Subconjunctival Dirofilariasis Presenting as Orbital Cellulitis.

Human ocular Dirofilariasis is a relatively rare, zoonotic disease, caused by a filarial nematode, Dirofilaria repens. This parasitic infestation usually presents as a subconjunctival nodule with hyperemia. The authors present a case of subconjunctival dirofilariasis in a 91-year-old gentleman, who presented with manifestations of orbital cellulitis. The live worm was surgically removed and identified to be D. repens.

Efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae) on developmental stages of house fly, Musca domestica.

The housefly, Musca domestica is a major domestic, medical and veterinary pest. The management of these flies reliance on insecticide, causes environmental constraints, insecticide resistance and residues in the meat, skin. Therefore one of the eco-friendly alternate methods is by using biological agents such as entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN). In the present study evaluated the survival of EPN species Steinernema feltiae, Heterorhabditis indica, S. carpocapsae, S. glaseri and S. abbasi in poultry manure and also their efficacy against different developmental stages of house fly. After exposing to poultry manure, S. feltiae showed more survival as followed by H. indica, S. carpocapsae, S. glaseri and S. abbasi in all exposition period. When the exposition period extended to 96 h, all nematode species survivability was drastically reduced. After exposing these nematodes to poultry manure at 24 h their virulence capacity against wax moth, Galleria mellonella showed all the nematode species were able cause 100% mortality. However their progeny production was significantly reduced. Fly eggs and pupae were refractory to these nematode infection. Petri dish without artificial diet assay showed that, second and 3rd-instar larvae were highly susceptible to EPNs as compared to larvae provided with artificial diet. H. indica showed high virulence capacity compared to other nematodes tested. Poultry manure assay revealed that, H. indica and S. carpocapsae caused minimal mortality where as S. feltiae, S. glaseri and S. abbasi did not cause any mortality. This may be because of poor survival and limited movement of nematodes in poultry manure which may be due to ammonia, other toxic substances in poultry manure. The decrease in larval mortality in manure suggests that biocontrol of housefly by using EPNs is unlikely.

Prevalence of different species of Culicoides in Bangalore rural and urban districts of South India.

A study was conducted to observe the prevalence of Culicoides a biting midge, important pest and prime vector for various viruses, protozoa and filarid worms. In the vicinity of 11 different farms of cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats in Bangalore rural and urban districts the flies were collected by using UV traps (Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. ARC. LNR) connected with suction fan for the period of 1 year (2012-2013). Around 83,629 Culicoides were collected of which 77,906 (93.16 %) were female and 5,723 (6.84 %) were males and 40,120 (47.97 %) of C. imicola, 39,366 (47.07 %) C. oxystoma, 2,504 (2.99 %) C. actoni, 1,145 (1.37 %) C. peregrinus, 145 (0.17 %) C. huffi, 120 (0.16 %) C. innoxius, 90 (0.11 %) C. palpifer, 67 (0.08 %) C. anopheles, 37 (0.04 %) C. circumscriptus and 25 (0.03 %) were C. arakawae. It was observed that C. imicola and C. oxystoma were the most predominant species prevalent in Bangalore rural and urban districts of Karnataka.

Comparison of different diagnostic techniques for the detection of cryptosporidiosis in bovines.

AIM: Aim of the present study was to compare different methods, viz., Sheather's sugar flotation (SSF), Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN), Kinyoun's acid-fast method (KAF), safranin-methylene blue staining (SMB), and negative staining techniques such as nigrosin staining, light green staining, and malachite green staining for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts in bovines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 455 fecal samples from bovines were collected from private, government farms and from the clinical cases presented to Department of Medicine, Veterinary College, Bengaluru. They were subjected for SSF, ZN, KAF, SMB and negative staining methods. RESULTS: Out of 455 animal fecal samples screened 5.71% were found positive for Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts. The species were identified as Cryptosporidium parvum in calves and Cryptosporidium andersoni in adults based on the morphological characterization and micrometry of the oocysts. CONCLUSIONS: Of all the techniques, fecal flotation with sheather's was found to be more specific and sensitive method for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts. Among the conventional staining methods, the SMB gives better differentiation between oocysts and yeast. Among the three negative staining methods, malachite green was found sensitive over the other methods.

Morphological characterization of Setaria worms collected from cattle.

Morphological characters of Setaria sp. collected from cattle and buffaloes were studied. Three species Setaria digitata, Setaria cervi and Setaria labiatopapillosa were identified in the present study. Out of the 500 cattle screened 187 were found to harbour worms. 56.8 % (106) of animals with S. digitata, 24.13 % (45) had S. cervi and 18.96 % (36) had S. labiatopapillosa. Morphological characters of male and female worms of all the three species were studied in detail.

Sero-diagnosis of Echinococcus granulosus infection in dogs using faecal supernatant antigen.

In the present study, sero-diagnosis of Echinococcus granulosus infection in dogs was studied using 250 field serum samples, collected from stray dogs. The three serological techniques viz., latex agglutination test (LAT), Dot-ELISA and enzyme immunotransfer blot (EITB) were used to detect E. granulosus specific anti-bodies using fecal supernatant antigen. The LAT detected positivity in 53 (21.2 %) serum samples with the sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 78.80 % respectively. Whereas, the Dot-ELISA, showed positivity in 45 (18.0 %) samples and the sensitivity and specificity were 100 and 82.0 % respectively. The specific antibodies were detected in 47 (18.80 %) serum samples by EITB and the polypeptides of 45 and 34 kDa were identified in all the positive serum samples. The sensitivity and specificity of EITB were found to be 100 and 86.80 %, respectively.

Prevalence of bovine fasciolosis based on faecal examination and abattoir survey in Karnataka.

The prevalence of fasciolosis was evaluated in bovines based on coprological examination and postmortem liver examination of slaughtered cattle and buffaloes. The faecal examination of 130 cattle and 135 buffaloes revealed a prevalence of 9.9 % in cattle and 13.3 % in buffaloes respectively. The examination of livers from cattle and buffaloes (155 each) slaughtered at the KMPMCL abattoir revealed the prevalence of fasciolosis was 20.6 % in cattle and 22.5 % in buffaloes. The results were statistically significant in faecal examination and not significant in liver examination from cattle and buffaloes respectively.

Survival, activity and release of antigenic excretory secretory products and microfilariae of Setaria digitata maintained in artificial media.

The survival, activity and release of excretory secretory products from Setaria digitata, the filarial worm of cattle was studied. Adult female worms were maintained in vitro in DMEM and Tyrode solution. Worms incubated in DMEM were alive and very active for 2 days. The activity was moderate for another 2 days and after the fourth day increased mortality was observed. Antigenic excretory secretory products were also released. Worms incubated in Tyrode solution were very active without any mortality up to 4 h of incubation. Copious amount of ova and microfilaria were shed by the incubated worms in a time-dependent manner.

Evaluation of a polyclonal antibody based sandwich ELISA for the detection of faecal antigens in Schistosoma spindale infection in bovines.

Schistosomosis is a common parasitic infection in animals prevalent in cattle in Asia and Africa, where it is estimated that at least 165 million animals are infected. Out of the 10 species reported to naturally infect cattle only Schistosoma nasale and Schistosoma spindale have received particular attention, because of their recognized veterinary significance. Although animal schistosomes may, under rare conditions favouring intensive transmission, act as important pathogens in endemic areas occur at a subclinical level, causing significant losses due to long term effects on animal growth and productivity. The detection of Schistosoma antigens in serum or stool could be more valuable in diagnosis, hence early treatment before irreparable damage. In this study, fresh adult worms of S. spindale were collected from the mesenteric blood vessels, whole worm antigen was prepared. These were immunized to rabbit and guinea pig to raise antibodies against S. spindale. Polyclonal antibodies of rabbit are further used as primary capture antibodies to coat ELISA plates. The capture of antibodies of guinea pig was conjugation with horse reddish peroxidase was used as secondary antibodies. Sandwich ELISA was performed to detect Schistosoma antigens in faecal samples collected from a total of 86 infected cattle and buffaloes. The working dilutions of capture antibody, detecting antibody and conjugate were found to be 1:32, 1:20 and 1:5,000 respectively by checker board titration method. The dilution of faecal supernatant antigens of S. spindale antibodies was 1:80. Out of 86 faecal samples, 77 samples were positive by Sandwich ELISA indicating 89.54 % infection. Where as in control samples none of the samples was positive. In mixed infection out of 20 samples positive for fasciola, amphistome and hydatid, Out of 20 samples 2 samples were positive indicating 10 % infection rate. The overall sensitivity of this test is 88.65 % and specificity was 90.90 %. It could be concluded that sandwich ELISA is a rapid, easy and sensitive assay for diagnosis of S. spindale infection in bovines.