Molecular diagnosis and characterisation of orf virus in symptomatic goats in coast and Dar es salaam regions, Tanzania

Orf virus (ORFV) is a member of the parapoxvirus genus that causes orf, a zoonotic and epitheliotropic highly contagious disease mainly affecting sheep, goats, wild ruminants and humans. In the present study, an outbreak of a disease in goats with clinical signs suggestive of orf in 11 flocks with a total of 259 goats was investigated between May and June 2015. Eight villages in districts of Bagamoyo (2), Ilala (1), Kinondoni (1) and Kisarawe (4) in Coast and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania were involved. The aim of the present study was to confirm ORFV involvement in diseased goats and to provide the genetic characteristics of ORFV. Upon visiting of goat flocks, a total of 72 goats presented orf-like clinical signs and 24 were reported to have died with similar clinical presentation. The presence of ORFV in oral swabs, scabs and skin scrapings was investigated by partial amplification of the ORFV RNA polymerase gene using Orf1 and Orf2 primers by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A total of 16 out of 22 goats tested positive for ORFV upon PCR. Afterwards, molecular characterisation of ORFV was performed by amplification and nucleotide sequencing of the B2L gene encoding the major envelope protein. The results of nucleotide sequencing showed that orf was caused by closely related ORFV belonging to cluster I. ORFV were found to be genetically closely related to OV-SA00 (Accession number AY386264) strain of ORFV isolated in 2003 from scab material of a kid in United States of America and ORFV collected from a goat in Kyela, Tanzania in 2013. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the phylogenetic analysis of B2L gene of ORFV from goats in Tanzania. More studies are required to determine the extent of spread and genetic diversity of ORFV in livestock, wildlife and humans.Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH

Molecular diagnosis and characterisation of orf virus in symptomatic goats in coast and Dar es salaam regions, Tanzania

Orf virus (ORFV) is a member of the parapoxvirus genus that causes orf, a zoonotic and epitheliotropic highly contagious disease mainly affecting sheep, goats, wild ruminants and humans. In the present study, an outbreak of a disease in goats with clinical signs suggestive of orf in 11 flocks with a total of 259 goats was investigated between May and June 2015. Eight villages in districts of Bagamoyo (2), Ilala (1), Kinondoni (1) and Kisarawe (4) in Coast and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania were involved. The aim of the present study was to confirm ORFV involvement in diseased goats and to provide the genetic characteristics of ORFV. Upon visiting of goat flocks, a total of 72 goats presented orf-like clinical signs and 24 were reported to have died with similar clinical presentation. The presence of ORFV in oral swabs, scabs and skin scrapings was investigated by partial amplification of the ORFV RNA polymerase gene using Orf1 and Orf2 primers by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A total of 16 out of 22 goats tested positive for ORFV upon PCR. Afterwards, molecular characterisation of ORFV was performed by amplification and nucleotide sequencing of the B2L gene encoding the major envelope protein. The results of nucleotide sequencing showed that orf was caused by closely related ORFV belonging to cluster I. ORFV were found to be genetically closely related to OV-SA00 (Accession number AY386264) strain of ORFV isolated in 2003 from scab material of a kid in United States of America and ORFV collected from a goat in Kyela, Tanzania in 2013. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the phylogenetic analysis of B2L gene of ORFV from goats in Tanzania. More studies are required to determine the extent of spread and genetic diversity of ORFV in livestock, wildlife and humans.Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH

Dual scaling of sorting data, effects of limiting categorization on quantification results

grantor: University of TorontoIn this study, our purpose is to investigate the effects of controlling stimulus sorting task on quantification results by the dual scaling (DS) method, and whether such effects, if any, may be related to the level of education of the subjects. The sample size for this study was a total of 194 subjects. Out of this total, 69 subjects were asked to sort 52 animal names freely, 73 subjects were instructed to sort them into four piles, and the remaining 52 subjects sorted these animal names into seven piles. Each group consisted of subjects sampled from three levels of education, namely, elementary school, secondary school and university. These data sets were first analyzed separately by the ordinary DS to determine the animal weights and subject-total correlations, among other quantification measures. Results of the animal configurations, in a multidimensional space, show that foraging and predatory characteristics, habitation, and the body size and shape were among the dominant zoological classificatory criteria used. Any significant differences in the categorization of the animals among the subjects was first, due to the type of sorting the participants were engaged and second, due to their education level. Qualitative analysis shows that the university group used advanced scientific terminologies to describe their categories, especially under the free sorting situation, whereas the elementary school group provided descriptions that were more general. In the second set of analysis, an ideal subject was augmented to the data sets and then, forced classification analysis (FCA) of DS was carried out. The subject-criterion correlations derived by FCA were then subjected to multivariate analysis of variance. On the whole, the results show that the number of dimensions can be reduced from eight to three linear discriminant functions that accounted for most of the variability in the data structure. These functions are interpreted as showing the classification of primates, carnivores, herbivores and "the whale" category". In comparison to the ideal classification scheme, we found that those participants who were at the university level and were left to freely sort the animal names to be closest to the ideal sorter. More importantly, this study shows that where the correct categorization scheme is known, FCA is an interesting way to evaluate the accuracy of the subjects from different groups. The study also outlines a number of topics for further research, like the need for further triangulation of evidence through a multi-sort method.Ph.D

A Phylogeographic Analysis of Porcine Parvovirus 1 in Africa

Porcine parvovirus 1 (PPV1) is recognized as a major cause of reproductive failure in pigs, leading to several clinical outcomes globally known as SMEDI. Despite being known since the late 1960s its circulation is still of relevance to swine producers. Additionally, the emergence of variants such as the virulent 27a strain, for which lower protection induced by vaccines has been demonstrated, is of increasing concern. Even though constant monitoring of PPV1 using molecular epidemiological approaches is of pivotal importance, viral sequence data are scarce especially in low-income countries. To fill this gap, a collection of 71 partial VP2 sequences originating from eight African countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania) during the period 2011–2021 were analyzed within the context of global PPV1 variability. The observed pattern largely reflected what has been observed in high-income regions, i.e., 27a-like strains were more frequently detected than less virulent NADL-8-like strains. A phylogeographic analysis supported this observation, highlighting that the African scenario has been largely shaped by multiple PPV1 importation events from other continents, especially Europe and Asia. The existence of such an international movement coupled with the circulation of potential vaccine-escape variants requires the careful evaluation of the control strategies to prevent new strain introduction and persistence