Clinicopathological evaluation of intranasal, subcutaneous and intramuscular routes of vaccination against intratracheal challenge of Peste des petits ruminants virus in goats

An experiment was conducted to compare the efficacy of intranasal vaccination against caprine Peste des petits ruminant lineage 1 variant virus infection with intramuscular and subcutaneous vaccinations. Twenty four goats were divided into four equal groups. Group 1 was vaccinated intranasally, group 2 was vaccinated subcutaneously, and group 3 intramuscularly, while group 4 was the unvaccinated control. In each group, the vaccinations were carried out once. All goats were challenged intratracheally with PPR virus at a concentration of 106.5 TCID50 two weeks after vaccination and were euthanised 21 days after the challenge. The clinical, lung consolidation, gross and histopathological scores were employed using standard techniques. All data were analysed statistically using the paired t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Group 3 had the highest clinical score following the challenge of vaccinated group while deaths were observed only in group 4. Three goats in group 2 and 3 had pneumonic lung lesions, compared with none in group 1 and all the goats in group 4. The lung lesions in group 4 were significantly (P 0.05) while group 1 had no consolidation. This study showed that PPR vaccination using subcutaneous, intramuscular and intranasal routes were protective but that of intranasal was found to be easy to apply hence it could be used for the prevention of the disease in small ruminants

Immunohistochemical detection of Brucella mellitensis and Coxiella burnetii antigens in formalin-fixed tissues of West African Dwarf goats

Immunohistochemical detection of Brucella mellitensis and Coxiella burnetii antigens in formalin-fixed tissues of West African Dwarf goats. The information on the evidence of Brucella mellitensi and Coxiella burnetti infections or co-infection in goats had been scanty, This investigation reports the immuno-histochemical evidence of Brucella mellitensi and Coxiella burnetti infections in West African dwarf goats. Goats presented for post mortem in the Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Ibadan were used for this investigation. By simple randomisation, lung, kidney, liver and spleen of fifteen goats were used for this immunohistochemical evaluation using stardard technique. 60% of the goats examined were positive for Brucella mellitensis, 33% were positive for Coxiella burnetti while 7% were positive for both infection. The spleen liver, kidney and lungs were positive for Brucella mellitensis while only the spleen and lungs were positive for Coxiella burnetti. Coxiella burnetti antigens were located in the cytoplasm of macrophages of alveoli of the lung and in the red splenic pulp while Brucella melitensis antigens were located in the cytoplasm of macrophages in the lung, in the red splenic pulp, Kupffer cells of the liver, macrophages in the glomeruli and epithelial cells of cortical tubules. This appears to be the first report of immunohistochemical detection of Brucella and Coxiella antigens in tissues of West African dwarf goats. The presence of these antigens in apparently healthy and pneumonic goats showed the level of risk posed by goats’ meat and meat products in the spread of these zoonotic diseases hence the need for facilities for rapid detection of these diseases

Cellular responses in the respiratory tract following intranasal administration of Peste des petits ruminant vaccine in goats

A trial was conducted to compare the cellular responses in the respiratory tract in intranasal vaccination against caprine Peste des petits ruminant lineage 1 variant virus infection with intramuscular and subcutaneous vaccinations in order to elucidate the mechanism of the protection. Twenty four goats were divided into four equal groups. Group 1 was vaccinated intranasaly, group 2 was vaccinated subcutaneously, and group 3 intramuscularly, while Group 4 was the unvaccinated control group. In each group the vaccinations were carried out once. All goats were challenged intratrachealy with PPR virus at a concentration of 106.5 TCID50 two weeks after vaccination and were euthanised 21 days after the challenge. The bronchoalveolar lavage differential count, bronchial associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) responses were measured using standard techniques. Descriptive Statistics and ANOVA was employed and significance was at p < 0.05. The exposure also resulted into significant increase in the number and size of BALT as well as the number of lymphocytes in BALT. This study showed the mechanism of the protective effect of intranasal vaccination of PPR vaccine observed with the strong mucosal and defensive cellular responses in the respiratory tract observed than the subcutaneous and intramuscular routes

Clinical chemistry and haematological assessment of quail egg-pretreated acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity in rats

This study investigated the possible hepatoprotective effect of quail egg solution on acetaminophen intoxicated rats. Thirty adult rats of mixed sexes were assigned into five groups of six per group. The rats in groups 2, 3, and 4 were pretreated with 30, 15, 7.5 mg/ml ad lib respectively of quail egg solution for 7 days before intoxication with 2000 mg/kg acetaminophen. Rats in group 5 were not pretreated but intoxicated with 2000 mg/kg acetaminophen (negative control) while the group 1 rats were neither pretreated nor intoxicated and served as positive control. Fourty eight hours post induction, blood for some biochemical and haematological analysis was collected and the remaining rats treated until 14th day when the rats were humanely sacrificed and vital organs (liver and kidney) collected for histopathology. The results showed that the ALT activity of 30 mg/ml pretreated rats were significantly (p&lt;0.05) lower than those of the negative control rats. Significant (p&lt;0.05) increases were seen in the RBC, WBC, PCV and Hb levels of quail egg pretreated rats when compared with the negative control. However no significant (p&gt;0.05) changes were seen in AST activity, MCHC and MCH levels of both the test groups and the controls. Histomorphometry examination revealed less severe vacuolar degenerative changes in the liver of 30 mg/ml pretreated rats when compared to the rats of other intoxicated groups. It was concluded that quail egg at the concentration of 30 mg/ml ameliorated hepatotoxicity and improved haematologic indices of acetaminophen-induced toxicity in rats.Keywords: Acetaminophen, Hepatotoxicity, Quail egg, Hematology, Histopathology, Liver enzyme

The influence of intranasal peste des petits ruminants vaccine application methods on the induction of immune responses in goats: clinicopathological and immunohistochemical findings

Intranasal administration of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) vaccine may induce mucosal and systemic immune responses in goats but little is known about the influence of the vaccine application methods. This study reports the influence of two different intranasal vaccine application methods on the immune responses in goats following intranasal PPR vaccination. Twenty, male west African dwarf goats were divided into 4 groups (n=5). Groups A and B were vaccinated intranasally (IN) with live attenuated PPR vaccine (Nigeria 75/1) by either nasal dropper (Group A) or nasal spray (Group B) methods and compared with the subcutaneous route of vaccination (Group C) and unvaccinated goats (Group D) for 28 days. PPR blocking ELISA based on the H-antigen demonstrated high-titres of PPRV-specific antibodies in all vaccinated goats with peak percentage inhibitions of 79.3% (day 14); 69.8% (day 21) and 86.6% (day 21) for IN-Drop; IN-Spray and Subcutaneous vaccination groups, respectively. Histomorphological assessment of the lungs showed the development of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissues (BALT) in Group B (IN-Spray). Immunohistochemistry showed PPR viral antigens in the lymphoid cells of the BALT in Group B and in the spleen and mediastinal lymph nodes of all the vaccinated goats after 28 days of vaccination. This study shows that the choice of application methods for intranasal PPR vaccine delivery may affect the induction of PPR-specific systemic immune responses. IN Drop method may result in an earlier peak in the antibody titer but the IN-Spray method holds greater potential for pulmonary protection against PPR induced pulmonary disease

Pathomorphology and aerobic bacteria associated with pneumonia in small ruminants slaughtered at the Nsukka abattoir

Pneumonia occurs in all ages of sheep and goats, in all breeds, in every country of the world causing heavy economic losses. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pneumonia and aerobic bacteria flora associated with it in small ruminants slaughtered at the Nsukka abattoir. Pneumonic lung of small ruminants were examined for gross lesions. Lung samples were collected and processed using standard protocols for histopathological and bacteriological examinations. Lung samples from 342 goats and 40 sheep were examined. A total of 116(30.36 %) lungs had various types of pneumonia. Two major types of pneumonia were observed during histopathological examination; bronchopneumonia 64(55.17 %) and interstitial pneumonia 52(44.82 %). Out of the 116 pneumonic lungs collected over a six months period, 98 were caprine lungs and 18 were ovine lungs. Aerobic bacteria isolated from the pneumonic lungs were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Mannheimia haemolytica, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Pasteurella multocida respectively. There was no significant seasonal, species and breed associations (p&gt;0.05) between pneumonic lesions observed and the associated aerobic bacteria.Keywords: Small ruminants, Pneumonia, Interstitial pneumonia, Bronchopneumonia, Aerobic bacteria flor