ABSTRACT
Sera from sheep and goats in northern Somalia which are exported to countries of the Persian Gulf are systematically checked for brucellosis by local veterinary teams. The standard test used is rapid seroagglutination using the Rose Bengal test (RBT) and seropositive animals are not exported. In order to assess the reliability of the serological results, three randomised batches of samples (653 sera), corresponding to an equivalent number of shipments (October and December 1994 and March 1995) were counterchecked. Control RBTs were carried out by expatriate veterinarians working on behalf of international non-governmental organisations and by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Padua, Italy, which also performed the complement fixation test (CFT). A fourth batch (n = 100), including a group of sera found positive by the local veterinary teams, was also checked. Agreement ranged from 96.3% to 98.5%.
Subject(s)
Agglutination Tests/veterinary , Brucellosis/veterinary , Fluorescent Dyes , Goat Diseases/diagnosis , Rose Bengal , Sheep Diseases/diagnosis , Agglutination Tests/standards , Animals , Antibodies, Bacterial/blood , Brucella/immunology , Brucellosis/diagnosis , Brucellosis/epidemiology , Brucellosis/prevention & control , Complement Fixation Tests/veterinary , Goat Diseases/epidemiology , Goat Diseases/prevention & control , Goats , Prevalence , Random Allocation , Reproducibility of Results , Sheep , Sheep Diseases/epidemiology , Sheep Diseases/prevention & control , SomaliaABSTRACT
Three cows were repeatedly infected with different strains of Trypanosoma congolense and treated intramuscularly each time with a different dose of diminazene aceturate (Berenil). Biphasic decline was observed of the maximal plasma drug levels, which were attained at 15 min after the first treatment and at 30 min after the second and third treatments. The rate constants for the distribution and terminal phases depended on the period of exposure to parasitaemia of the animal at the time of treatment. Maximal diminazene aceturate residue levels were found in milk 8 h post treatment and declined biexponentially to 4.56 ng ml-1 and 8.76 ng ml-1 at 21 days post treatment after 3.5 mg kg-1 and 7.0 mg kg-1 doses, respectively. In the three cows, higher drug residues were found in the kidney (7.04, 3.92 and 7.99 micrograms g-1) than in liver (3.26, 2.87 and 1.24 micrograms g-1) and heart (1.79, 1.25 and 1.03 micrograms g-1). The results of this study indicate that the level of parasitaemia (degree of anaemia) in the animal at the time of treatment affects the distribution, disposition and elimination of diminazene aceturate in the animal. Furthermore, the residue level in milk after treatment depends on the treatment dose and could easily be bioavailable to the consumer.
