Evaluación de propiedades físicas de los suelos agrícolas del Centro de Investigación y Producción de Santo Tomas – UTEA – Abancay – Apurímac

La esencia de la investigación fue evaluar las propiedades físicas de los suelos agrícolas, y para determinar cada componente se recurrió al uso del método de bouyoucos para textura, la estructura mediante el método comparativo, la densidad aparente por el método de cilindro, densidad real por picnómetro, porosidad a través de los resultados de la densidad aparente y densidad real, profundidad efectiva mediante observación y medición directa, y color del suelo a partir de las muestras y uso de la tabla Munssell e interpretación. El área total de investigación de 22.31 hectáreas fueron delimitadas en zona alta, media y baja, con sus respectivas parcelas, siendo la unidad de análisis una muestra de una parcela, haciendo un total de 20 muestras. Los resultados de textura predominan en la zona alta como franco arcilloso (48.886%), en la zona media y baja es arcillo arenoso de (50.00 %) y (42.86 %) respectivamente. La estructura es granular y migojosa, la densidad aparente varía de 1.66 a 1.82 gr/cm3, la densidad real en promedio de 2.20 a 2.42 gr /ml; porosidad variable, de media, alta a muy alta; profundidad efectiva de moderadamente profundos a profundo, y suelos de color marrón para toda la zona de estudio. Finalmente, se clasificó los suelos según la Clasificación de Tierras por su Capacidad de Uso Mayor en suelos aptos para cultivos permanentes en la zona alta y media, y suelos de aptitud para cultivos en limpio en la zona baj

Knowledge and use of antibiotics among low-income small-scale farmers of Peru

The extensive use and misuse of antibiotics in the livestock sector is one of the main drivers of the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Although small-scale farms constitute most of the livestock production in low and middle-income countries, knowledge and use of antibiotics among these populations is sparse. We conducted 201 questionnaires to estimate the use and knowledge of antibiotics by small-scale farmers located in the coastal area of the Lima region of Peru. Our results show that farmers had a small number of livestock (e.g. average of 11 cows, 7 pigs and 19 chickens per farm) and 80% earned less than minimum wage. More than half of farmers reported at least one episode of respiratory disease, diarrhea, mastitis, skin lesion or post-parturition infection in their animals during the previous year, and 40% of these episodes were treated with antibiotics. Farmers reported using 14 different antibiotics, most commonly oxytetracycline (31% of episodes treated with antibiotics), penicillin (21%), gentamicin (19%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethazine (18%). The third-generation cephalosporin ceftiofur was occasionally used to treat mastitis. Most farmers relied on veterinarians to prescribe (95% of respondents) and administer (59%) antibiotics. Only half of farmers knew what micro-organisms can be treated with antibiotics and the degree of knowledge of antibiotics (based on a 5-question metric) was positively correlated with respondents’ educational level, monthly income, knowledge of the animal health authority, farm area, number of cows and knowledge of an antiparasitic drug. In contrast, knowledge of antibiotics was not correlated with respondents’ age, gender, main occupation, knowledge of a veterinarian or household size. Potential misuse of antibiotics was reported, including 21% of framers reporting stopping the treatment when clinical signs disappear and infrequent use of antibiotics to treat parasites or animals not eating. Our study highlights poor knowledge and potential misuse of antibiotics among small-scale farmers in coastal Peru, but high reliance on veterinarians for prescription and administration. Strengthening farmers' relationships with veterinarians and improving the diagnostic capacity of the veterinary sector could result in more judicious antibiotic use on these farms

Abortive vampire bat rabies infections in Peruvian peridomestic livestock

Rabies virus infections normally cause universally lethal encephalitis across mammals. However, ‘abortive infections’ which are resolved prior to the onset of lethal disease have been described in bats and a variety of non-reservoir species. Here, we surveyed rabies virus neutralizing antibody titers in 332 unvaccinated livestock of 5 species from a vampire bat rabies endemic region of southern Peru where livestock are the main food source for bats. We detected rabies virus neutralizing antibody titers in 11, 5 and 3.6% of cows, goats and sheep respectively and seropositive animals did not die from rabies within two years after sampling. Seroprevalence was correlated with the number of local livestock rabies mortalities reported one year prior but also one year after sample collection. This suggests that serological status of livestock can indicate the past and future levels of rabies risk to non-reservoir hosts. To our knowledge, this is the first report of anti-rabies antibodies among goats and sheep, suggesting widespread abortive infections among livestock in vampire bat rabies endemic areas. Future research should resolve the within-host biology underlying clearance of rabies infections. Cost-effectiveness analyses are also needed to evaluate whether serological monitoring of livestock can be a viable complement to current monitoring of vampire bat rabies risk based on animal mortalities alone

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Quantifying the burden of vampire bat rabies in Peruvian livestock

Background: Knowledge of infectious disease burden is necessary to appropriately allocate resources for prevention and control. In Latin America, rabies is among the most important zoonoses for human health and agriculture, but the burden of disease attributed to its main reservoir, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), remains uncertain. Methodology/Principal findings: We used questionnaires to quantify under-reporting of livestock deaths across 40 agricultural communities with differing access to health resources and epidemiological histories of vampire bat rabies (VBR) in the regions of Apurimac, Ayacucho and Cusco in southern Peru. Farmers who believed VBR was absent from their communities were one third as likely to report livestock deaths from disease as those who believed VBR was present, and under-reporting increased with distance from reporting offices. Using generalized mixedeffect models that captured spatial autocorrelation in reporting, we project 4.6 (95% CI: 4.4– 8.2) rabies cases per reported case and identify geographic areas with potentially greater VBR burden than indicated by official reports. Spatially-corrected models estimate 505–724 cattle deaths from VBR in our study area during 2014 (421–444 deaths/100,000 cattle), costing US$121,797–171,992. Cost benefit analysis favoured vaccinating all cattle over the current practice of partial vaccination or halting vaccination all together. Conclusions: Our study represents the first estimate of the burden of VBR in Latin America to incorporate data on reporting rates. We confirm the long-suspected cost of VBR to small-scale farmers and show that vaccinating livestock is a cost-effective solution to mitigate the burden of VBR. More generally, results highlight that ignoring geographic variation in access to health resources can bias estimates of disease burden and risk

Quantifying the burden of vampire bat rabies in Peruvian livestock

Background: Knowledge of infectious disease burden is necessary to appropriately allocate resources for prevention and control. In Latin America, rabies is among the most important zoonoses for human health and agriculture, but the burden of disease attributed to its main reservoir, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), remains uncertain. Methodology/Principal findings: We used questionnaires to quantify under-reporting of livestock deaths across 40 agricultural communities with differing access to health resources and epidemiological histories of vampire bat rabies (VBR) in the regions of Apurimac, Ayacucho and Cusco in southern Peru. Farmers who believed VBR was absent from their communities were one third as likely to report livestock deaths from disease as those who believed VBR was present, and under-reporting increased with distance from reporting offices. Using generalized mixedeffect models that captured spatial autocorrelation in reporting, we project 4.6 (95% CI: 4.4– 8.2) rabies cases per reported case and identify geographic areas with potentially greater VBR burden than indicated by official reports. Spatially-corrected models estimate 505–724 cattle deaths from VBR in our study area during 2014 (421–444 deaths/100,000 cattle), costing US$121,797–171,992. Cost benefit analysis favoured vaccinating all cattle over the current practice of partial vaccination or halting vaccination all together. Conclusions: Our study represents the first estimate of the burden of VBR in Latin America to incorporate data on reporting rates. We confirm the long-suspected cost of VBR to small-scale farmers and show that vaccinating livestock is a cost-effective solution to mitigate the burden of VBR. More generally, results highlight that ignoring geographic variation in access to health resources can bias estimates of disease burden and risk

Predictors of reporting cattle mortality due to suspected infectious disease in the southern Peruvian Andes.

<p>Predictors of reporting cattle mortality due to suspected infectious disease in the southern Peruvian Andes.</p

The number of cases and economic burden of cattle mortality from VBR in Peru during 2014.

<p>The number of cases and economic burden of cattle mortality from VBR in Peru during 2014.</p