Response to an emerging vector-borne disease: Surveillance and preparedness for Schmallenberg virus

Surveillance for new emerging animal diseases from a European perspective is complicated by the non-harmonised approach across Member States for data capture, recording livestock populations and case definitions. In the summer of 2011, a new vector-borne Orthobunyavirus emerged in Northern Europe and for the first time, a coordinated approach to horizon scanning, risk communication, data and diagnostic test sharing allowed EU Member States to develop early predictions of the disease, its impact and risk management options. There are many different systems in place across the EU for syndromic and scanning surveillance and the differences in these systems have presented epidemiologists and risk assessors with concerns about their combined use in early identification of an emerging disease. The emergence of a new disease always will raise challenging issues around lack of capability and lack of knowledge; however, Schmallenberg virus (SBV) gave veterinary authorities an additional complex problem: the infection caused few clinical signs in adult animals, with no indication of the possible source and little evidence about its spread or means of transmission. This paper documents the different systems in place in some of the countries (Germany and the Netherlands) which detected disease initially and predicted its spread (to the UK) and how information sharing helped to inform early warning and risk assessment for Member States. Microarray technology was used to identify SBV as a new pathogen and data from the automated cattle milking systems coupled with farmer-derived data on reporting non-specific clinical signs gave the first indications of a widespread issue while the UK used meteorological modelling to map disease incursion. The coordinating role of both EFSA and the European Commission were vital as are the opportunities presented by web-based publishing for disseminating information to industry and the public. The future of detecting emerging disease looks more positive in the light of this combined approach in the EU.     

Review of Influenza A Virus in Swine Worldwide: A Call for Increased Surveillance and Research

Pigs and humans have shared influenza A viruses (IAV) since at least 1918, and many interspecies transmission events have been documented since that time. However, despite this interplay, relatively little is known regarding IAV circulating in swine around the world compared with the avian and human knowledge base. This gap in knowledge impedes our understanding of how viruses adapted to swine or man impacts the ecology and evolution of IAV as a whole and the true impact of swine IAV on human health. The pandemic H1N1 that emerged in 2009 underscored the need for greater surveillance and sharing of data on IAV in swine. In this paper, we review the current state of IAV in swine around the world, highlight the collaboration between international organizations and a network of laboratories engaged in human and animal IAV surveillance and research, and emphasize the need to increase information in high‐priority regions. The need for global integration and rapid sharing of data and resources to fight IAV in swine and other animal species is apparent, but this effort requires grassroots support from governments, practicing veterinarians and the swine industry and, ultimately, requires significant increases in funding and infrastructure.     

2016—2020年可克达拉市牛口蹄疫免疫抗体监测分析

[目的]为科学评估牛口蹄疫免效果,及时有效开展疫情预警预报,制定有针对性防控策略.[方法]第四师畜牧兽医工作站对2016—2020年集中免疫后牛口蹄疫免疫血清抗体检测数据进行整理分析.[结果]共检测牛O型口蹄疫免疫血清样品6797份,合格6334份,平均合格率93.19％;牛A型口蹄疫免疫血清样品5997份,合格550...     

猪瘟免疫监测中微量间接炭凝与间接血凝的对比试验

猪瘟是一种常见病、多发病,临床发病较多,检测抗体仍然是实验室中常用的检测方法。为了验证微量间接炭凝集试验在监测猪抗体水平上的作用,我们进行了微量间接炭凝和间接血凝的对比试验。本试验采用炭凝抗原与血凝抗原,在U型板上检测待检血清。通过对比发现,微量间接炭凝集试验与在实践上推广应用的间接血凝有类似的效果,而微量间接炭凝集试验的抗原制作成本低廉,可以长期保存,经验证后有望在基层推广应用。     

鸡大肠杆菌改良微量凝集试验抗原的制备及试验条件优化

本研究对微量凝集试验进行了改良,改进了抗原的制备方法,优选了检测鸡血清中大肠杆菌抗体的微量凝集试验的条件,经方阵试验,抗原最适浓度为70亿/ml,反应最适温度为37℃,最适反应时间为4～5h.结果表明改良后的微量凝集试验具有良好的敏感性和特异性,阳性结果和凝集图案清晰,易于观察.本试验具有敏感、特异、快速、简便、定性又定量的特点,便于推广应用.     

Detection by real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC), ELISA,and IHC of chronic wasting disease prion in lymph nodes from Pennsylvania white-tailed deer with specific PRNP genotypes

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion-mediated, transmissible disease of cervids, including deer (Odocoileus spp.), which is characterized by spongiform encephalopathy and death of the prion-infected animals. Official surveillance in the United States using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and ELISA entails the laborious collection of lymphoid and/or brainstem tissue after death. New, highly sensitive prion detection methods, such as real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC), have shown promise in detecting abnormal prions from both antemortem and postmortem specimens. We compared RT-QuIC with ELISA and IHC for CWD detection utilizing deer retropharyngeal lymph node (RLN) tissues in a diagnostic laboratory setting. The RLNs were collected postmortem from hunter-harvested animals. RT-QuIC showed 100% sensitivity and specificity for 50 deer RLN (35 positive by both IHC and ELISA, 15 negative) included in our study. All deer were also genotyped for PRNP polymorphism. Most deer were homozygous at codons 95, 96, 116, and 226 (QQ/GG/AA/QQ genotype, with frequency 0.86), which are the codons implicated in disease susceptibility. Heterozygosity was noticed in Pennsylvania deer, albeit at a very low frequency, for codons 95GS (0.06) and 96QH (0.08), but deer with these genotypes were still found to be CWD prion-infected.     

A novel use of social media to evaluate the occurrence of skin lesions affecting wild dusky grouper,Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834), in Libyan coastal waters

The social media network Facebook^? was used to gather information on the occurrence and geographical distribution of dusky grouper dermatitis, a skin lesion affecting the dusky grouper, Epinephelus marginatus. Dusky grouper are common targets for spear fishermen in the Mediterranean and by monitoring spearfishing activity in Libyan waters, it was possible to document skin lesions from their entries on Facebook. Thirty‐two Facebook accounts and 8 Facebook groups posting from 23 Libyan coastal cities provided a retrospective observational data set comprising a total of 382 images of dusky grouper caught by spearfishing between December 2011 and December 2015. Skin lesions were observable on 57/362 fish, for which images were of sufficient quality for analysis, giving a minimal prevalence for lesions of 15.75%. Only dusky grouper exceeding an estimated 40 cm total length exhibited lesions. The ability to collect useful data about the occurrence and geographical distribution of pathological conditions affecting wild fish using social media networks demonstrates their potential utility as a tool to support epidemiological studies and monitor the health of populations of aquatic animals. To our knowledge, this represents the first time that such an approach has been applied for assessing health in a wild population of fish.     

栗子坪自然保护区野生动物疫源疫病监测工作现状及发展对策研究

四川栗子坪保护区国家级陆生野生动物疫源疫病监测站是2018年新增的监测站点,为加快监测站职能建设,对监测站疫源疫病监测工作现状及存在问题进行分析,提出成立专门机构、整合现有资源、加强日常巡护的快速建设建议以及完善基础设施建设、开展疫病本底调查、培训监测队伍的长期建设的发展建议,期望对新增疫源疫病监测站的发展和建设提供参考。     

Surveillance and invasive risk of the red imported fire ant,Solenopsis invicta Buren in China

The cover image is based on the Research Article Surveillance and invasive risk of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren in China by Xiaoliang Wang et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.7297 .