72 research outputs found
Applications of Personalised Phage Therapy highlighting the importance of Bacteriophage Banks against Emerging Antimicrobial Resistance
Emerging antibiotic resistance is one of the most important microbiological issues of the 21st century. This poses a query regarding the future use of antibiotics and availability of other promising therapeutic alternatives. The awareness about antibiotic misuse has improved insufficiently and is evident by the increased incidences of multidrug resistant infections globally. Amongst different antibacterial therapeutic approaches phage therapy has created a niche of its own due to continuous use for treatment of human infections in Eastern Europe. Synergistic compounds along with phages have also been proposed as a better alternative compared to antibiotics or phage alone for treatment of chronic cases and seriously debilitating diseases. As such, why not allow custom made phage therapy for treatment of chronic infections? However, the success of phage therapy will depend upon instant availability of characterised bacteriophages from bacteriophage banks which may serve as the major catalyst in bringing Phage Therapy to main stream treatment alternatives or in combination therapy at least. In the current article we present a glimpse of comprehensive approach about utility of bacteriophage banks and further present personalised phage therapy in a synergistic role with antibiotics to overcome emerging antimicrobial resistance
Serosurveillance for Japanese encephalitis virus infection among equines in India
The seroprevalence of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) among equines was evaluated from January 2006 to December 2009 in 13 different states of India by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and virus neutralization test (VNT). Antibodies against JEV were detected in 327 out of 3,286 (10%) equines with a maximum prevalence reported in the state of Manipur (91.7%) followed by Gujarat (18.5%), Madhya Pradesh (14.4%), and Uttar Pradesh (11.6%). Evidence of JEV infection was observed in equines in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) where a 4-fold or higher rise in antibody titer was observed in 21 out of 34 horses in November 2007 to October 2006. In March 2008, seven of these horses had a subsequent 4-fold rise in JEV antibody titers while this titer decreased in nine animals. JEV-positive horse sera had a JEV/WNV (West Nile virus) ratio over 2.0 according to the HI and/or VNT. These results indicated that JEV is endemic among equines in India
A Comprehensive Review on Equine Influenza Virus:Etiology, Epidemiology, Pathobiology, Advances in Developing Diagnostics, Vaccines, and Control Strategies
Among all the emerging and re-emerging animal diseases, influenza group is the prototype member associated with severe respiratory infections in wide host species. Wherein, Equine influenza (EI) is the main cause of respiratory illness in equines across globe and is caused by equine influenza A virus (EIV-A) which has impacted the equine industry internationally due to high morbidity and marginal morality. The virus transmits easily by direct contact and inhalation making its spread global and leaving only limited areas untouched. Hitherto reports confirm that this virus crosses the species barriers and found to affect canines and few other animal species (cat and camel). EIV is continuously evolving with changes at the amino acid level wreaking the control program a tedious task. Until now, no natural EI origin infections have been reported explicitly in humans. Recent advances in the diagnostics have led to efficient surveillance and rapid detection of EIV infections at the onset of outbreaks. Incessant surveillance programs will aid in opting a better control strategy for this virus by updating the circulating vaccine strains. Recurrent vaccination failures against this virus due to antigenic drift and shift have been disappointing, however better understanding of the virus pathogenesis would make it easier to design effective vaccines predominantly targeting the conserved epitopes (HA glycoprotein). Additionally, the cold adapted and canarypox vectored vaccines are proving effective in ceasing the severity of disease. Furthermore, better understanding of its genetics and molecular biology will help in estimating the rate of evolution and occurrence of pandemics in future. Here, we highlight the advances occurred in understanding the etiology, epidemiology and pathobiology of EIV and a special focus is on designing and developing effective diagnostics, vaccines and control strategies for mitigating the emerging menace by EIV
Not Available
Not AvailableIndia faced an epizootic of equine influenza in 2008–2009. The isolated viruses were typed
as H3N8 and grouped with the clade 2 viruses of Florida sublineage on the basis of
haemagglutinin (HA) gene sequence analysis. This report describes the genetic analysis
and selection pressure of matrix (M) and non-structural 1 (NS1) genes of the Indian
isolates. All isolates shared 98.41% and 99.54% homology with other clade 2 viruses of
Asian origin for M1 and M2 amino acid (aa) sequences, respectively. There were 3 and 4
unique aa residue changes respectively in M1 and M2 proteins in all Asian isolates.
Phylogenetic analysis revealed clustering of Indian and Chinese isolates in a separate
group designated here as Asian clade for M gene. Indian and Chinese isolates shared
homology ranging from 98.17% to 99.08% at aa level. The M and NS1 genes were under
negative selection pressure with estimated magnitude of pressure (v) 0.054, 0.581 and
0.30 for M1, M2 and NS1, respectively.Not Availabl
Not Available
Not AvailableAmong all the emerging and re-emerging animal diseases, influenza group is the
prototype member associated with severe respiratory infections in wide host species.
Wherein, Equine influenza (EI) is the main cause of respiratory illness in equines across
globe and is caused by equine influenza A virus (EIV-A) which has impacted the equine
industry internationally due to high morbidity and marginal morality. The virus transmits
easily by direct contact and inhalation making its spread global and leaving only limited
areas untouched. Hitherto reports confirm that this virus crosses the species barriers
and found to affect canines and few other animal species (cat and camel). EIV is
continuously evolving with changes at the amino acid level wreaking the control program
a tedious task. Until now, no natural EI origin infections have been reported explicitly in
humans. Recent advances in the diagnostics have led to efficient surveillance and rapid
detection of EIV infections at the onset of outbreaks. Incessant surveillance programs
will aid in opting a better control strategy for this virus by updating the circulating
vaccine strains. Recurrent vaccination failures against this virus due to antigenic drift and
shift have been disappointing, however better understanding of the virus pathogenesis
would make it easier to design effective vaccines predominantly targeting the conserved
epitopes (HA glycoprotein). Additionally, the cold adapted and canarypox vectored
vaccines are proving effective in ceasing the severity of disease. Furthermore, better
understanding of its genetics and molecular biology will help in estimating the rate
of evolution and occurrence of pandemics in future. Here, we highlight the advances
occurred in understanding the etiology, epidemiology and pathobiology of EIV and a
special focus is on designing and developing effective diagnostics, vaccines and control
strategies for mitigating the emerging menace by EIV.Not Availabl
Not Available
Not AvailableThe neuraminidase (NA) gene sequences of four
Indian equine influenza viruses (EIVs) isolated from epizootic
in 2008 and 2009were analyzed. The phylogenetic relationship
and selection pressure of NA genes were established in comparison
to other EIVs circulating worldwide along with the
domains and motifs of the encoded protein to find out the significance
of mutational changes. Among Indian isolates, two
amino acid (aa) changes each in Mysore/12/08 (Asn67Tyr &
Asp396Gly), Gopeshwar/1/09 (Ile49Val & Asp396Gly), and
Uttarkashi/1/09 (Ile49Val & Asp396Gly) isolates were
observed in respect to Jammu-Katra/06/08 isolate. Amino acid
(aa) sequence analysis also revealed five consistent aa residue
changes viz, Gly/Arg40Glu, Tyr66His, Val191Ile, Val209Ile
and Asp235Asn in Asian including Indian isolates, Spain/07
and Spain/09 isolates in comparison to other EIVs circulating
worldwide. The topology of the phylogenetic tree revealed that
the Indian, Chinese, Mongolian and Kazakhstan isolates together
formed a subgroupwith Yokohama/10 isolate. Spain/07&
Spain/09 isolates showed closest clusteringwithAsian isolates.
This indicates that non-synonymousmutations in Asian isolates
with temporal pattern originating from Spain/07, led to the
subgroup of the Asian isolates within Florida clade 2 sublineage.
The analysis of the predicted secondary structure has not
shown any significant difference in the NA proteins of all
Indian isolates. Fixed-effects likelihood (FEL) analysis of the
selection pressure revealed three codons (43, 355 & 434)
under positive selection pressure. The overall evolutionary
changes (x value) of 3.4 indicatesNA gene to be under strong
selection pressure. Further, seven putative N-glycosylation
siteswere observed in theNAprotein.Themapping of specific
aa changes, theirmutational and functional analysis need to be
carried out to ascertain their role in pathogenecity of the virus.Not Availabl
Not Available
Not AvailableEquine influenza viruses (EIVs) are responsible for acute contagious respiratory infection in equines and the
disease remains a major threat for equine population throughout the world despite vaccination strategies in
place. The present study was aimed to assess the suitability of BALB/c mice as a potential small animal model for
preliminary screening of EI vaccine candidates. For this, we evaluated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy
of an inactivated EIV (H3N8) vaccine in BALB/c mouse model after challenge with homologous H3N8
virus (Clade 2 virus, Florida sublineage) through serology, clinical signs, gross and histopathology lesions with
grading, immunohistochemistry and virus quantification. Serological responses in immunized mice were evaluated
by haemagglutination inhibition assay (HAI) and antibodies were subtyped by ELISA. The vaccine induced
optimum protective antibody titre on 49 dpi along with balanced Th1/Th2 responses. Immunized mice were well
protected against EIV challenge as evident by significant rise in serum antibody titre which concurred with mild
clinical signs, early recovery, lower gross and histopathological lesions score, less severe intensity of viral antigen
distribution, restricted virus replication in respiratory tract and less virus detection in nasal washes for
short duration. The duration of the viral load was also lower and only for brief period as compared to unvaccinated
challenged mice. In conclusion, induction of H3N8 specific antibody response and protection against
H3N8 challenge proves that egg grown inactivated H3N8 whole virus vaccine would provide an effective intercession
against H3N8 virus. In addition, BALB/c mouse can serve as an attractive tool for adjudging protective
efficacy of vaccine candidates prior to final testing in equines.Not Availabl
Not Available
Not AvailableThe present study is an observation of transplacental transmission of Trypanosoma evansi in a donkey neonatal foal. One experimentally infected pregnant donkey mare gave a normal birth to a foal after 3 months of experimental infection. No trypanosome was seen in wet blood film (WBF) on microscopic examination in the experimentally infected donkey mare at the time of foal birth; however, in serum, a significant level of antitrypanosmal immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and many immunodominant polypeptide bands on immunoblotting were observed. In the neonatal foal, live moving trypanosomes were observed in WBF just after birth before colostrum feeding. The foal serum sample (collected before colostrum feeding) was found negative on ELISA and immunoblotting indicating that IgG antibodies has not crossed placental barrier in the mother donkey. After 24 hours of birth, the clinical symptoms appeared in the foal showing recumbency, unable to stand and suckle, and poor reflexes. The foal was administered fluid therapy, but could survive only up to 36 hours after birth. The study indicated transplacental transmission of T. evansi in the donkey, but the mechanism responsible for crossing the placental barrier needs to be further elucidated.Not Availabl
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