Swine influenza surveillance in East and Southeast Asia: a systematic review

East and Southeast Asia are important pig- and poultry-producing areas, where the majority of production takes place on small-scale farms with low biosecurity levels. This systematic review synthesizes data on swine influenza virology, serology and epidemiology in East and Southeast Asia. A total of 77 research articles, literature reviews and conference papers were selected and analyzed from 510 references retrieved from PubMed and ISI Web of KnowledgeSM. The number of published articles increased in the last 3 years, which may be attributed to improvement in monitoring and/or a better promotion of surveillance data. Nevertheless, large inequalities in surveillance and research among countries are underlined. Virological results represent the largest part of published data, while the serological and epidemiological features of swine influenza in East and Southeast Asia remain poorly described. The literature shows that there have been several emergences of swine influenza in the region, and also considerable evidence of multiple introductions of North American and avian-like European strains. Furthermore, several avian-origin strains are isolated from pigs, including H5 and H9 subtypes. However, their low seroprevalence in swine also shows that pigs remain poorly infected by these subtypes. We conclude that sero-epidemioligical investigations have been neglected, and that they may help to improve virological surveillance. Inter- and intra-continental surveillance of gene flows will benefit the region. Greater investment is needed in swine influenza surveillance, to improve our knowledge of circulating strains as well as the epidemiology and disease burden in the region.     

Syringohydromyelia in horses: 3 cases

Syringomyelia and hydromyelia are cavitary lesions of the spinal cord that may be acquired or congenital. These lesions are not frequently reported in large animal species. The presenting complaints, clinical, gross pathological, and histopathologic findings of 2 cases of syringomyelia and 1 case of hydromyelia in horses are described.     

Effect of information provisioning on attitude toward surgical castration of male piglets and alternative strategies for avoiding boar taint

Pork consumers know little about boar taint and the methods used to avoid it. As such, relevant information is necessary to assist consumers to judge the acceptability of different strategies to avoid boar taint. The effect of basic (T1) or extensive (T2) written information or T2 with supplementary audio–visual information (AV) on the opinion concerning immunocastration (IC), raising entire male pigs (EM) and surgical castration with anaesthesia (SA) as compared to castration without anaesthesia (SC) was investigated in a student population. Overall, IC was significantly preferred over SC. The information condition influenced the preference for IC and EM as compared to SC. Participants exposed to AV were more positive to IC than participants exposed to T1 and T2, and more positive to EM than participants exposed to T2. The impact of information condition was not affected by gender, farming experience, knowledge about the boar taint issue or personal relevance of pig welfare. Potential effects of providing background information and media campaigns on public surveys ought to be considered. Supplementary audio–visual information increased the impact of information provisioning.     

Effect of hydrogen cyanamide,mineral oil and thidiazuron in combination with tip pruning on bud break,shoot growth and yield in ‘Bourjasotte Noire’, ‘Col de Damme Noire’ and ‘Noire de Caromb’ figs

Commercial fig production is relatively new to the Mediterranean-type climate Western Cape Province of South Africa. A lack of lateral branch development impedes tree structure development and therefore adequate yields of quality fruit. The chemical rest breaking agents, Lift^® (thidiazuron 3 g L⁻¹) at 6%, Dormex^® (hydrogen cyanamide, 520 g L⁻¹) at 4%, mineral oil at 4% and a combination of mineral oil and Dormex^® at 2% each were evaluated in a split plot design in combination with tip-pruning vs. no-pruning to overcome apical dominance and increase complexity (Experiment 1). During the 2008/2009 season, an additional investigation was conducted to evaluate the use of thidiazuron and hydrogen cyanamide for harvest scheduling (Experiment 2). Dormex^® at 3% and Lift^® at 6%, were applied to dormant trees on 30 June 2008, 3 August 2008, 15 August 2008 or 30 August 2008. In general, Lift^® can be used to increase the number of buds breaking in ‘Bourjasotte Noire’ and ‘Col de Damme Noire’, while tip pruning decreased bud break with a resultant increase in shoot length. Dormex^® and oil combined decreased bud break in these two cultivars but was effective on ‘Noire de Caromb’. Where bud break was increased the resultant N + 1 shoot length was decreased. RBAs increased the number of fruit in both the breba and main crop of ‘Noire de Caromb’, but decreased fruit size of the breba crop. Our data are not conclusive as to what the reason for low lateral bud break might be but leans towards strong AD in seasons with 400 Utah CU or more, but might include some delayed foliation response in seasons with less than 200 Utah CH.     

Dynamics of degradation of high-quality tropical forage according to levels of nitrogen supplementation

Tropical Animal Health and Production - The present study aimed to evaluate the degradation dynamics of high-quality tropical forage according to the levels of nitrogen supplementation. In this...     

Molecular detection of Coxiella burnetii in raw meat intended for pet consumption

The discovery of antibodies against Coxiella burnetii in cattery‐confined breeding cats indicating prior or current exposure (Shapiro et al., 2015) prompted an investigation into possible sources of infection. One hypothesis was that raw meat diets containing reservoir species may provide a source of C. burnetii transmission. The aim of this pilot study was to determine whether C. burnetii DNA was present in raw meat sold exclusively for companion animal consumption. The sample population consisted of raw meat packages (n = 58) of primarily kangaroo origin, with three to four aliquots (50–120 mg) randomly selected from each package. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole tissue in each of these aliquots using a modified protocol. Three quantitative PCR assays were used for the detection of C. burnetii targeting the IS1111 gene, the heat shock operon htpAB and the C. burnetii outer membrane protein‐coding gene, com1. Coxiella burnetii DNA was detected in 25/58 samples (43%) using the IS1111, htpAB and/or com1 PCR assays and confirmed by DNA sequencing. All samples amplifying a product in the com1 assay also amplified a product in the htpAB and IS1111 assays. A total of 17/58 (29%) packets were positive with all three genes, 4/58 (7%) were positive with two genes (IS1111 and htpAB) and 4/58 (7%) were positive with the IS1111 gene only. Coxiella burnetii DNA was five times more likely to be found in offal than skeletal muscle meat samples. All meat samples in which C. burnetii DNA was found were from kangaroo tissues, while samples labelled as non‐kangaroo meat (n = 4) were negative. Multi‐locus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) identified three different genotypes of C. burnetii that have all been identified previously from Australian human clinical Q fever cases. Further investigations are required to determine the potential role of certain raw meats in the transmission of C. burnetii to cats and humans.