A qualitative risk assessment of factors contributing to foot and mouth disease outbreaks in cattle along the western boundary of the Kruger National Park

Between November 2000 and the end of 2007, five outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD) occurred in cattle in the area adjacent to the Kruger National Park (KNP) in the north-eastern corner of South Africa. To help understand the factors behind these outbreaks a qualitative risk assessment based on the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) assessment framework was adopted, using available data from published sources and various unpublished South African sources. Risk was assessed on the basis of the following factors: data on South African Territories (SAT) type infections of buffalo and impala in the KNP, permeability of the fence along the western boundary of the KNP, the potential for contact between livestock and wildlife susceptible to FMD in areas adjacent to the KNP, and the level of herd immunity in cattle generated by prophylactic vaccination. Scenario pathways for FMD occurrence outside the KNP are presented as a conceptual framework to qualitatively assess the risk of FMD outbreaks. Factors that are likely to have most influence on the risk were identified: fence permeability, vaccination coverage, or the efficiency of animal movement control measures. The method and results are provided as an approach that may be used as a basis to evaluate the risk of FMD outbreaks occurring in other wildlife/livestock interface areas of southern Africa. (Résumé d'auteur

Electromagnetic field angular momentum in condensed matter systems

Various electromagnetic systems can carry an angular momentum in their {\bf E} and {\bf B} fields. The electromagnetic field angular momentum (EMAM) of these systems can combine with the spin angular momentum to give composite fermions or composite bosons. In this paper we examine the possiblity that an EMAM could provide an explanation of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) which is complimentary to the Chern-Simons explanation. We also examine a toy model of a non-BCS superconductor (e.g. high $T_c$ superconductors) in terms of an EMAM. The models presented give a common, simple picture of these two systems in terms of an EMAM. The presence of an EMAM in these systems might be tested through the observation of the decay modes of a charged, spin zero unstable particle inside one of these systems.Comment: 17 pages, no figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

The epidemiology of African swine fever: the role of free-living hosts in Africa

The known distribution of African swine fever (ASF) virus in Africa is reviewed in relation to the distributions of its free-living hosts as are the infection rates of these species in different localities in southern Africa. Mechanisms by which ASF virus is maintained in its sylvatic state and ways in which the infection may enter domestic pig populations are discussed.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format

Donors, development and dependence: Some lessons from Bangladesh, 1971 to 1986.

The thesis uses Bangladesh as a model to test a "dependence paradigm". It posits that the sudden influx of resources that foreign aid brings does not necessarily lead to the social development and equitable economic growth which might have been expected because micro-economic forces tend to predominate over conventional macro-economic development theory. Instead it results in increasing inequity. The government and upper classes divert the largest proportion of the resources being provided and use them for reasons other than that for which they were meant. More inequitable distribution of income in turn justifies the continued need for foreign aid. The aid provided, justified by poverty, becomes a necessary part of the government's resources, discouraging domestic resource mobilisation and self-reliance. The dimensions of poverty and the nature and evidence of the country's dependence are reviewed. As the amount of aid "appropriated" increases, the government is increasingly dependent on its continuation and more constrained by the conditions attached to it by the donors. The paper then goes on to explain that foreign aid donors tolerate this diversion of aid resources because they measure the results of aid in terms of quantity, not quality. Nor are they prepared to provide adequate means by which to plan, administer, monitor and evaluate the use to which aid is put. The quality of aid is not an issue that serves either their domestic needs or foreign policy objectives. The successes in Bangladesh are shown to be attributable either to market forces or to foreign aid which does not lend itself to diversion by the upper classes. Some comparisons show that the phenomenon of a "resource windfall" leading to "appropriation" by the upper classes exists in other countries and is not unique to Bangladesh. The study concludes that unless appropriate aid is provided with sound ad-ministration, which uses, to the fullest, available expertise in the country, then increasing inequity and dependence are bound to result

Les ant/corps au parvovirus porcin du phacochere (Phacochoerus aethiopicus)

Haemagglutination inhibiting antibody to porcine parvovirus was shown to be widespread in all but one of the warthog populations sampled from South Africa and Zimbabwe Rhodesia. In some instances titres as high as ≥1 /20 000 were detected.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

Anisotropy at the end of the cosmic ray spectrum?

The starburst galaxies M82 and NGC253 have been proposed as the primary sources of cosmic rays with energies above $10^{18.7}$ eV. For energies \agt 10^{20.3} eV the model predicts strong anisotropies. We calculate the probabilities that the latter can be due to chance occurrence. For the highest energy cosmic ray events in this energy region, we find that the observed directionality has less than 1% probability of occurring due to random fluctuations. Moreover, during the first 5 years of operation at Auger, the observation of even half the predicted anisotropy has a probability of less than $10^{-5}$ to occur by chance fluctuation. Thus, this model can be subject to test at very small cost to the Auger priors budget and, whatever the outcome of that test, valuable information on the Galactic magnetic field will be obtained.Comment: Final version to be published in Physical Review

No serological evidence for the presence of swine vesicular disease virus in South Africa

An indirect ELISA incorporating a protein A-peroxidase conjugate was developed for detecting antibodies to swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) in pig sera. This test and a conventional virus neutralization test were found to be equally sensitive. A total of 2846 pig sera collected from various abattoirs in South Africa were tested using the indirect ELISA. No serological evidence of infection with SVDV in pigs in South Africa was found.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

African swine fever : pathogenicity and immunogenicity of two non-haemadsorbing viruses

The virulence of 2 non-haemadsorbing African swine fever virus isolates were compared with 2 haemadsorbing viruses. While 3 of these isolates usually produced acute death in pigs, 1 non-haemadsorbing virus caused either a fatal infection with an extended course, or few or no obvious signs of infection. Pigs that survived infection with the latter virus were resistant to the lethal effects of the other 3 strains as well as to a pool of 7 isolates made from Ornithodorus porcinus porcinus (sensu Walton, 1964) and warthog obtained in the Northern Transvaal.This article has 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

Eradication of transboundary animal diseases : can the rinderpest success story be repeated?

A matrix system was developed to aid in the evaluation of the technical amenability to eradication, through mass vaccination, of transboundary animal diseases (TADs). The system involved evaluation of three basic criteria - disease management efficiency, surveillance and epidemiological factors - each in turn comprised of a number of elements (17 in all). On that basis, 25 TADs that have occurred or do occur in southern Africa and for which vaccines are available, in addition to rinderpest (incorporated as a yardstick because it has been eradicated worldwide), were ranked. Cluster analysis was also applied using the same criteria to the 26 diseases, creating division into three groups. One cluster contained only diseases transmitted by arthropods (e.g. African horse sickness and Rift Valley fever) and considered difficult to eradicate because technologies for managing parasitic arthropods on a large scale are unavailable, while a second cluster contained diseases that have been widely considered to be eradicable [rinderpest, canine rabies, the Eurasian serotypes of foot and mouth disease virus (O, A, C & Asia 1) and peste des petits ruminants] as well classical swine fever, Newcastle disease and lumpy skin disease. The third cluster contained all the other TADs evaluated with the implication that these constitute TADs that would be more difficult to eradicate. However, it is acknowledged that the scores assigned in the course of this study may be biased. The point is that the system proposed offers an objective method for assessment of the technical eradicability of TADs; the rankings and groupings derived during this study are less important than the provision of a systematic approach for further development and evaluation.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1865-16822016-06-23hb201

Buffalo in the northern Natal game parks show no serological evidence of infection with foot-and-mouth disease virus

A total of 594 sera collected from buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Game Reserve complex, Ndumu Game Reserve and the eastern shores of Lake St Lucia were examined for antibody to SAT 1, 2 and 3 types of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus in neutralization tests. No neutralization of SAT 2 or 3 viruses was exhibited by any of the sera tested at final dilutions >10º•⁹. A small proportion (2,9%) of sera neutralized SAT 1 virus at dilutions up to 10¹•⁷, but these were considered to be due to non-specific reactions. This, together with the absence of clinical FMD in both cattle and game in this region over at least a 45-year period and the failure to isolate FMD virus from pharyngeal scrapings of buffalo sampled in the area, leads to the conclusion that FMD does not occur in these buffalo populations.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format