Disease prevention and preparedness: the Food and Agriculture Organization Emergency Prevention System.

In 1994, the Food and Agriculture Organization undertook to revitalise its activities in the control of transboundary animal disease by establishing a new special programme known as the Emergency Prevention System (EMPRES) against transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases. The emphasis of the EMPRES livestock component is placed on pre-empting outbreaks and losses experienced by agriculture through the enhancement of local capacity to detect and react rapidly to plague events. EMPRES concentrates on the co-ordination of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme--a time-bound eradication programme--whilst addressing the progressive control of the most serious epidemic diseases within a broad framework of emergency preparedness. Programme activities are discussed in relation to early warning, early reaction, facilitating research and co-ordination. In addition to rinderpest, particular attention has been paid to contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, a re-emerging disease in Africa targeted for strategic attention, and foot and mouth disease, for which co-ordinated regional control in Latin America and South-East Asia has been initiated. Tactical responses to other disease emergencies such as African swine fever, classical swine fever (hog cholera), Rift Valley fever, peste des petits ruminants and lumpy skin disease are described.

Specificity of the agar gel microimmunodiffusion test in rabies diagnostics.

The agar-gel microimmunodiffusion test (MIDT) with commercially available antirabies sera from different sources was applied to evaluation of rabies infection at about 500 brains from suspected animals. The high nonspecificity of the test and false positive results with nonvirulent materials were stated when compared with the histopathological, biological and FA tests. For evaluation of the nonspecificity and its cause, different antirabies sera and brain antigens from noninfected and rabid animals were used. Absorption of sera with tissue powders or immuno absorbent had a little influence on test specificity. The main causes of nonspecificity was the presence of antibrain antibodies in sera of producers-animals hiperimmunized by brain and spinal cord tissue vaccines. Application of the test to rabies diagnostics without purified control antigens and highly specific sera seems to be unjustified.

Laboratory investigations on "postvaccinall rabies" caused by live sheep-brain vaccine.

The viral ethiology of postvaccinal complications among 30 dogs vaccinated by live antirabies vaccine (Umeno-Doi type, sheep brain vaccine) was fully confirmed. Three lots of virulent vaccine were inoculated subcutaneously into groups of "Wistar" rats according to the different schemes. Between the 1st and 12th day after the end of the vaccination there were no isolations of fixed virus in direct and blind i.c. passages of suspensions made from the thalamus area on succkling mice and rats. Also the viral antigen in the CNS of vaccinated but apparently healthy rats was undetectable. The "postvaccinal rabies" with the next isolation of fixed r.v. in the CNS was developed experimentally in rats only following the subcutaneous injection of the crude sheep-brain's and spinal cord's suspensions--composing the materials to production of antirabies vaccine.

[Immunofluorescent studies with IBR/IPV virus on cell culture]. / Badania immunofluorescencyjne z wirusem IBR/IPV w hodowli komórkowej.

The anti IBR/IPV virus (FITC labelled) conjugate was prepared from the bull's hyperimmune serum according to the method applied in CVL Weybridge for preparation of anti-Swine-Fever Conjugate (anti genital strain of virus). The conjugate was titrated using Calf Kidney primary monolayers grown on coverslips in Leighton tubes and inoculated with "Oxford" and "Carmarthen" strains of IBR/IPV virus. The conjugate was active for the first strain in dil. 1:16 and for the second in dil. 1:8. The specificity of reagent was checked both with strains of IBR/IPV viruses and other Herpesviruses: Aujesky Disease and Bovine Mammalitis and heterological conjugates (TGE, HCV). The morphological changes of infected cells and development of specific fluorescence were studied against the increase of extracellular viral titres. The time of appearance of specific fluorescence following inoculation of cells with a low, specially selected virus cell multiplicity ratio = 0.22 was 12-16 hours p.i. which corresponded to viral liter of fluid 1.0 [- log TCID50/-0.1 ml]. The visible CPE occurred at 32-36 hours after infection. The possibility of application of the above-mentioned conjugate to immunofluorescent studies with cells infected by IBR/IPV virus was confirmed.