Lumpy skin disease: attempted propagation in tick cell lines and presence of viral DNA in field ticks collected from naturally-infected cattle

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is of substantial economic importance for the cattle industry in Africa and the Near and Middle East. Several insect species are thought to transmit the disease mechanically. Recent transmission studies have demonstrated the first evidence for a role of hard (ixodid) ticks as vectors of lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). The aim of this study was to attempt in vitro growth of the virus in Rhipicephalus spp. tick cell lines and investigate in vivo the presence of the virus in ticks collected from cattle during LSD outbreaks in Egypt and South Africa. No evidence was obtained for replication of LSDV in tick cell lines although the virus was remarkably stable, remaining viable for 35 days at 28°C in tick cell cultures, in growth medium used for tick cells and in phosphate buffered saline. Viral DNA was detected in two-thirds of the 56 field ticks, making this the first report of the presence of potentially virulent LSDV in ticks collected from naturally infected animals

Маргінеси „чужої” мови в романі Джені Ерпенбек „Словник”

Запропонована розвідка є однією із численних спроб постколоніальних феміністичних студій відповісти на питання, чи може підпорядковане промовляти. Йдеться про сучасну німецьку жіночу прозу Дженні Ерпенбек, зокрема її роман „Словник”, та визначення статусу жінки з комплексом дотичних до нього проблем у ході вписування жіночого, почасти автобіографічного досвіду, в національну історію тоталітарного минулого на прикладі запропонованого роману. Так, автобіографічні рефлексії письменниці щодо нацистського та соціалістичного режимів насилля презентують жінку як суб’єкта, що говорить, залишаючись поза структурою мови. Процес пригадування задля пошуків істини розкриває механізми поглинання мови ідеологічним міфом. Відтак духовний простір жінки залишається на маргінесах мови, суспільства, історії.The present study is based on the women’s autobiographic experience to tell the self- and national history of the totalitarian regime. The study seeks some the most important postcolonial aspects of the female existence in the mirror of the ideological language. To recognize the problem of language and violence is to show the mechanism of the women’s removing to the linguistic margins. In agree with the main postcolonial tendencies the article concludes such actual theories to prove these aspects: the term of the contemporal myth by R. Barthes, the discourse of language and violence in the feministic theory of L. Terel, the conception of the female language in the work of E. Showalter, the multicultural points of view of G.Ch. Spivak, the Strenger’s identity of B. Valdenfels

Amicarbalide : a therapeutic agent for anaplasmosis

When administered subcutaneously in 2 equal daily doses at a total dosage rate of 20 mg/kg, amicarbalide was found to be an effective agent for controlling acute infections of Anaplasma marginate and A. centrale in intact and splenectomized cattle. Attempts to sterilize patent and latent Anaplasma infections, however, were unsuccessful. At total dosage rates of 40 mg/kg and higher, amicarbalide exhibited potent hepato- and nephrotoxic tendencies.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format

Reflections on IDEAL: What we have learnt from a unique calf cohort study

The year 2020 marks a decade since the final visit was made in the ‘Infectious Diseases of East African Livestock’ (IDEAL) project. However, data generation from samples obtained during this ambitious longitudinal study still continues. As the project launches its extensive open-access database and biobank to the scientific community, we reflect on the challenges overcome, the knowledge gained, and the advantages of such a project. We discuss the legacy of the IDEAL project and how it continues to generate evidence since being adopted by the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH). We also examine the impact of the IDEAL project, from the authors perspective, for each of the stakeholders (the animal, the farmer, the consumer, the policy maker, the funding body, and the researcher and their institution) involved in the project and provide recommendations for future researchers who are interested in running longitudinal field studies.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Government’s Department for International Development and the International Livestock Research Institute.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/prevetmedam2021Veterinary Tropical Disease

Bluetongue and Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease virus in local breeds of cattle in Kenya

AbstractThe presence of bluetongue virus (BTV) and Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease virus (EHDV) in indigenous calves in western Kenya was investigated. Serum was analysed for BTV and EHDV antibodies. The population seroprevalences for BTV and EHDV for calves at 51weeks of age were estimated to be 0.942 (95% CI 0.902–0.970) and 0.637 (95% CI 0.562–0.710), respectively, indicating high levels of circulating BTV and EHDV. The odds ratio of being positive for BTV if EHDV positive was estimated to be 2.57 (95% CI 1.37–4.76). When 99 calves were tested for BTV and EHDV RNA by real-time RT-PCR, 88.9% and 63.6% were positive, respectively. Comparison of the serology and real-time RT-PCR results revealed an unexpectedly large number of calves that were negative by serology but positive by real-time RT-PCR for EHDV. Eight samples positive for BTV RNA were serotyped using 24 serotype-specific real-time RT-PCR assays. Nine BTV serotypes were detected, indicating that the cattle were infected with a heterogeneous population of BTVs. The results show that BTV and EHDV are highly prevalent, with cattle being infected from an early age

The detection of lumpy skin disease virus in samples of experimentally infected cattle using different diagnostic techniques

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a disease of cattle, primarily in Africa and Madagascar and rarely in the Middle East. It is caused by a capripoxvirus that belongs to the family Poxviridae. The disease is of economic importance in endemic areas. Effective control of LSD requires accurate and rapid laboratory techniques to confirm a tentative clinical diagnosis. Comparative studies on different diagnostic tests used at different stages of the disease have not been done. The aim of this study was to compare several of these tests. Six seronegative bulls, between 11 and 20 months of age, were infected intravenously and kept in an insect-free facility. The course of the infection was monitored. During a 3-month period blood samples and skin biopsies were collected for virus isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Skin biopsies were also examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The incubation period in infected animals varied from 4-5 days. The length of the viraemic period did not correlate with the severity of clinical disease. Viraemia was detected from 1-12 days using virus isolation and from 4-11 days using the PCR, which is longer than has previously been reported. Virus was isolated from skin biopsies until Day 39 post infection (p.i.) and PCR could demonstrate viral DNA until Day 92 p.i. Transmission electron microscopy of negatively stained skin biopsies detected LSD virus only in one of the four bulls that developed skin lesions until Day 33 p.i. The PCR was a fast and sensitive method to demonstrate viral DNA in blood and skin samples. It could detect viral nucleic acid in skin lesions 53 days longer than virus isolation. Virus isolation from blood and skin samples was sensitive and reliable, but as a single test it may be too time-consuming to use although this depends on how rapidly the diagnosis must be confirmed. In conclusion, this study showed the PCR to be superior in detecting LSD virus from blood and skin samples. However, virus isolation is still required when the infectivity of the LSD virus is to be determined. Indexed by Sabinet Onlin

Evidence of lumpy skin disease virus over-wintering by transstadial persistence in Amblyomma hebraeum and transovarial persistence in Rhipicephalus decoloratus ticks

Lumpy skin disease is a debilitating cattle disease caused by the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), belonging to the genus Capripoxvirus. Epidemics of the disease usually occur in summer, when insect activity is high. Limited information is available on how LSDV persists during inter-epidemic periods. Transmission of LSDV by mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti has been shown to be mechanical, there is no carrier state in cattle and the role of wildlife in the epidemiology of the disease seems to be of minor importance. Recent studies in ticks have shown transstadial persistence of LSDV in Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Amblyomma hebraeum as well as transovarial persistence of the virus in Rhipicephalus decoloratus, R. appendiculatus and A. hebraeum. The over-wintering of ticks off the host as part of their life cycles is well known: A. hebraeum and R. appendiculatus over-winter, for example, on the ground as engorged nymphs/unfed (emergent) adults while R. decoloratus over-winters on the ground as engorged females. In this study, transstadial and transovarial persistence of LSDV from experimentally infected A. hebraeum nymphs and R. decoloratus females after exposure to cold temperatures of 5 degrees C at night and 20 degrees C during the day for 2 months was reported. This observation suggests possible over-wintering of the virus in these tick species