Experimental and natural infection with the enzootic leukosis virus of cattle

A trial was performed with heifers at the age of six to seven months. The animals were experimentally infected with the lymphocytes of a virus-productive donor. Infection was produced in all the nine cases, as demonstrated by means of the positive syncytial test. As indicated by the results of the trial, the antibodies to the enzootic bovine leucosis virus (BLV) were produced soon after experimental infection. A high sensitivity of the serum-neutralization test and the ELISA method was demonstrated in this connection: by these methods, the antibodies were identified already two to three weeks after experimental infection whereas by the immunodiffusion test they could be detected only after five weeks. Twenty-four animals were exposed to natural contact infection. Within 270 days of the trial, the disease after contact was recorded only in one heifer out of the four that were in close contact with the experimentally infected animals. In this case, as compared with experimental infection, the antibodies were produced much later--after 85 to 93 days. Leucosis was recorded in none of the remaining animals. The reasons why such a favourable result was obtained were the thorough disinfection of the stables after blood collections and the strict observance of the aseptic conditions. The results of experimental infection in three cows were identical with those obtained in young cattle. In the experimentally infected dairy cows, antibodies in milk were determined by the ELISA method. As found, in milk the antibodies to BLV appear two to three weeks later than they do in serum. The ELISA method of BLV antibody detection can be used for the identification of infected animals in herds where enzootic bovine leucosis occurs.     

Über die Ausbreitung und Bekämpfung der Kräuselkrankheit des Weines (Akarinose) in Österreich

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Zur Behandlung und Wuchsleistung der Kiefer

European Journal of Forest Research - Anhand yon Wuchsmodellen wird die Bestandesentwicktung der Kiefer bei unterschied-licher Begrüindungsdichte und Bestandesbehandlung dargestellt. Neben...     

Simulation of climate-change scenarios to explain Usutu-virus dynamics in Austria

The emergence and spread of infectious diseases in mid-latitudes, so far mainly observed in the tropics, considerably increase under the current situation of climate change. A recent example is the Usutu virus (USUV) outbreak in Austria. USUV is closely related to the West Nile virus in the U.S. and caused mass mortalities mainly of blackbirds (Turdus merula). The USUV flavivirus persists in a natural transmission cycle between vectors (mosquitoes) and host reservoirs (birds) and leads - once endemic in a population - to periodic outbreaks. In an epidemic model to explain the USUV dynamics in Austria 2001-2005, USUV dynamics were mainly determined by an interaction of bird immunity and environmental temperature. To investigate future scenarios, we entered temperature predictions from five global climate models into the USUV model and also considered four different climate-warming scenarios defined by the I ntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC (20 different model-scenario combinations). We downscaled the 20 time series of predicted temperatures (through the year 2100) to represent the region around Vienna. Our simulations predict that USUV will persist in the host population after the epidemic peak observed in 2003. USUV-specific annual blackbird-mortality time series predict that the outbreak frequency increases successively from the beginning to the end of the century. Simulations of worst-case scenarios result in an endemic equilibrium with a decline of the blackbird population of about 24%. Additionally we calculated the annually averaged basic reproduction number for the period 1901-2100. The latter depict that undetected major outbreaks before 2000 were unlikely, whereas it is likely that the USUV becomes endemic after 2040.     

Death of a horse infected experimentally with Anaplasma phagocytophilum

A 19-year-old horse that was one of a group of six horses infected experimentally with Anaplasma phagocytophilum for a study of the pathogenesis of equine granulocytic ehrlichiosis died suddenly two days after first showing clinical signs of disease. The clinical signs and laboratory findings observed before its death were similar to all those of the other infected horses, and to previous reports of this disease. A postmortem examination revealed widespread haemorrhaging in its internal organs, and vasculitis and thrombosis in the kidneys. These changes are consistent with disseminated intravascular coagulation, which has previously been reported in human beings infected with the presumably identical agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis.