Patterns, attitudes and practice of contraceptive use among a group of women in Amman

A study of women of child bearing age, health professionals, school teachers, pharmacists and religious leaders was performed in order to assess attitudes and practices towards contraception. Responses from older women (>30 years old group) were compared with responses from younger women (<30 years old group). Contraceptive techniques, including prolonged breastfeding, were used by 44% and 66% of younger and older women respectively. The IUD was the most popular method in both groups. However, a considerable proportion of women showed very limited knowledge of contraceptive technology. The importance of the views of husbands, religious leaders, school teachers, pharmacists was assessed. Husband's education was a key factor in encouraging the use of contraception (1I TD, withdrawal, but not the contraceptive pill). Women obtained most of their contraceptive knowledge from friends and relations rather than health professionals and school teachers. The implication of these results with reference to changes in future family planning services in Jordan are discussed

The Impact of Resources for Clinical Surveillance on the Control of a Hypothetical Foot-and-Mouth Disease Epidemic in Denmark.

The objectives of this study were to assess whether current surveillance capacity is sufficient to fulfill EU and Danish regulations to control a hypothetical foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in Denmark, and whether enlarging the protection and/or surveillance zones could minimize economic losses. The stochastic spatial simulation model DTU-DADS was further developed to simulate clinical surveillance of herds within the protection and surveillance zones and used to model spread of FMD between herds. A queuing system was included in the model, and based on daily surveillance capacity, which was 450 herds per day, it was decided whether herds appointed for surveillance would be surveyed on the current day or added to the queue. The model was run with a basic scenario representing the EU and Danish regulations, which includes a 3 km protection and 10 km surveillance zone around detected herds. In alternative scenarios, the protection zone was enlarged to 5 km, the surveillance zone was enlarged to 15 or 20 km, or a combined enlargement of the protection and surveillance zones was modelled. Sensitivity analysis included changing surveillance capacity to 200, 350 or 600 herds per day, frequency of repeated visits for herds in overlapping surveillance zones from every 14 days to every 7, 21 and 30 days, and the size of the zones combined with a surveillance capacity increased to 600 herds per day. The results showed that the default surveillance capacity is sufficient to survey herds on time. Extra resources for surveillance did not improve the situation, but fewer resources could result in larger epidemics and costs. Enlarging the protection zone was a better strategy than the basic scenario. Despite that enlarging the surveillance zone might result in shorter epidemic duration, and lower number of affected herds, it resulted frequently in larger economic losses

Evaluating the impact of transmission mode, calibration level and farmer compliance in simulation models of paratuberculosis in dairy herds

AbstractSimulation models can predict the outcome of different strategies for the control and eradication of paratuberculosis (PTB) in dairy herds. Two main transmission modes have previously been used to simulate the spread of PTB: direct (contact between animals) and indirect (through the environment). In addition, previous models were calibrated to either low or high within-herd prevalence levels, which we refer to as normal and low hygiene levels, respectively. We simulated both direct and indirect transmission with the same model in both normal and low hygiene level scenarios. The effectiveness of a test-and-cull strategy was dependent on the calibration level of the simulation model, and eradication occurred less frequently with the more biologically plausible indirect transmission mode. The results were compared to within-herd prevalence records from 314 dairy herds. The prevalence in 50% of the herds varied less than 0.9% per year on average, and less than 4% in 90% of the herds. We therefore conclude that the normal-hygiene scenario best describes most dairy herds in Denmark. Finally, we simulated different levels of farmer compliance with a test-and-cull strategy and found that a 60% compliance level was not sufficient to reach eradication within 10 years.</jats:p

Farm-level risk factors for Fasciola hepatica infection in Danish dairy cattle

Recent studies suggest that liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) infections in cattle have increased in Denmark in recent years. This study aimed to identify potential farm level risk factors for liver fluke infection in Danish dairy farms using two different diagnostic methods. Based on liver condemnation data of all individual cattle slaughtered in Denmark, 145 and 77 farms were selected as cases and matched controls. The selection criteria were; 1) minimum 50 animals were slaughtered in 2013, 2) minimum three cases of liver condemnation due to liver flukes in 2013 (case) / no history of liver condemnation due to liver flukes for the last three years (control), and 3) control farms were located within 10 km from the case farms. Bulk tank milk (BTM) samples from the farms were analysed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and telephone interviews were used to obtain information on the type of production, the farmers’ knowledge about liver fluke infection, grazing pattern, anthelmintic treatments and management routines. Preliminary results based on 132 case and 64 control farms indicate that grazing was significantly associated with liver fluke infection (p=0.006). However, in 12 case herds, grazing was not applied (all-in systems), suggesting indoor rearing does not completely prevent liver fluke infections, although misdiagnosis or incorrect registration at slaughter is possible. The percentage of farms allowing heifers to graze on wet areas was significantly higher in case than control farms (p<0.001). Using grazing for heifers and drinking from natural waterways were associated with liver fluke infections (p=0.07 and p=0.01). Approximately 30% of case farms tried actively to avoid infection by anthelmintic treatment or preventive management measures. The prevalences of liver flukes estimated by BTM ELISA were 75% and 12.5% for case and control groups, respectively. The negative ELISA results in some of the case herds may be due to their low in-herd prevalence, but it is still under investigation. Based on the risk analysis, we expect grazing management can be improved on many infected farms as part of the control of liver fluke. The substantial discrepancy between different diagnostic methods should be taken into account for future studies

People’s Perceptions of Ecosystem Services Provided by Tropical Dry Forests: A Comparative Case Study in Southern Ecuador

This research explores the perspective of social actors about the ecosystem services (ES) provided by tropical dry forests (TDF) in two protected areas in southern Ecuador that differ in their management schemes. Identifying the ES and understanding the preferences of local communities is seen as a means for improving decision making, especially in the protected areas. Therefore, our goal was to apply social assessment tools in order to have an in depth appreciation of the factors influencing the perception of social actors in a comparative case study. Since the research was conducted in two areas with similar ecosystem, but with different management, it illustrates the potential role that management policies have at shaping the perception of social actors regarding TDF’s ecosystem services. The results suggest that people perceive and prioritize ecosystem services differently according to the area and that such perception and prioritization is influenced not only by the management processes but also by the role that social actors play in the protected area