Paratuberculosis, a notifiable disease in Austria--current status, compulsory measures and first experiences

Paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) is one of the most important diseases in ruminants today. Its contribution is worldwide and the disease is causing severe financial losses among cattle producers in some countries [Hasanova, L., Pavlik, I., 2006. Economic impact of paratuberculosis in dairy cattle herds: a review. Vet. Med.-Czech. 51, 193–211]. Paratuberculosis is untreatable; diagnosis limited to the early stages of the infection and control of the disease is difficult. The prevalence of serologically positive Austrian cattle farms rose significantly to 19.0% during the past years [Baumgartner, W., Damoser, J., Khol, J.L., 2005. Comparison of two studies concerning the prevalence of bovine paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) in Austrian cattle in the years 1995–1997 and 2002/2003 (Article in German with extended English summary). Vet. Med. Austria/Wien. Tierärztl. Mschr. 92, 274–277]. Based on these findings clinical paratuberculosis in ruminants was declared a notifiable disease in Austria in April 2006.

A survey of the current situation in Austria, the most important parts of the new compulsory measures and their practical implementation and impacts are presented in this short communication.     

Use of Akaike information criteria for model selection and inference. An application to assess prevention of gastrointestinal parasitism and respiratory mortality of Guinean goats in Kolda,Senegal

A field experiment was carried out in Kolda (southern Senegal) from July 1986 to July 1988. Its goals were to: (1) describe the patterns of mortality of female Guinean goats by age, season and year; (2) assess preventive measures against respiratory diseases and gastrointestinal parasitism in reducing mortality; and (3) estimate the overall impact of these measures on survival to 1 year of age. Preventive measures for respiratory disease included vaccination against peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and pneumonic pasteurellosis (Pasteurella multocida types A and D). Control of gastrointestinal parasites was by deworming does with morantel (7.5 mg kg⁻¹, three times during the rainy season). The effects of vaccines and deworming were tested in a randomised factorial field experiment with villages being the experimental units. A total of 19 villages, 113 goat herds and 1458 goats were included in the study.

Generalised linear models of survival for five cohorts of goats (defined by five different birth seasons) used a binomial assumption for the response distribution and a complementary log–log link. Explanatory variables included age, season, year, vaccination, deworming and their interactions. A complex a priori model was built on the basis of previous epidemiological knowledge; a purposively selected set of simpler models was compared to this full model by the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and derived statistics. Inference on 1-year survival and treatment effects accounted for model-selection uncertainty. It was carried out with a bootstrap procedure and used information from the whole set of selected models.

Large variations in mortality by year and season were observed but no regular seasonal pattern was apparent. Mortality probabilities of kids in dewormed groups decreased quickly after birth, but remained elevated up to 9 months of age in the non-dewormed groups. Deworming lowered the risk of mortality. Vaccination alone was not protective (except during an observed outbreak of PPR).     

Methods to determine resistance to anthelmintics when continuing larval development occurs

The in vivo faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) is the most commonly used test to detect anthelmintic resistance (AR) in gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) of ruminants in pasture based systems. However, there are several variations on the method, some more appropriate than others in specific circumstances. While in some cases labour and time can be saved by just collecting post-drench faecal worm egg counts (FEC) of treatment groups with controls, or pre- and post-drench FEC of a treatment group with no controls, there are circumstances when pre- and post-drench FEC of an untreated control group as well as from the treatment groups are necessary. Computer simulation techniques were used to determine the most appropriate of several methods for calculating AR when there is continuing larval development during the testing period, as often occurs when anthelmintic treatments against genera of GIN with high biotic potential or high re-infection rates, such as Haemonchus contortus of sheep and Cooperia punctata of cattle, are less than 100% efficacious. Three field FECRT experimental designs were investigated: (I) post-drench FEC of treatment and controls groups, (II) pre- and post-drench FEC of a treatment group only and (III) pre- and post-drench FEC of treatment and control groups.To investigate the performance of methods of indicating AR for each of these designs, simulated animal FEC were generated from negative binominal distributions with subsequent sampling from the binomial distributions to account for drench effect, with varying parameters for worm burden, larval development and drench resistance. Calculations of percent reductions and confidence limits were based on those of the Standing Committee for Agriculture (SCA) guidelines. For the two field methods with pre-drench FEC, confidence limits were also determined from cumulative inverse Beta distributions of FEC, for eggs per gram (epg) and the number of eggs counted at detection levels of 50 and 25. Two rules for determining AR: (1) %reduction (%R) < 95% and lower confidence limit <90%; and (2) upper confidence limit <95%, were also assessed. For each combination of worm burden, larval development and drench resistance parameters, 1000 simulations were run to determine the number of times the theoretical percent reduction fell within the estimated confidence limits and the number of times resistance would have been declared.When continuing larval development occurs during the testing period of the FECRT, the simulations showed AR should be calculated from pre- and post-drench worm egg counts of an untreated control group as well as from the treatment group. If the widely used resistance rule 1 is used to assess resistance, rule 2 should also be applied, especially when %R is in the range 90 to 95% and resistance is suspected.     

新疆小反刍兽疫疫情诊断

2013年12月新疆伊犁州霍城县发生不明山羊疫情,根据临床症状和剖检变化怀疑为小反刍兽疫感染。对3只病死山羊病料、8只患病山羊分泌物棉拭子样品和6只患病山羊血清样品分别进行病原学和血清学检测。利用竞争ELISA试剂盒对6份血清样本进行抗体检测,结果全部为阳性。利用抗原捕获ELISA试剂盒,在11只病羊样品中都检测到小反刍兽疫抗原。利用能特异性检测小反刍兽疫病毒的荧光定量RT-PCR方法,在11只病羊样品中检测到小反刍兽疫病毒核酸。利用特异引物进行PPRV N基因片段RT-PCR反应,从11只病羊样品中检测到PPRV核酸。针对2号样本病原核酸N基因和F基因片段进行序列同源性比较,结果该毒株与西藏流行株序列片段相似性分别为96.5%和97.5%。遗传进化分析,该病原属于谱系4,与巴基斯坦等国流行毒株遗传关系最近。     

Swine fever. Immunisation of piglets

Vaccination against Swine Fever using the CL Chinese strain can be done in 7-day-old piglets if they are born of non-immune sows. The simultaneous weaning and vaccination emphasises the safety of this strain. The excellent immunity observed confirms the immunocompetence of 7-day-old piglets. In piglets born of immune sows and also weaned at 7 days, passive protection can extend beyond the age of 2 months if the sow is vaccinated several months prior to gestation. The immune level of the piglets would seem to depend on the interval between vaccination of the sow and farrowing and can be attributed to the quality of the antibodies transmitted by the colostrum. Piglets born of sows vaccinated 10 months prior to farrowing can be vaccinated as early as 5 weeks; the protection percentage observed at the age of about 6 months is over 80%. A booster injection at this age then confers immunity to future breeders throughout their economic life, i.e. 4 years in the reported experiment.     

Comparative nucleotide sequence analysis of the phosphoprotein gene of peste des petits ruminants vaccine virus of Indian origin

The nucleotide sequences of the phosphoprotein (P) gene of peste des petits ruminants (PPRV) vaccine virus (PPRV Sungri/96) belongs to Asian lineage have been determined and the deduced amino acid sequences were compared with another vaccine strain PPRV/Nigeria75/1 and with those of the other morbilliviruses. The 1652 nucleotides of the P gene encode a phosphoprotein of 509 amino acid residues (from nucleotide numbers 60 to 1587), which is 91% identical to that of PPRV/Nigeria75/1. The C protein consists of 177 amino acid residues and is 91% identical with that of PPRV/Nigeria75/1. The conserved mRNA editing site (5'TTAAAAGGGCACAG) was present at positions 742-756 in the P gene, which is conserved in all other morbilliviruses. The CTT trinucleotide sequence is present at the N/P and P/M intergenic region, which is totally conserved in morbilliviruses. This will be the third sequence for the P gene of PPRV since that of the vaccine strain and a wild-type Turkish isolate has been published already.     

World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (W.A.A.V.P.) guidelines for evaluating the efficacy of ectoparasiticides against biting and nuisance flies on ruminants

These guidelines have been prepared to assist in the planning, conduct and interpretation of studies for the assessment of the efficacy of ectoparasiticides (excluding repellents) against the biting and nuisance dipteran flies of ruminants. Information is provided on the selection of animals, dose determination and dose confirmation studies, field studies, record keeping and result interpretation. These guidelines advocate the use of pen facilities for dose determination and dose confirmation studies. These guidelines also are intended to assist investigators on how to conduct specific studies, to provide specific information for registration authorities involved in the decision-making process, to assist in the approval and registration of new ectoparasiticides, and to facilitate the worldwide adoption of standard procedures.     

小反刍兽疫疫苗毒株与强毒株的鉴别性荧光RT-PCR检测方法的建立

对GenBank已公布的小反刍兽疫病毒N基因序列进行分析,设计引物与探针,建立PPRV通用型与Ⅱ系疫苗毒特异型二重实时荧光RT-PCR方法,同时建立针对PPRVIV系强毒株的特异型荧光PCR方法。特异性试验和灵敏度试验表明：建立的二重荧光RT-PCR方法可特异性检测PPRV病毒,其HEX信号通道（通用型）和TAMRA信号通道（Ⅱ系疫苗毒特异型）的检测灵敏度分别可达10^1 TCID50/mL和10^2 TCID50／mL,完全满足PPRV的检测要求。用二重荧光RT-PCR方法对西藏采集的14份羊血清样品进行检测,并用建立的Ⅳ系强毒株特异型荧光PCR方法对二重荧光RT-PCR的检测效果进行评估,结果显示,该方法可有效甄别PPRV强毒株和疫苗毒株,避免假阳性结果的出现。     

小反刍兽疫病毒H、F基因转基因苜蓿表达载体的构建

为了有效预防小反刍兽疫,试验以pBI121为载体,PPRV-H、PPRV-F为目的基因,并插入绿色荧光蛋白(GFP)基因、MAR序列,构建5种小反刍兽疫病毒(PPRV)苜蓿表达载体。结果表明:成功构建小反刍兽疫表达载体,再将表达载体转入苜蓿,饲喂动物,选择其中免疫效果最好的表达载体,为该病的预防工作提供有效的技术支持。     

小反刍兽疫疫苗毒与野毒实时荧光RT—PCR鉴别检测方法的建立

为了建立鉴别检测小反刍兽疫疫苗毒与野毒的快速分子生物学检测方法,通过对自行测序的疫苗毒基因组序列及GenBank中登录的野毒基因组序列进行比对分析,设计了2套引物和TaqMan荧光探针,对实时荧光RT-PCR反应条件进行优化,建立了小反刍兽疫疫苗毒与野毒实时荧光RT-PCR鉴别检测方法。特异性试验证实,该检测方法只能检测到目的病毒核酸,表明其具有良好的特异性。灵敏性试验发现,检测疫苗株的最低检测限可达1．38mg／L的总RNA,检测野毒株的最低检测限为0．16mg／L的核酸。对同一样品进行重复性检测,检测的荧光扩增曲线阈值完全重舍,证明其重复性极好。从180份临床样品中,检测出2份疫苗病毒株阳性样品,其余均为阴性。结果表明,本研究所建立的实时荧光RT-PCR方法能对小反刍兽疫疫苗毒及野毒进行鉴别检测,具有特异性好、灵敏度高、重复性极好的优点,是开展小反刍兽疫疫情监测的有力工具。