Temporal and Spatial Epidemiological Analysis of Peste Des Petits Ruminants Outbreaks from the Past 25 Years in Sheep and Goats and Its Control in India.

This study was aimed to understand the temporal and spatial epidemiology of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in India using national surveillance data available in the National Animal Diseases Referral Expert System (NADRES) along with its control plan undertaken. On analysis of the outbreaks/cases reports in sheep and goats in NADRES database from 1995 to 2019, it was observed that PPR features among the top ten diseases and stands first among viral diseases, and among reported deaths, PPR accounts for 36% of mortality in sheep and goats. PPR outbreaks occur round the year in all the seasons but are encountered most frequently during the lean period especially, in the winter season (January to February) in different regions/zones. The reported outbreaks have been progressively declined in most of the states in India due to the implementation of a mass vaccination strategic program since 2011. On state-wise analysis, the PPR risk-areas showed wide variations with different levels of endemicity. Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka were the top three outbreaks reported states during 1995-2010, whereas Jharkhand and West Bengal states reported more outbreaks during 2011-2015 and 2016-2019 periods. The temporal and spatial distribution of PPR in India provides valuable information on the hotspot areas/zones to take appropriate policy decisions towards its prevention and control in different regions/zones of India. The study also identifies when and where intensive surveillance and vaccination along with biosecurity measures need to be implemented for the control and eradication of the disease from India in consonance with the PPR Global Control and Eradication Strategy.

Meta-analysis of the prevalence of livestock diseases in North Eastern Region of India.

AIM: The study aimed to determine the overall prevalence of livestock diseases in North Eastern Region (NER) of India, through a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The articles used for the study were retrieved from PubMed, J-Gate Plus, Indian Journals, and Google scholar, R open-source scripting software 3.4.3. Metafor, Meta. The Chi-square test was conducted to assess for the heterogeneity, forest plot (confidence interval [CI] plot) is a method utilized to present the results of meta-analysis, displaying effect estimate and their CIs for each study were used for searching and retrieval of livestock diseases prevalence data in India using a search strategy combining keywords and related database-specific subject terms from 2008 to 2017 in English only. RESULTS: The prevalence of various livestock diseases are foot-and-mouth disease (21%), bluetongue (28%), brucellosis in bovine (17%), brucellosis in caprine (2%), brucellosis in porcine (18%), brucellosis in sheep and goat (3%), babesiosis (6%), theileriosis (26%), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (1%), porcine cysticercosis (6%), classical swine fever (31%), Porcine circovirus (43%), and Peste des petits ruminants (15%). This information helps policymakers to take appropriate measures to reduce the disease burden. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the overall prevalence of various livestock diseases in NER of India.

Cultivable Microbial Diversity Associated With Cellular Phones.

A substantial majority of global population owns cellular phones independently to demographic factors like age, economic status, and educational attainment. In this study, we investigated the diversity of microorganisms associated with cellular phones of 27 individuals using cultivation-based methods. Cellular phones were sampled using cotton swabs and a total of 554 isolates representing different morphotypes were obtained on four growth media. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry could generate protein profiles for 527 isolates and species-level identification was obtained for 415 isolates. A dendrogram was constructed based on the protein profiles of the remaining isolates, to group 112 isolates under 39 different proteotypes. The representative strains of each group were selected for 16S rRNA gene and ITS region sequencing based identification. Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Micrococcus, and Pseudomonas were the most frequently encountered bacteria, and Candida, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, and Cryptococcus were in case of fungi. At species-level the prevalence of Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus hominis, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus arlettae, Bacillus subtilis, and Candida parapsilosis was observed, most of these species are commensal microorganisms of human skin. UPGMA dendrogram and PCoA biplot generated based on the microbial communities associated with all cellular phones exhibited build-up of specific communities on cellular phones and the prevalence of objectionable microorganisms in some of the cellular phones can be attributed to the poor hygiene and sanitary practices. The study also revealed the impact of MALDI-TOF MS spectral quality on the identification results. Overall MALDI-TOF appears a powerful tool for routine microbial identification and de-replication of microorganisms. Quality filtering of MALDI-TOF MS spectrum, development of better sample processing methods and enriching the spectral database will improve the role of MALDI-TOF MS in microbial identifications.

Microbacterium telephonicum sp. nov., isolated from the screen of a cellular phone.

A cultivation-based study of the microbial diversity of cellular phone screens led to the isolation of a Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, rod-shaped and non-endospore-forming bacterium, designated S2T63T, exhibiting phenotypic and genotypic characteristics unique to the type strains of closely related species. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the strain is a member of Microbacterium, and most closely related to Microbacterium aurantiacum IFO 15234T and Microbacterium kitamiense Kitami C2T. The DNA-DNA relatedness values of the strain S2T63T to M. aurantiacum KACC 20510T, M. kitamiense KACC 20514Tand Microbacterium laevaniformans KACC 14463T were 65 % (±4), 29.5 % (±3) and 55.9 % (±4), respectively. The genomic DNA G+C content was 71.8 mol%. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, C16 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The main polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and two unidentified polar lipids. The peptidoglycan contained the amino acids glycine, lysine, alanine and glutamic acid, with substantial amounts of hydroxy glutamic acid detected, which is characteristic of peptidoglycan type B1α. The predominant menaquinones were MK-12 and MK-13. Rhamnose, fucose and galactose were the whole-cell sugars detected. The strain also showed biofilm production, estimated by using crystal violet assay. Based on the results of the phenotypic and genotypic characterizations, it was concluded that the new strain represents a novel species of the genus Microbacterium, for which the name Microbacteriumtelephonicum is proposed, with S2T63T (=MCC 2967T=KACC 18715T=LMG 29293T) as the type strain.

Description of Lysinibacillus telephonicus sp. nov., isolated from the screen of a cellular phone.

A novel bacterial strain, designated S5H2222T, was isolated form the screen of a cellular phone. The cells were Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped, aerobic and motile, and endospores are formed. S5H2222T grew as pale white colonies on trypticase soy agar and the best growth was observed at 37 °C (10-55 °C) and at pH 7.0 (5.0-9.0). S5H2222T could tolerate up to 10 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences placed this strain within the genus Lysinibacillus and it exhibited high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Lysinibacillus halotolerans LAM612T (97.8 %), Lysinibacillus chungkukjangi 2RL3-2T (97.4 %) and Lysinibacillus sinduriensis BLB-1T (97.2 %). The DNA-DNA relatedness of the strain with L. halotolerans JCM 19611T, L. chungkukjangi KACC 16626T and L. sinduriensis KACC 16611T was 57, 64 and 55 % respectively. The genomic DNA G+C content was 39.8 mol%. The major fatty acids of S5H2222T were iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. MK-7 was the only menaquinone and the main polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine, four unidentified polar lipids were also present. The diagnostic amino acids in the cell wall peptidoglycan contained Lys-Asp (type A4α). On the basis of the results of the phenotypic and genotypic characterizations, it was concluded that S5H2222T represents a novel species of the genus Lysinibacillus, for which the name Lysinibacillus telephonicus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S5H2222T (=MCC 3065T=KACC 18714T=LMG 29294T).