De waterbestendige stad: Meerlaagsveiligheidbenadering toegepast op de regio Amsterdam

De waterbestendige stad is een van de zes gebiedspilots in het deltaprogramma veiligheid, waarin de noodzaak en consequenties van nieuwe waterveiligheidsnormen en de toepasbaarheid van de zogenaamde meerlaagsveiligheidsbenadering is onderzocht. In de regio Amsterdam is de veiligheidsopgave complex. Het betreft een dichtbevolkt stedelijk gebied dicht bij een industrieel havengebied, gelegen in driie dijkringen met verschillende beschermingsniveaus, er zijn overstromingsdreigingen vanuit verschillende bronnen (Noordzee, Lek, Markermeer en het regionaal watersysteem) en twee primaire keringen lopen dwars door de stad, en zijn volledig gebouwd. Hoe veilig is de stad Amsterdam? Deze pilot komt met conclusies en aanbevelingen, ondanks het complexe watersysteem van de regio Amsterdam

Seroprevalence and characterization of Brucella

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is an infectious and contagious zoonotic bacterial disease of both humans and animals. In developing countries where brucellosis is endemic, baseline data on the prevalence of brucellosis, using abattoir facilities, is important. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of antibodies against Brucella in slaughter cattle at Gauteng province, South Africa and to charac-terize isolates of Brucella spp. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, un-clotted blood samples with correspond-ing organ tissue samples were collected from slaughtered cattle. Serological [Rose Bengal test (RBT), complement fixation test (CFT) and indirect ELISA (iELISA)], mo-lecular (PCR) and bacteriological methods were used to detect Brucella antibodies and Brucella spp. from 200 slaughtered cattle in 14 abattoirs. RESULTS: The RBT revealed a seroprevalence of brucellosis as 11.0% (22 of 200) and iELISA confirmed 5.5% (11 of 200). The estimated seroprevalence from RBT and iELISA was 5.5% while RBT and CFT was 2.0% (4 of 200). Brucella melitensis (n = 6) and B. abortus (n = 5) were isolated from 11 cattle tissues (5.5%) as confirmed to spe-cies level with AMOS PCR and differentiated from vaccine strains with Bruce-ladder PCR. Seven of the 11 isolates originated from seropositive cattle of which five were biotyped as B. abortus bv 1 (n = 2) and B. melitensis bv 2 (n = 1) and B. melitensis bv 3 (n = 2). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first documentation of B. melitensis in cattle in South Africa. The zoonotic risk of brucellosis posed by Brucella-infected slaughter cattle to abattoir workers and consumers of improperly cooked beef cannot be ignored.Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD)http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/vms3pm2020Production Animal StudiesVeterinary Tropical Disease

A retrospective study (2007–2015) on brucellosis seropositivity in livestock in South Africa

In South Africa, brucellosis testing and record-keeping are done by several laboratories, thus it is difficult to access any organized data to assess the status of the disease. This study evaluated the seropositivity for brucellosis using Rose Bengal test and complement fixation test in suspect cattle, sheep, goats and pigs sera submitted to Bacterial Serology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research (ARC-OVR) from nine provinces in the country during the period 2007–2015. This retrospective data analysis was conducted to estimate the occurrence of brucellosis in the country from the submitted samples, identify variables that affected seropositivity for brucellosis, investigate existing gaps in data recording and make recommendations on important variables to facilitate better data capture and inferences on brucellosis. Nine years of data were collated and analysed to detect association (seropositivity over time regarding animal species and location). Of the 764,276 animals tested, the distribution of samples was 90.50% (691,539/764,276), 5.19% (39,672/764,276), 3.92% (29,967/764,276) and 0.41% (3,098/764,276) for cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, respectively. The seropositivity for brucellosis by animal species was 6.31% (43,666/691,539, 95% CI: 6.26–6.37), 2.09% (828/39,672, 95% CI: 1.95–2.23), 0.63% (189/29,967, 95% CI: 0.55–0.73) and 0.13% (4/3,098, 95% CI: 0.05–0.33) in cattle, sheep, goats and pigs respectively. The data available did not capture information on the age, sex, breed and other host risk factors that would have been related to seropositivity for brucellosis. The data provide an understanding of the disease occurrence and confirm that brucellosis is enzootic in South Africa. Improved and standardized data collection can be used to pro-actively drive, monitor, change or formulate policies to mitigate the challenges brought about by brucellosis in the livestock sector in South Africa.Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Developmenthttp://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/vms3am2021Veterinary Tropical Disease

Project Hitch Hiker: A feasibility study for a small telecommunication satellite

Aerospace Engineerin