Explanation and Elaboration Document for the STROBE-Vet Statement: Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology—Veterinary Extension

The STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) statement was first published in 2007 and again in 2014. The purpose of the original STROBE was to provide guidance for authors, reviewers and editors to improve the comprehensiveness of reporting; however, STROBE has a unique focus on observational studies. Although much of the guidance provided by the original STROBE document is directly applicable, it was deemed useful to map those statements to veterinary concepts, provide veterinary examples and highlight unique aspects of reporting in veterinary observational studies. Here, we present the examples and explanations for the checklist items included in the STROBE-Vet Statement. Thus, this is a companion document to the STROBE-Vet Statement Methods and process document, which describes the checklist and how it was developed

Methods and Processes of Developing the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology – Veterinary (STROBE-Vet) Statement

BACKGROUND Reporting of observational studies in veterinary research presents challenges that often are not addressed in published reporting guidelines. OBJECTIVE To develop an extension of the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) statement that addresses unique reporting requirements for observational studies in veterinary medicine related to health, production, welfare, and food safety. DESIGN Consensus meeting of experts. SETTING Mississauga, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Seventeen experts from North America, Europe, and Australia. METHODS Experts completed a pre-meeting survey about whether items in the STROBE statement should be modified or added to address unique issues related to observational studies in animal species with health, production, welfare, or food safety outcomes. During the meeting, each STROBE item was discussed to determine whether or not rewording was recommended and whether additions were warranted. Anonymous voting was used to determine consensus. RESULTS Six items required no modifications or additions. Modifications or additions were made to the STROBE items 1 (title and abstract), 3 (objectives), 5 (setting), 6 (participants), 7 (variables), 8 (data sources/measurement), 9 (bias), 10 (study size), 12 (statistical methods), 13 (participants), 14 (descriptive data), 15 (outcome data), 16 (main results), 17 (other analyses), 19 (limitations), and 22 (funding). CONCLUSION The methods and processes used were similar to those used for other extensions of the STROBE statement. The use of this STROBE statement extension should improve reporting of observational studies in veterinary research by recognizing unique features of observational studies involving food-producing and companion animals, products of animal origin, aquaculture, and wildlife

A Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment for Salmonella transmission in pigs in individual EU Member States

A farm-to-consumption quantitative microbiological risk assessment (QMRA) for Salmonella in pigs has been developed for the European Food Safety Authority. The primary aim of the QMRA was to assess the impact of reductions of slaughter-pig prevalence and the impact of important control measures applied at the farm and during transport, lairage and slaughter on the number of human cases of salmonellosis

Effect of subinhibitory concentrations of four commonly used biocides on the conjugative transfer of Tn916 in Bacillus subtilis

OBJECTIVES: Large amounts of biocides are used to reduce and control bacterial growth in the healthcare sector, food production and agriculture. This work explores the effect of subinhibitory concentrations of four commonly used biocides (ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, chlorhexidine digluconate and sodium hypochlorite) on the conjugative transposition of the mobile genetic element Tn916. METHODS: Conjugation assays were carried out between Bacillus subtilis strains. The donor containing Tn916 was pre-exposed to subinhibitory concentrations of each biocide for a defined length of time, which was determined by an analysis of the transcriptional response of the promoter upstream of tet(M) using β-glucuronidase reporter assays. RESULTS: Ethanol significantly (P = 0.01) increased the transfer of Tn916 by 5-fold, whereas hydrogen peroxide, chlorhexidine digluconate and sodium hypochlorite did not significantly affect the transfer frequency. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of ethanol may induce the transfer of Tn916-like elements and any resistance genes they contain

Intra-unit correlations in seroconversion to Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae at different levels in Danish multi-site pig production facilities

In this paper, multilevel logistic models which take into account the multilevel structure of multi-site pig production were used to estimate the variances between pigs produced in Danish multi-site pig production facilities regarding seroconversion to Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 2 (Ap2) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mh). Based on the estimated variances, three newly described computational methods (model linearisation, simulation and linear modelling) and the standard method (latent-variable approach) were used to estimate the correlations (intra-class correlation components, ICCs) between pigs in the same production unit regarding seroconversion. Substantially different values of ICCs were obtained from the four methods. However, ICCs obtained by the simulation and the model linearisation were quite consistent. Data used for estimation were collected from 1161 pigs from 429 litters reared in 36 batches at six Danish multi-site farms chronically infected with the agents. At the farms, weaning age was 3-4.5 weeks, after which batches of pigs were reared using all-in/all-out management by room. Blood samples were collected shortly before: weaning, transfer from weaning-site to finishing-site, and sending the first pigs in the batch for slaughter (third sampling). Few pigs seroconverted at the weaning-sites, whereas considerable variation in seroconversion was observed at the finishing-sites. Multilevel logistic models (initially including four levels: farm, batch, litter, pig) were used to decompose the variation in seroconversion at the finishing-site. However, there was essentially no clustering at the litter level-leading to the use of three-level models. In the case of Ap2, clustering within batch was so high that the data eventually were reduced to two levels (farm, batch). For seroconversion to Ap2, ICC between pigs within batches was approximately 90%, whereas the ICC between pigs within batches for Mh was approximately 40%. This indicates that the possibility for Mh to spread between pigs within batches is lower than for Ap2. The diversity in seroconversion between batches within the same farm was large for Ap2 (ICC approximately 10%), whereas there was a relative strongly ICC (approximately 50%) between batches for Mh. This indicates that the transmission of Mh is more consistent within a farm, whereas the presence of Ap2 varies between batches within a farm.PUBM: Print; JID: 8217463; 0 (Antibodies, Bacterial); 2002/11/18 [received]; 2004/02/06 [revised]; 2004/02/06 [accepted]; ppublishSource type: Electronic(1

Comparison of air samples, nasal swabs, ear-skin swabs and environmental dust samples for detection of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pig herds

To identify a cost-effective and practical method for detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pig herds, the relative sensitivity of four sample types: nasal swabs, ear-skin (skin behind the ears) swabs, environmental dust swabs and air was compared. Moreover, dependency of sensitivity on within-herd prevalence was estimated. spa-typing was applied in order to study strain diversity. The sensitivity of one air sample was equal to the sensitivity of ten pools of five nasal swabs and relatively independent of within-herd prevalence [predicted to be nearly perfect (99%) for within-herd prevalence ⩾25%]. The results indicate that taking swabs of skin behind the ears (ten pools of five) was even more sensitive than taking nasal swabs (ten pools of five) at the herd level and detected significantly more positive samples. spa types t011, t034 and t4208 were observed. In conclusion, MRSA detection by air sampling is easy to perform, reduces costs and analytical time compared to existing methods, and is recommended for initial testing of herds. Ear-skin swab sampling may be more sensitive for MRSA detection than air sampling or nasal swab sampling