ABSTRACT
Many zoonotic diseases are found in wild animals and present a serious risk to human health, in particularly the virus carried by birds flying freely around the world is hard to control. There are three main bird migration routes which cover the most areas of China. It is important to investigate and fully understand the types of avian transmitted diseases in key areas on the bird migration routines and its impacts on both birds and human health. However, no literature is available in how about the risk of virus carried by migrating birds, and how to predict and reduce this risk of virus spreading to human being so far. In this paper, we first reviewed the main pathogen types carried by birds, including coronaviruses, influenza viruses, parasites, Newcastle disease virus (NDV), etc., and then discussed the spread risk of avian viruses to human being and animals in key areas of biosafety prevention. We also analyzed and discussed the risk of cross-spread of diseases among different bird species in nature reserves located on bird migration routes which provide sufficient food sources for migratory birds and attract numerous birds. Diseases transmitted by wild birds pose a serious threat to poultry farms, where high density of poultry may become avian influenza virus (AIV) reservoirs, cause a risk of avian influenza outbreaks. Airports are mostly built in suburban areas or remote areas with good ecological environment. There are important transit places for bird migration and densely populated areas, which have serious risk of disease transmission. Finally, this paper puts forward the following prevention suggestions from three aspects. First, establish and improve the monitoring and prediction mechanism of migratory birds, and use laser technology to prevent contact between wild birds and poultry. Second, examine and identify virus types carried by birds in their habitats and carry out vaccination. Third, protect the ecological environment of bird habitat, and keep wild birds in their natural habitat, so as to reduce the contact between wild birds and human and poultry, and thus reduce the risk of virus transmission.
ABSTRACT
Broiler chicken eggs are one of the main and strategic foods for the people of Indonesia and contribute to regional and national inflation. Broiler egg production in Indonesia differs between regions. Areas with a surplus of eggs tend to have lower prices than areas with a deficit. This research is to measure the transmission of broiler egg prices between markets in surplus and deficit areas, using weekly price time series data for the period January 2018-December 2021. Areas of surplus broiler eggs, East Java Province (the highest broiler egg production in Indonesia) which become one of the main suppliers to the Province of East Nusa Tenggara as a deficit area. Using the Johannsen cointegration test it is found that there is no cointegration or there is no relationship between the surplus and deficit regions in the long term but not in the short term. Factors of marketing infrastructure, market information systems, and geographical conditions can be obstacles to the absence of cointegration. The VAR (Vector Auto-Regressive) Vector Error Correction model (VECM) test, found that price transmission occurred between surplus and deficit areas, meaning that between the two regions, there was market integration prior to Covid. The transmission has weakened, and due to the Covid situation, there have been restrictions on the movement of people and goods. The government and other market players need to study the response of the broiler egg market, in the short and long term so that market players can make the right policies.
ABSTRACT
Canine parvovirus (CPV), canine coronavirus (CCoV) and canine rotavirus (CRV) are the three main causative viruses of diarrhea in dogs with similar clinical symptoms;thereby it is necessary to establish a high effective molecular detection method for differentiating the above pathogens. By optimizing the primer concentration and annealing temperature, a triple PCR method was established for simultaneous detection of CPV, CCoV and CRV, and then the specificity, sensitivity and repeatability of the method were tested. The results showed that the target fragments of CPV VP2 gene (253 bp), CCoV ORF-1b gene (379 bp) and CRV VP6 gene (852 bp) could be accurately amplified by the triple PCR method with high specificity, the detection limits of CPV, CCOV and CRV were 6.44x10-1 pg/L, 8.72x10-1 pg/L and 8.35x10-1 pg/L respectively with high sensitivity, and the method had good stability. Using this triple PCR method, 135 canine diarrhea fecal samples collected in Chengdu region from 2019 to 2020 were detected, and compared with those of single PCR method. The detection rates of CPV, CCoV and CRV were 16.30%, 20.74% and 4.44%, respectively, and the total infection rate was 51.11% (65/135) with 20.00% (13/65) co-infection rate. The detection results were consistent with three single PCR methods. In conclusion, CPV/CCoV/CRV triple PCR method successfully established in this paper can be applied as an effective molecular method to detection of related pathogens and to the epidemiological investigation.
ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the current COVID-19 pandemic, has evolved to have a wide range of hosts, including non-human primates, wild and domestic animals. Determining the susceptibility of different animal species to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the role of animals in the epidemiology of the disease will be critical to designing appropriate human and veterinary public health responses to this pandemic. A better understanding of the susceptibility of animal species to SARS-CoV-2 may help clarify transmission mechanisms and identify potential reservoirs and sources of infection that are important for both animal and human health. The current pandemic produced by SARS CoV-2 and its variants represents an example of the unique concept of health (One Health) in which humans and animals are components of the same epidemiological chain. In this paper, only the natural infections found in different animals species will be reviewed, according to literature data, regarding the species of affected animals, the transmission patterns (human-animal, animal-human), clinical aspects, diagnosis confirmation and a brief presentation of the prevention possibilities through vaccination.
ABSTRACT
To establish a method for simultaneous detection of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and porcine circovirus type 3 (PCV3), specific primers and TaqMan probes were designed after sequence alignment according to the specific sequences of PCV2 Cap gene and PCV3 Cap gene on GenBank. By optimizing the reaction conditions, a duplex fluorescence quantitative PCR detection method for simultaneous detection of porcine circovirus type 2 and 3 was established, and the specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility were tested. Specificity test results showed that in addition to the positive test results for PCV2 and PCV3, tests for PRRSV, CSFV, PPV, PRV, PEDV, and TGEV were all negative with no cross-reaction, indicating its good specificity. Sensitivity test results showed that the minimum detection limit for detection of PCV2 and PCV3 can both reach 10 copies.L-1, indicating its high sensitivity. The coefficient of variation within and between groups of this method was less than 2%, indicating its good stability. A total of 181 pork and whole blood samples collected from Zhejiang Province were tested using the detection method established in this article and the standard common fluorescent PCR detection method. The results showed that the positive rate of PCV2 was 50.83% (92/181), the positive rate of PCV3 was 37.57% (68/181), and the co-infection rate of PCV2 and PCV3 was 12.15% (22/181). The above detection results of ordinary fluorescent PCR were 50.28% (91/181), 36.46% (66/181), and the co-infection rate was 11.60% (21/181). The coincidence rates of the two methods for PCV2 and PCV3 can reach 98.91% and 97.06%, and the coincidence rate for PCV2 and PCV3 mixed infection were 95.45%. In summary, the duplex fluorescence quantitative PCR detection method established in this experiment can distinguish PCV2 and PCV3 rapidly, which can be used for pathogen detection and epidemiological investigation.
ABSTRACT
Water downstream from factory farms harbours an invisible threat to people's health which could eclipse the COVID-19 crisis. The threat? Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) which are driving antimicrobial resistance the world's superbug crisis - projected to kill up to 10 million people annually by 2050. This publication reports the presence of ARGs in animal waste discharged from industrial farms into public waterways or onto soil (or crops) in four countries. Gauge community impact and sentiment regarding the issue was also highlighted. The water and sediment from public water courses connected to effluent discharges from 6-10 pig farms were tested in each of four countries (Canada, Spain, Thailand and the USA).
ABSTRACT
Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCOV) is a new type of pig intestinal coronavirus, which targets pig small intestinal epithelial cells to cause severe enteritis. After infecting the host, PDCoV finishes its proliferation in the host cell by antagonism or escape the innate immune signaling transduction pathway. In order to understand the action mechanism of PDCOV 0n the congenital immune signal transduction pathways, this paper reviews the effects of PDCOV on RLR, Jak-STAT, MAPK and mitochondrial signaling pathway to clarify the relationship between PDCOV and host innate immune signaling transduction pathways in order to provide help for the prevention and treatment of PDCOV infection.
ABSTRACT
Whether or not primates are behaviorally affected by the presence of visitors in a zoo setting is a question of great relevance to zoo animal well-being. The situation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic provided an unusual opportunity to examine how the absence of visitors impacts behavior. We took advantage of this opportunity to study the behavior of a gorilla troop during periods of no-visitors compared to our long-term database on gorilla behavior during normal zoo operations. While there were notable individual differences in response to visitors, we found no significant relationship between presence of visitors and behavior. These results suggest that the presence of visitors does not have a significant impact on behavior and well-being of zoo-housed gorillas.
ABSTRACT
Previous studies have revealed that developmental regulated brain protein (Drebrin) is involved in cell- to-cell communication, nerve transmission, tumor metastasis, spermatogenesis and other life activities, but there are few studies on viruses. The aim of the current research was therefore, to study the function of Drebrin and its effect on the proliferation of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). The Drebrin gene was cloned according to the Drebrin gene sequence (XM_008015438.2) of Chlorocebus sabaeus registered by GenBank, and the phylogenetic tree was constructed to analyze its homology. The results showed that the CDS region of Vero cells Drebrin gene was 2088 bp long, encoding 695 amino acids, and was relatively conserved and had high homology with all species. To investigate the effect of Drebrin on the proliferation of PEDV in Vero cells, the eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1-Drebrin-Flag was constructed. After transfection of Vero cells with different concentrations of pcDNA3.1-Drebrin-Flag, cells were infected with PEDV. Our results showed that overexpression of Drebrin in Vero cells could significantly inhibit the intracellular PEDV mRNA level and N protein expression, reduce the extracellular virus titer and inhibit the proliferation of PEDV. Further study on the interaction between Drebrin and PEDV S proteins by laser confocal technique was also performed. The results showed that Drebrin and S protein were co-located in the cytoplasm, suggesting that the two proteins may interact with each other. This study demonstrated for the first time that Drebrin can inhibit PEDV proliferation in Vero cells, laying a foundation for further research in to Drebrin function and provides a valuable information for anti-PEDV research.
ABSTRACT
To develop a multiplex fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR for the detection of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) and swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), in this study, specific primers/probes were designed based on the conserved regions of M, M and N gene sequences of PEDV, PDCoV and SADS-CoV, respectively. After optimization of the reaction conditions, a multiplex fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR for PEDV, PDCoV and SADS-CoV was established. The results of specificity assay showed that the method was positive for detection of PEDV, PDCoV and SADS-CoV, and negative for detection of porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus, porcine rotavirus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine pseudorabies virus, porcine circovirus type 2, porcine parvovirus, classical swine fever virus and foot-and-mouth disease virus. The results of sensitivity assay showed that the detection limit of this method for PEDV, PDCoV, and SADS-CoV plasmids standard was 1.0x101 copies/L, and had a good linear relationship with their Ct values in the range of 101 copies/L to 106 copies/L. The results of repeatability assay showed that the coefficients of variation (CVs) of intra- and inter-assay reproducibility ranged from 0.33% to 2.53%, indicating good repeatability and stability. To evaluate the effects of the developed method, 100 clinical samples collected from different parts of Henan province were used for detection of these three viruses and compared with those of single RT-PCR and standard methods. The results of multiplex fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR showed that the positive rates of PEDV, PDCoV and SADS-CoV were 38% (38/100), 14% (14/100) and 5% (5/100), respectively. There was no mixed infection. The coincidence rate with the standard detection methods of PEDV and PDCoV was 100%, and the sensitivity was higher than that of single RT-PCR. In this study, a specific, sensitive and rapid multiplex fluorescent quantitative RTPCR method was established for the first time, which could be used for the differential detection of PEDV, PDCoV and SADS-CoV, and laid a foundation for the differential diagnosis and control of porcine diarrheal diseases.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To characterize clinical and epidemiologic features of SARS-CoV-2 in companion animals detected through both passive and active surveillance in the US. ANIMALS: 204 companion animals (109 cats, 95 dogs) across 33 states with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections between March 2020 and December 2021. PROCEDURES: Public health officials, animal health officials, and academic researchers investigating zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 transmission events reported clinical, laboratory, and epidemiologic information through a standardized One Health surveillance process developed by the CDC and partners. RESULTS: Among dogs and cats identified through passive surveillance, 94% (n = 87) had reported exposure to a person with COVlD-19 before infection. Clinical signs of illness were present in 74% of pets identified through passive surveillance and 27% of pets identified through active surveillance. Duration of illness in pets averaged 15 days in cats and 12 days in dogs. The average time between human and pet onset of illness was 10 days. Viral nucleic acid was first detected at 3 days after exposure in both cats and dogs. Antibodies were detected starting 5 days after exposure, and titers were highest at 9 days in cats and 14 days in dogs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results of the present study supported that cats and dogs primarily become infected with SARS-CoV-2 following expo- sure to a person with COVID-19, most often their owners. Case investigation and surveillance that include both people and animals are necessary to understand transmission dynamics and viral evolution of zoonotic diseases like SARS-CoV-2.
ABSTRACT
Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is among the most impactful poultry pathogens, whose control, based on biosecurity and routine vaccination, is hampered by the existence of countless genetic variants sharing poor cross-protection. A retrospective study was conducted on IBV positive samples collected in Italian broiler farms from 2012 to 2019. In 2015, the adopted vaccination protocol shifted from a Mass and 793B-based vaccines to the administration of Mass and QX vaccines, allowing to study how changes in vaccination strategies may affect IBV epidemiology, control and diagnosis in the field. The most frequently detected lineages were QX (70.3%), 793B (15.8%) and Mass (11.9%). The relative frequencies of QX and 793B detections remained stable throughout the study, while Mass detections significantly increased after the vaccination change. Rather than to an actual growth of Mass population size, this finding may be attributable to different vaccine interactions, with Mass strains being more frequently concealed by 793B vaccines than by QX ones. Based on the obtained results, the two vaccination protocols appear to be similarly effective in fighting IB outbreaks, which in the last decade have been caused primarily by QX field strains in Italy. These results indicate that vaccination strategies may significantly affect IBV epidemiology and diagnosis, and should therefore be considered when choosing and interpreting diagnostic assays and planning control measures.
ABSTRACT
Background: In the past few decades the animal keeping culture and habits have changed a lot internationally, some animals have become family members. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented situation in the world, including Hungary. In many places, the quarantine period was associated with Isolation and, therefore, an increase in the number of companion animals. Objectives: Our aims were to (1) survey the animal keeping culture and habits, (2) examine the motivation of the owners and (3) explore the attitudes about adoption, neutering, breeding and the use of livestock animals in Hungary. Materials and Methods: Specialized surveys were conducted among 843 persons through social media and personal interviews from 20 June to 30 August 2021 by using a questionnaire including 16 questions. The chosen groups were compared with Fisher's Exact test and Chi-square test. Results and Discussion: 97.0% of the respondents regard their dog as a family member. Nearly 25% of the respondents do not wish to neuter their dogs, because they want to breed the dogs or they find it unnecessary. The primary reason for cat keepers not to neuter their pet is the financial issue. Animal keepers and women are significantly more likely to consider their animal as a family member (p < 0.001). Men, the elderly, people who live in the countryside and those who have only elementary education think that neutering is of less importance (p < 0.001). Non-animal keepers, elderly people and men think more negatively about adoption. Buying an animal from a breeder is more important to the younger age groups (p < 0.001) arid those who live in Budapest (p < 0.01). 42.3% of the respondents gave the lowest evaluation scores to the assessment of the livestock units. Women, people from younger age groups (p < 0.05) and those who have higher education (p < 0.001) think more negatively about the use of farm animals. Non-animal keepers, the elderly and people of lower education consider the livestock animals' emotional intelligence lower (p < 0.05). Men (p < 0.001), people over 65 years of age (p < 0.001) and of lower education (p < 0:01), and also non-animal keepers (p < 0.001) accept significantly easier the use of livestock animals.
ABSTRACT
This publication focuses on a group of vignettes to help understand zoonotic diseases, the anthropogenic factors accelerating their emergence, and the consequences of these events. While human activities and behavior are mostly responsible for creating this new era, the world struggles to prepare, change behavior, and rethink strategies to effectively address the inevitability of more frequent occurrences and severity of disease outbreaks and pandemics. Although we know and have experienced the cost of failure, past disease outbreaks seem to be quickly lost from our collective memories and new innovative interventions have not been imagined or adopted. This publication highlights examples that challenge our traditional actions and thinking and emphasize the need to adopt new approaches to prevent or ameliorate zoonotic diseases. The consensus of the experts contributing to this publication is that One Health should be embraced to achieve these results. The growing costs and societal disruptions of outbreaks and pandemics demand that zoonoses be part of our national security planning and deserve commensurate investments in preparedness, prevention, research, and resilience. This publication also highlights the necessity to fundamentally rethink and reestablish new relationships among institutions, organizations, and countries and especially between humanity and our natural systems worldwide.
ABSTRACT
The upheaval wrought on the U.S. beef industry by the global COVID-19 pandemic carried with it several lessons that might help improve resiliency should there be a reoccurrence. First, the futures market for fed cattle fell well before cash prices, which sent a signal to market cattle early, and those who did so benefited. Second, the decline in futures anticipated the closure of slaughter plants and provided an opportunity to purchase and store beef primals in anticipation of future scarcity. Third, the beef industry has ways of slowing or stopping the pipeline of animals destined for feed yards and can "store" these animals in background feeding facilities or on pasture or rangeland. Producers who waited to sell feeder cattle benefited from higher feeder cattle prices once the processing facilities reopened. Fourth, cow slaughter plants responded to the pandemic and subsequent scarcity of labor much better than large fed-cattle plants. Cow plants are not as sophisticated and complex as fed-cattle plants. This relative simplicity may help explain the superior performance of these plants during the crisis. Sixth, the academic work on the value of building smaller plants as a response against concentration provides mixed results-these plants require more labor per animal and can be even more susceptible to labor scarcity. Seventh, the observed increase in boxed beef prices, even as fed cattle prices fell, demonstrates the risk-mitigating impact of producer ownership of downstream activities in the value chain.
ABSTRACT
The health of domesticated animals and wild animals is frequently threatened by animal illnesses. It typically receives less attention and information than illnesses that also impact humans, including the Corona virus. To be able to respond quickly, it is crucial to understand the epidemic's progression and transmission vectors. Numerous new diseases have been reported in the news over the past 20 years, the majority of which having an animal source (zoonoses). Examples from recent times include the West Nile virus, SARS, avian influenza, and monkeypox. Some developing diseases impact both humans and animals, whereas others only affect either animals or humans. All of these emerging or reemerging illnesses, however, have societal repercussions that are frequently connected to regional and global economy. Understanding the effects of newly emerging animal diseases is crucial, as is promoting closer veterinarian and medical professional collaboration, particularly in rural regions. The index cases for newly developing diseases may be illnesses that affect agricultural laborers.
ABSTRACT
Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic illness that spreads from animals to people. Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan parasite that infects warm-blooded mammals, causes the sickness. Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that causes abortion and death in animals. Cats are the parasite's sole sexual hosts, thus they're the only ones who can get it. Because cats are frequent pets, they are highly likely to come into touch with humans. As a result, the disease poses a risk to human health. The potential danger is influenced by the frequency of oocyst secretion and the level of contamination in the environment. Toxoplasmosis has serious consequences for both animal and human health, hence preventative actions should be taken to reduce the dangers. COVID-19 is affected by such methods as well. Toxoplasmosis is thought to increase immunological and immunosuppressive factors, which increases the chance of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the severity of the resulting COVID-19. Research into Toxoplasma gondii intermediate hosts might help understand COVID-19's dynamics and determine if the virus can be transferred from animals to humans. We explore what we know about Toxoplasma gondii infection as a human parasitosis and how it may alter the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this review study.
ABSTRACT
Procurement of game animals is a major source of revenue for hunting clubs in Poland. For several years, the game meat buying market has been showing an upward trend, but this situation is also influenced by random factors that negatively affect the value of the game meat buying market. For several years in our country we have been struggling with the ASF virus, and since 2020, negative effects in the economy related to the occurrence of the SARS-CoV virus have been observed, also affecting the hunting sector with its activities. The aim of the study was to analyze the dynamics of game meat procurement in Poland in the years 2009-2021. The data concerned the three most important species, namely deer, roe deer and wild boar. The analysis covered the quantity of game meat, procurement value and the average price of game meat depending on animal species. The conducted research confirmed an upward trend in the volume and value of game meat procurement for all the analysed game species. Similarly, the average procurement prices of roe dee and wild boar meat with the exception of red deer, showed an upward trend. The study confirmed the negative impact of the ASF virus and the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the game meat buying market in Poland.
ABSTRACT
The recent epidemic caused by aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 virus illustrates the importance and vulnerability of the mucosal epithelial barrier against infection. Antimicrobial proteins and peptides (AMPs) are key to the epithelial barrier, providing immunity against microbes. In primitive life forms, AMPs protect the integument and the gut against pathogenic microbes. AMPs have also evolved in humans and other mammals to enhance newer, complex innate and adaptive immunity to favor the persistence of commensals over pathogenic microbes. The canonical AMPs are helictical peptides that form lethal pores in microbial membranes. In higher life forms, this type of AMP is exemplified by the defensin family of AMPs. In epithelial tissues, defensins, and calprotectin (complex of S100A8 and S100A9) have evolved to work cooperatively. The mechanisms of action differ. Unlike defensins, calprotectin sequesters essential trace metals from microbes, which inhibits growth. This review focuses on defensins and calprotectin as AMPs that appear to work cooperatively to fortify the epithelial barrier against infection. The antimicrobial spectrum is broad with overlap between the two AMPs. In mice, experimental models highlight the contribution of both AMPs to candidiasis as a fungal infection and periodontitis resulting from bacterial dysbiosis. These AMPs appear to contribute to innate immunity in humans, protecting the commensal microflora and restricting the emergence of pathobionts and pathogens. A striking example in human innate immunity is that elevated serum calprotectin protects against neonatal sepsis. Calprotectin is also remarkable because of functional differences when localized in epithelial and neutrophil cytoplasm or released into the extracellular environment. In the cytoplasm, calprotectin appears to protect against invasive pathogens. Extracellularly, calprotectin can engage pathogen-recognition receptors to activate innate immune and proinflammatory mechanisms. In inflamed epithelial and other tissue spaces, calprotectin, DNA, and histones are released from degranulated neutrophils to form insoluble antimicrobial barriers termed neutrophil extracellular traps. Hence, calprotectin and other AMPs use several strategies to provide microbial control and stimulate innate immunity.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to clone, express and identify the truncated S1 gene of nephrotropic infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) of chicken. Firstly, two genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cloned into pMD18-T vector. The truncated S1 gene designated as Sf200 containing five antigenic sites of S1 glycoprotein on amino acid residues (aa) 24-61, (aa) 291-398 and (aa) 497-543 and GM-CSF were then amplified from the respective recombinant pMD18-T plasmids and cloned into pET-32a (+) vector resulting pET-Sf200, pET-GM which were identified by restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing analysis. The in vitro expression of truncated Sf200 and GM-CSF constructs were later expressed in E. coli BL21 with a molecular mass of approximately 38 kDa and 29 kDa respectively as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis. Polyclonal antibodies were developed by injecting E. coli expressed Sf200 and GM-CSF into the SPF mice and were used to identify the recombinant proteins by Western blot analysis. These findings indicated that the polyclonal antibodies produced in mice could be used to detect the recombinant truncated Sf200 and GM-CSF and vice versa.