鸡传染性喉气管炎病毒(ILTV)WG株ICP4基因的鉴定及其在潜伏位点的表达

根据传染性喉气管炎病毒(In fectious Laryngotracheitis V irus,ILTV)SA-2株ICP4基因序列设计并合成3对引物,以ILTV中国王岗株(W G)株DNA为模板扩增ICP4基因,并对其进行了序列测定。将ILTV W G株的ICP4基因及其推导的氨基酸序列分别与ILTV SA-2株、BHV-1、EHV-1、EHV-4、MDV-1、MDV-2、HVT、PRV、VZV、HSV-1和HSV-2的ICP4基因及其推导的氨基酸序列比较后发现,ILTV毒株之间ICP4基因相对保守,核苷酸和氨基酸水平的同源性分别为99.7%和99.1%,但与其他α-疱疹病毒的ICP4基因的同源性则较低,低于3.0%。对潜伏感染鸡三叉神经节中病毒基因的检测显示,在人工感染ILTV W G株后第10~60 d内均能检测到低水平的ICP4特异RNA,而gB、gC、TK则未能检出。鉴于目前国内外对α-疱疹病毒潜伏感染相关基因以及ICP4基因序列和结构功能的研究,ILTV W G株ICP4基因的克隆和序列测定,以及病毒基因在潜伏感染鸡三叉神经节中的差异表达,为进一步研究ICP4基因的功能及确定潜伏感染相关基因奠定了基础。     

A prospective epidemiological,clinical, and clinicopathologic study of feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus infection in 435 cats from Greece

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are retroviruses causing significant morbidity and mortality in cats. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical and clinicopathologic aspects of FeLV and FIV infections in different populations of cats in Greece, including client-owned cats, stray cats and cats who live in catteries.A total of 435 cats were prospectively enrolled. Serological detection of FeLV antigen and FIV antibody was performed using a commercial in-house ELISA test kit.The results showed that 17 (3.9 %) and 40 (9.2 %) of the 435 cats were positive for FeLV antigen and FIV antibody, respectively, whereas 5 (1.1 %) had concurrent infection with FeLV and FIV. Factors that were associated with FeLV antigenemia, based on multivariate analysis, included vomiting, rhinitis, infection with FIV, neutropenia, decreased blood urea nitrogen and increased serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. Factors associated with FIV seropositivity included male gender, older age, outdoor access, weight loss, fever, gingivostomatitis, skin lesions and/or pruritus and hyperglobulinemia.Various clinical signs and laboratory abnormalities were found to be significantly associated with retroviral infections, suggesting that current guidelines to test all sick cats should be followed, taking into particular consideration the high-risk groups of cats found in this study.     

Diagnosis, treatment, control, and prevention of infections caused by Rhodococcus equi in foals

Rhodococcus equi, a gram-positive facultative intracellular pathogen, is one of the most common causes of pneumonia in foals. Although R. equi can be cultured from the environment of virtually all horse farms, the clinical disease in foals is endemic at some farms, sporadic at others, and unrecognized at many. On farms where the disease is endemic, costs associated with morbidity and mortality attributable to R. equi may be very high. The purpose of this consensus statement is to provide recommendations regarding the diagnosis, treatment, control, and prevention of infections caused by R. equi in foals.     

Validation of betapropiolactone (BPL) as an inactivant for infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus

Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus causes vulvovaginitis, abortion and respiratory disease in cows and heifers. Betapropiolactone (BPL) is a disinfectant, effective against bacteria, fungi and viruses. It is also used to prepare inactivated vaccines because it destroys the nucleic acid core of viruses but does not damage the capsid. For the validation of BPL when used as an inactivant, it is more important to assure the quality of inactivating agent and the validity of the inactivation process. In the present study, the inactivation kinetics of IBR virus was determined with different concentration of BPL (1:250, 1:500, 1:1000, 1:1500, 1:2000 and 1:2500) at 4 and 37 °C. The result indicated that the BPL at 4 °C was able to inactivate the IBR virus within 4, 5 and 12 h with the concentration of 1:250, 1:500 and 1:1000, respectively. BPL at 37 °C was able to inactivate virus within 30 min with the concentration of 1:250. BPL with the concentration of 1:500 and 1:1000 were able to inactivate the virus within 120 min at 37 °C. Based on the kinetic study seven formulations were prepared and a sero conversion study of IBR inactivated vaccine was carried out. Serological response in animals to different formulations did not differ significantly (P > 0.05).     

Explaining Usutu virus dynamics in Austria: model development and calibration

Usutu virus (USUV), a flavivirus of the Japanese encephalitis virus complex, was for the first time detected outside Africa in the region around Vienna (Austria) in 2001 by Weissenb?ck et al. [Weissenb?ck, H., Kolodziejek, J., Url, A., Lussy, H., Rebel-Bauder, B., Nowotny, N., 2002. Emergence of Usutu virus, an African mosquito-borne flavivirus of the Japanese encephalitis virus group, central Europe. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 8, 652-656]. USUV is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) circulating between arthropod vectors (mainly mosquitoes of the Culex pipiens complex) and avian amplification hosts. Infections of mammalian hosts or humans, as observed for the related West Nile virus (WNV), are rare. However, USUV infection leads to a high mortality in birds, especially blackbirds (Turdus merula), and has similar dynamics with the WNV in North America, which, amongst others, caused mortality in American robins (Turdus migratorius). We hypothesized that the transmission of USUV is determined by an interaction of developing proportion of the avian hosts immune and climatic factors affecting the mosquito population. This mechanism is implemented into the present model that simulates the seasonal cycles of mosquito and bird populations as well as USUV cross-infections. Observed monthly climate data are specified for the temperature-dependent development rates of the mosquitoes as well as the temperature-dependent extrinsic-incubation period. Our model reproduced the observed number of dead birds in Austria between 2001 and 2005, including the peaks in the relevant years. The high number of USUV cases in 2003 seems to be a response to the early beginning of the extraordinary hot summer in that year. The predictions indicate that >70% of the bird population acquired immunity, but also that the percentage would drop rapidly within only a couple of years. We estimated annually averaged basic reproduction numbers between R (0)=0.54 (2004) and 1.35 (2003). Finally, extrapolation from our model suggests that only 0.2% of the blackbirds killed by USUV were detected by the Austrian USUV monitoring program [Chvala, S., Bakonyi, T., Bukovsky, C., Meister, T., Brugger, K., Rubel, F., Nowotny, N., Weissenb?ck, H., 2007. Monitoring of Usutu virus activity and spread by using dead bird surveillance in Austria, 2003-2005. Vet. Microbiol. 122, 237-245]. These results suggest that the model presented is able to quantitatively describe the process of USUV dynamics.     

低聚异麦芽糖对IBD中等毒力疫苗免疫增强作用的研究

选用两种在山东省普遍使用的中等毒力IBD疫苗,将试验分成12组,分别在12日龄和19日龄两次免疫商品鸡,同时在10日龄时用低聚异麦芽糖饮水,连用7d,二免后13d人工接种vvIBDV,连续观察14d。根据血清学检测指标、囊指数、BBIX值、病理组织学检查、临床保护率和病理保护率结果,都充分表明低聚异麦芽糖对传染性法氏囊病中等毒力疫苗具有显著的免疫增强作用,而且对提高法氏囊等免疫器官的保护作用及疫苗对其损伤后的修复作用也有显著效果。     

IBDV中国超强毒株Harbin-1基因组B节段的克隆和序列分析

给SPF鸡人工接种鸡传染性法氏囊冱病毒中国超强毒株Harbin-1，用LiCl分级沉淀方法从法氏囊组织纯化病毒基因组dsRNA，通过RT－PCR分两段扩增获得B节段的cDNA片段Ph12与pb34。将pb12与pb34分别克隆到pGEM-T载体上测序，然后进行序列分析，对各毒株VP1序旬进行同源性分析而得出的系统树表明Harbin-1与超强毒株IL3、HK46、UK661和OKYM之间的亲缘关系较其它毒株更近，但强弱毒株之间没有明显的界限，在Harbin-1 B节段序列中没有发现上述超强毒株所独有的7个氨基酸。