Aedes aegypti female mosquitoes are capable of the mechanical transmission of lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) from infected to susceptible cattle. Mosquitoes that had fed upon lesions of ...LSDV-infected cattle were able to transmit virus to susceptible cattle over a period of 2–6 days post-infective feeding. Virus was isolated from the recipient animals in 5 out of 7 cases. The clinical disease recorded in the animals exposed to infected mosquitoes was generally of a mild nature, with only one case being moderate. LSDV has long been suspected to be insect transmitted, but these findings are the first to demonstrate this unequivocally, and they suggest that mosquito species are competent vectors.
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) in cattle is usually clinically obvious in the unvaccinated herds of countries in which the disease occurs only occasionally. However, in vaccinated herds and in some ...breeds indigenous to areas in which FMD is endemic, the disease may circulate undetected.
Background:
Although enteral nutrition is a recognized form of treatment for intestinal Crohn’s disease, there are persisting problems with feed palatability and only limited data as to its mode of ...action.
Aim:
To assess the effects of a specific oral polymeric diet (CT3211; Nestle, Vevey, Switzerland), which is rich in transforming growth factor β2, on the mucosal inflammatory process.
Methods:
Twenty‐nine consecutive children with active intestinal Crohn’s disease were treated with CT3211 as the sole source of nutrition for 8 weeks. Patients were assessed clinically, and endoscopically, whilst cytokine mRNA was measured in mucosal biopsies before and after treatment by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
Results:
After 8 weeks 79% of children were in complete clinical remission. Macroscopic and histological healing in the terminal ileum and colon was associated with a decline in ileal and colonic interleukin‐1β mRNA (pre‐treatment to post‐treatment ratio 0.008 and 0.06: P < 0.001, P = 0.006). In the ileum there was also a fall in interferon γ mRNA (ratio 0.15, P < 0.001) with a rise in transforming growth factor β1 mRNA (ratio 10, P = 0.04), whilst in the colon interleukin‐8 mRNA fell with treatment (ratio 0.06, P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
The clinical response to oral polymeric diet CT3211 is associated with mucosal healing and a down regulation of mucosal pro‐inflammatory cytokine mRNA in both the terminal ileum and colon. In the ileum there was also an increase in transforming growth factor β1 mRNA.
Influenza A strains emerging from wild birds are a constant threat to South Africa's valuable ostrich industry. In 2004 and again in 2006, low pathogenicity avian influenza H5N2 strains introduced ...from a wild bird reservoir mutated in ostriches to high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI), with serious economic consequences and export bans imposed by the European Union. Although no outbreaks of notifiable avian influenza have occurred in South Africa since 2006, the H9N2 virus caused a localized outbreak where ostriches displayed symptoms of green urine, depression, and mild morbidity. Most recently, an outbreak of H10N7 in farmed Pekin ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domestica) caused increased mortalities, but this was exacerbated by a secondary Escherichia coli infection, because an intravenous pathogenicity index of 0.00 was recorded. Each of the eight gene segments of the five strains isolated from 2007 to 2009 from farmed ostriches in the Oudtshoorn region (H6N8, H9N2), Pekin ducks (H10N7, Joostenburgvlakte region), and wild Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegypticus; H1N8, Baberspan wetlands; H4N2, Oudtshoorn region) were sequenced, genetically analyzed, and compared to previous South African isolates and viruses in the public data banks. An H5N8 strain was also detected by reverse-transcription PCR in cloacal swabs from swift terns (Sterna bergii) in the Mosselbaai region during 2007, although a virus could not be isolated. Initial phylogenetic results indicate that H6N8 and H9N2 ostrich and H10N7 Pekin duck viruses originated in the wild bird population that is geographically dispersed throughout southern Africa, based on the reassortment of viral genes from birds sampled outside of the ostrich farming areas. No evidence of internal genes associated with Asian HPAI H5N1 strains were detected in the South African isolates.
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) in adult sheep and goats is frequently mild or unapparent, but can cause high mortality in young animals. The recent outbreak of FMD in the United Kingdom has highlighted ...the importance of sheep in the epidemiology of the disease, although there have been numerous examples in the past where small ruminants have been responsible for the introduction of FMD into previously disease-free countries. The difficulty in making a clinical diagnosis should encourage the development of more rapid screening tests to assist in future control programmes.
. The mosquitoes Anopheles stephensi Liston and Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae), the stable fly Stomoxys calcitrans Linnaeus (Diptera: Muscidae) and the biting midge Culicoides ...nubeculosus Meigen (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) were allowed to feed on either lumpy skin disease (LSD) infected animals or through a membrane on a bloodmeal containing lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). These arthropods were then allowed to refeed on susceptible cattle at various intervals after the infective feed. Virus was detected in the insects by polymerase chain reaction immediately after feeding and at sufficiently high titre to enable transmission to occur. However, no transmission of virus from infected to susceptible animals by An. stephensi, S. calcitrans, C. nubeculosus and Cx. quinquefasciatus was observed.
Capripoxviruses are the cause of sheeppox, goatpox and lumpy skin disease (LSD) of cattle. These diseases are of great economic significance to farmers in regions in which they are endemic and are a ...major constraint to international trade in livestock and their products. Although the distribution of capripoxviruses is considerably reduced from what it was even 50 years ago, they are now expanding their territory, with recent outbreaks of sheeppox or goatpox in Vietnam, Mongolia and Greece, and outbreaks of LSD in Ethiopia, Egypt and Israel. Increased legal and illegal trade in live animals provides the potential for further spread, with, for instance, the possibility of LSD becoming firmly established in Asia. This review briefly summarizes what is known about capripoxviruses, including their impact on livestock production, their geographic range, host-specificity, clinical disease, transmission and genomics, and considers current developments in diagnostic tests and vaccines. Capripoxviruses have the potential to become emerging disease threats because of global climate change and changes in patterns of trade in animals and animal products. They also could be used as economic bioterrorism agents.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has increased in significance as a major constraint to international trade in live animals and animal products as the World Trade Organization agreements remove other ...obstructions. A consequence will be reluctance to immediately declare the presence of FMD if it is thought possible to quickly eliminate its presence and so avoid trade embargoes. This will predispose to spread of disease between trading partners. In addition, as countries tend to increase the requirements for testing and certification of imported animals with the objective of reducing the risk of importing disease, the increased costs and delays that this involves will encourage the illegal trade and therefore have the converse result.
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