Detection and characterization of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in captive non-domestic mammals

Shiga toxin producing-Escherichia coli (STEC) is an important emerging pathogen, and ruminants are recognized as their main natural reservoir. The aim of this work was to establish the frequency of STEC in non-domestic mammals of the Zoo and Botanical Garden of La Plata City, Argentina, and to pheno-genotypically characterize STEC isolates. By polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Shiga toxin (stx) gene sequences were detected in 50.8% of 65 fecal samples. Twenty-five STEC strains were isolated from 38.5% of the Zoo's animals. Ten species of order Cetartiodactyla and one species of order Rodentia were recognized as new STEC carriers. STEC strains belonged to 7 different serotypes including new serotypes O12:H25 and O13:H6. Serotype O146:H28, previously associated with human infections, represented 24% of STEC isolates. The most frequent Shiga toxin identified were type 1c and type 2c. Nineteen strains were positive for iha gene, 8 strains were positive for ehxA gene. Moreover, all strains were positive for lpfAO113 and negative for rfbO157, eae, saa, lpfAO157/OI-141, lpfAO157/OI-154, efa1, and toxB genes. Results obtained by XbaI-pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (XbaI-PFGE) confirmed the transmission of STEC strains among different animal species and suborders. In addition, we observed a potential association between STEC-harboring animal and factors such as belonging to order Cetartiodactyla, living in a pit, and belonging to a non-autochthonous species. This is the first work developed with zoological mammals and STEC in Argentina.     

免疫增强剂党参对仿刺参肠道菌群结构的影响

采用平板计数法和聚合酶链式反应( PCR)-变性梯度凝胶电泳( DGGE)技术分析免疫增强剂党参对仿刺参( Apostichopus japonicas)肠道菌群结构的影响。将初始体重为(18.00±2.00) g的仿刺参随机分为2组(对照组、试验组),每组6个重复,每个重复12只。对照组投喂海泥、鼠尾藻粉按照1∶1的质量比配制的饵料,试验组饵料中以鼠尾藻粉质量的2%添加党参,连续投喂28 d。结果表明：应用免疫增强剂党参不仅能够显著提高仿刺参的特定生长率( P<0.05),降低其饵料系数(P<0.05),而且能够显著增加仿刺参肠道内容物中异养菌的数量(P<0.05);序列统计分析显示投喂党参后仿刺参肠道细菌优质序列比例显著增加( P<0.05),试验组达97.57%,对照组仅为80.22%;Beta多样性分析反映投喂党参后仿刺参肠道微生态环境发生了变化,其多样性系数范围在14.91%~15.47%、15.47%~16.21%、14.91%~16.21%;丰度分析显示投喂党参后仿刺参肠道内容物中变形菌门( Proteobacteria)和拟杆菌门( Bacteroidetes)丰度提高,疣微菌门( Verrucomicrobia)、放线菌门( Actinobacteria)和厚壁菌门( Firmiaites)丰度降低;聚类分析显示试验组与对照组肠道菌群结构相似性系数为0.97。由此可见,免疫增强剂党参可提高仿刺参的特定生长率,降低饵料系数,增加肠道异养菌数量和优势菌群丰度,优化肠道微生态环境。     

在“同一个健康”框架下,加强兽医与人医合作,有效监测和应对人畜共患病和新发传染病

新发传染病主要是人畜共患病,是世界经济和公共健康的沉重负担。这就要求加强检测、鉴别和监视传染病的能力方面投入。高致病禽流感H5N1、新甲型流感("猪流感")H1N1、非典型性肺炎、西尼罗河病毒、地方流行性狂犬病、布鲁氏菌病以及发展中国家暴发的其它人畜共患病及近期猪抗甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌,是人类、动物及其环境相互作用的典型范例。面临中国动物和人类常见的新发传染病坚持"同一个健康"战略,这就要求业已存在的兽医和人医及公共卫生机构的通力合作。人的疾病控制系统与动物疾病控制系统虽然都已经建立,但人畜共患病的暴发表明兽医机构和人医机构密切合作的重要性。在保证环境健康的同时,通过动物疾病和人类疾病监测系统的密切合作,中国就一定能够控制人畜共患病。以这种方式进行疾病预防、监测与应对,各层面及各动物生产部门间有效的兽医推广是加强和保持健康生态环境中人和动物健康的有效办法。中国还需大量努力才能达到从制度上保证预防和消灭疾病。透明而准确的人与动物疾病监督通常会产生经济且可持续的预防疾病方法。加拿大在兽医、公共健康、食品安全和人畜共患病预防方面所发挥的作用就是与中国农业部合作,促进必要的、可持续的兽医监督网络的建设。     

Rough vaccines in animal brucellosis: structural and genetic basis and present status

Brucellosis control and eradication requires serological tests and vaccines. Effective classical vaccines (S19 in cattle and Rev 1 in small ruminants), however, induce antibodies to the O-polysaccharide of the lipopolysaccharide which may be difficult to distinguish from those resulting from infection and may thus complicate diagnosis. Rough attenuated mutants lack the O-polysaccharide and would solve this problem if eliciting protective immunity; the empirically obtained rough mutants 45/20 and RB51 have been used as vaccines. Strain 45/20 is reportedly unstable and it is not presently used. RB51 is increasingly used instead of S19 in some countries but it is rifampicin resistant and its effectiveness is controversial. Some controlled experiments have found good or absolute protection in adult cattle vaccinated orally (full dose) or subcutaneously (reduced dose) and in one field experiment, RB51 was reported to afford absolute protection to calves and to perform better than S19. Controlled experiments in calves, however, have shown reduced doses of RB51 to be ineffective, full doses only partially effective, and RB51 less effective than S19 against severe challenges. Moreover, other observations suggest that RB51 is ineffective when prevalence is high. RB51 is not useful in sheep and evidence in goats is preliminary and contradictory. Rough mutants obtained by molecular biology methods on the knowledge of the genetics and structure of Brucella lipopolysaccharide may offer alternatives. The B. abortus manBcore (rfbK) mutant seems promising in cattle, and analyses in mice suggest that mutations affecting only the O-polysaccharide result in better vaccines than those affecting both core and O-polysaccharide. Possible uses of rough vaccines also include boosting immunity by revaccination but solid evidence on its effectiveness, safety and practicality is not available.     

The evaluation of fertility characteristics in hens using fluorescence microscopy

A method for the assessment of fertility in domestic hens is described. Vitelline membranes of fertilized eggs were coloured with fluorochrome DAPI, following which the DNA of sperms on these membranes has been examined with the help of fluorescence microscopy. After insemination with frozen semen there exist significant correlations between the number of sperms on the vitelline membranes on the one hand and 1) fertilization rates; 2) the length of fertile periods. Furthermore, it was observed that with higher numbers of sperms on the membranes, the length of the fertile periods tends to be shorter than with smaller numbers of sperm.     

Comparative Characterization of Enzymatic Digestion from Fish and Soybean Meal from Simulated Digestive Process of Pacific Bluefin Tuna,Thunnus orientalis

The digestive process of the Pacific bluefin tuna (PBT), Thunnus orientalis, was simulated through two phases of in vitro digestion: acidic digestion with porcine pepsin, followed by alkaline digestion with pancreatic crude extract (PCE) obtained from the PBT to hydrolyze fish meal (FM) and soybean meal (SBM) as protein substrates. The crude protein from FM resulted in a lower degree of hydrolysis (73.3%) compared with SBM (79.2%). However, the resulting digested products showed that FM contained 35% more small peptides, with sizes <6.5 kDa than those from the starting material (>150 kDa). The SBM had an increase of only 1.3% in the similar peptide cut‐offs found after hydrolysis. These results suggested that FM appeared to be a better source of protein according to the amount of low‐molecular weight peptides. In addition, the proteolytic activity of PCE showed that 88.9% of its alkaline proteolytic activity corresponded to trypsin and 2.9% corresponded to chymotrypsin activity. The results shown here demonstrate that peptide sizes are important in identifying suitable protein sources for aquafeed production to reinforce the primary results obtained from the in vitro digestibility using the pH‐Stat system. These results also contribute to a better understanding of the digestibility process in aquatic organisms.     

Effect of Stocking Density on Growth,Survival, and Condition of the Mexican Cichlid Cichlasoma beani

The Mexican cichlid Cichlasoma beani is currently exploited regionally as food and can be commercialized in the aquarium trade. Natural populations of C. beani may already be negatively affected by anthropogenic alteration of the areas in which it is distributed. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect on growth, survival, and condition of C. beani cultured in three stocking densities: three (D3), six (D6), and nine (D9) fish per each 40 L tank. At the end of a 6‐wk trial the fish cultured in D3 were longer, heavier, and grew faster than the rest of the treatments but their survival was the lowest compared to D6 and D9. The mortalities were caused by a strong aggressive behavior in D3.