Risk of babesiosis and anaplasmosis in different ecological zones of Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia.

A cross-sectional study was done of seroprevalence of Babesia bigemina, B.bovis, and Anaplasma marginale in cattle from eastern Bolivia, to characterise the risk of tick-borne disease in three ecological zones. Nineteen farms were sampled in the subtropical humid zone, 13 in the dry subtropical zone and nine in the lower western valleys of the Andean massif. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used. All three pathogens were widespread. For B. bovis, seroprevalences were high (75-78%) in the two subtropical zones which thus had low risk of disease from this infection; but the western valleys were endemically unstable with higher risk. For B. bigemina, seroprevalences were lower (24-57%) in the two subtropical zones and thus these areas were endemically unstable for disease from this infection. However, the seroprevalence of B. bigemina in the western valleys was too low (13%) for risk of disease in susceptible cattle to be considered high. For A. marginale, the seroprevalences in the two subtropical zones were low (19-32%) and very low (6%) in the western valleys suggesting all these zones were endemically unstable for anaplasmosis. Data for individual farms were analysed for risk of both forms of babesiosis; this showed low risk of disease in the subtropical humid zone, higher risk in the dry subtropical zone and variable risk in the western valleys.

Mastitis control programme in the developing dairy industry of tropical lowland Bolivia.

Mastitis is an important disease in developing dairy industries. This paper describes a commercial mastitis control programme in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, based upon the five-point mastitis control plan and bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC) monitoring. Twelve farms which participated on the programme for 6 years are considered. Mean annual BTSCC fell steadily from 1,200,000 cells/ml to 461,000 cells/ml over this time. This progressive improvement was probably a result of increasing use of and attention to detail in mastitis control practices. The control of subclinical mastitis improved in both hand-milked and machine-milked herds, though hand-milked herds consistently produced milk of higher BTSCC. The mastitis programme did not appear to influence the incidence of clinical mastitis. The concludes that a simple mastitis programme based on the five-point plan and BTSCC monitoring can be commercially implemented and effectively control subclinical mastitis in a tropical, developing country.

Costo de la atencion a personas mordidas por perros en Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. / The cost of medical care for persons bitten by dogs in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

La incidencia de rabia humana en Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, llevo a efectuar un estudio del costo del tratamiento de las personas que acudieron al Centro Antirrabico de esa ciudad por haber tenido contacto o haber sido mordidas por un animal que se sospechaba rabioso