected and contained in a short span of time. As health personnel working in the government medical college of an affected district and directly involved in contact tracing operations and containment measures, exploring and sharing, what worked and how, in the context of multidisciplinary response and recovery attempts of the outbreak in the state may be beneficial to public health personnel and policy makers. This management framework may be replicated in the national and international context, particularly in South East Asian region under threat of emerging viral infections like COVID-19, lacking specific epidemic management frameworks for outbreak response and containment.

scholarly journals Regional differences in reasons for consultation and general practitioners’ spectrum of services in Northern Germany – Results of a cross-sectional observational study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingmar Schäfer ◽  
Heike Hansen ◽  
Thomas Ruppel ◽  
Dagmar Lühmann ◽  
Hans-Otto Wagner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Observational Study ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Practice Trial ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Individual Consultation

Abstract Background Among other factors, the patients’ consultation reasons and GPs’ spectrum of services determine the process and outcome of the medical treatment. So far, however, there has been little information on differences in reasons for consultation and GPs’ services between urban and rural areas. Our study’s goal was thus to investigate these factors in relation to the regional location of GPs’ practices. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional observational study based on standardised GP interviews in a quota sampling design. All counties and independent cities within a radius of 120 km around Hamburg were divided into three regional categories (urban area, environs, rural area) and stratified proportionally to the population size. Differences in the number of reasons for consultation and services were analysed by multivariate linear regressions in mixed models adjusted for random effects on the levels of the German federal states and administrative districts. Differences in individual consultation reasons and services were identified by logistic regression via stepwise forward and backward selection. Results Primary care practices in 34 of the 37 selected administrative districts (91.9%) were represented in the dataset. In total, 211 GPs were personally interviewed. On average, GPs saw 344 patients per month with a slightly higher number of patients in rural areas. They reported 59.1 ± 15.4 different reasons for consultation and 30.3 + 3.9 different services. There was no statistically significant regional variation in the number of different consultation reasons, but there was a broader service spectrum by rural GPs (ß=-1.42; 95% confidence interval -2.75/-0.08; p=0.038) which was statistically explained by a higher level of medical training. Additionally, there were differences in the frequency of individual consultation reasons and services between rural and urban areas. Conclusion GPs in rural areas performed more frequently services usually provided by medical specialists in urban areas. This might be caused by a low availability of specialists in rural areas. The association between medical training and service spectrum might imply that GPs compensate the specific needs of their patients by completing advanced medical training before or after setting up a medical practice. Trial registration The study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02558322).

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