• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.93-97
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• 2020

The cestode Taenia hydatigena uses canids, primarily dogs, as definitive hosts, while the metacestode larval stage cysticercus infects a range of intermediate hosts, including domestic animals such as goats, sheep, and pigs. Cysticercosis due to T. hydatigena has large veterinary and economic drawbacks. Like other taeniids, e.g., Echinococcus, intraspecific variation is found among the members of the genus Taenia. In Africa, few studies are available on the epidemiology and distribution of T. hydatigena, and even fewer studies are available on its genetic variation. In this study, we molecularly identified 11 cysticerci from sheep in Sudan and demonstrated the genetic variation based on the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (nad1) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) mitochondrial genes. The isolates were correctly identified as T. hydatigena with more than 99% similarity to those in the GenBank database. Low diversity indices and insignificant neutrality indices were observed, with 3 and 2 haplotypes for the nad1 and cox1 genes, respectively. The results suggest the presence of unique T. hydatigena haplotypes in Sudan, as haplotypes with 100% similarity were not found in the GenBank database. With few available studies on the genetic variation of T. hydatigena in Africa, this report represents the first insights into the genetic variation of T. hydatigena in Sudan and constitutes useful data.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.336-339
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• 2009

A 4-year-old, neutered male Shih-tzu dog weighing 5.4 kg was referred due to anorexia and chronic coughing. Based on history, physical examination, laboratory tests, radiographic findings, echocardiography, and bronchoscopic examination, the dog was diagnosed as tracheobronchial foreign body. The foreign body was steamed rice debris, which was removed by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) with vacuum suction of bronchoscopy. Bacterial and fungal culture of collected BAL fluid was negative. Baermann test for lungs parasites also was negative. The dog was treated with bronchodilator, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory agent, and mucolytics for 7 days. Appetite increased and coughing sign was clearly improved after removal of foreign body and medical therapy. This case report describes that bronchoscopic techniques are available for the evaluation and management of airway foreign bodies.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.73.1-73.8
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• 2022

Background: Lumpy skin disease (LSD), a disease transmitted by direct and indirect contact with infected cattle, is caused by the Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). The disease affects cattle herds in Africa, Europe, and Asia. The clinical signs of LSD range from mild to the appearance of nodules and lesions in the skin leading to severe symptoms that are sometimes fatal with significant livestock economic losses. Objectives: This study aimed to characterize LSDV strains in the blood of infected cattle in Thailand based on the GPCR gene and determine the phylogenetic relationship of LSDV Thailand isolates with published sequences available in the database. Methods: In total, the blood samples of 120 cattle were collected from different farms in four provinces in the northeastern part of Thailand, and the occurrence of LSDV was examined by PCR based on the P32 antigen gene. The genetic diversity of LSDV based on the GPCR gene was analyzed. Results: Polymerase chain reaction assays based on the P32 antigen gene showed that 4.17% (5/120) were positive for LSDV. All positive blood samples were amplified successfully for the GPCR gene. Phylogenetic analysis showed that LSDV Thailand isolates clustered together with LSDVs from China and Russia. Conclusions: The LSD outbreak in Thailand was confirmed, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed to infer the branching pattern of the GPCR gene from the presence of LSDV in Thailand. This is the first report on the molecular characterization of LSDV in cattle in Thailand.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.123-135
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• 2023

Feline calicivirus (FCV) is considered the main viral pathogen of feline upper respiratory tract disease (URTD). The frequent mutations of field FCV strains result in the poor diagnostic sensitivity of previously developed molecular diagnostic assays. In this study, a more sensitive real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay was developed for broad detection of currently circulating FCVs and comparatively evaluated the diagnostic performance with previously developed qRT-PCR assay using clinical samples collected from Korean cat populations. The developed qRT-PCR assay specifically amplified the FCV p30 gene with a detection limit of below 10 copies/reaction. The assay showed high repeatability and reproducibility, with coefficients of intra-assay and inter-assay variation of less than 2%. Based on the clinical evaluation using 94 clinical samples obtained from URTD-suspected cats, the detection rate of FCV by the developed qRT-PCR assay was 47.9%, which was higher than that of the previous qRT-PCR assay (43.6%). The prevalence of FCV determined by the new qRT-PCR assay in this study was much higher than those of previous Korean studies determined by conventional RT-PCR assays. Due to the high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, the new qRT-PCR assay developed in this study will serve as a promising tool for etiological and epidemiological studies of FCV circulating in Korea. Furthermore, the prevalence data obtained in this study will contribute to expanding knowledge about the epidemiology of FCV in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.213-221
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• 2010

The results from a total of 412 blood samples consisted of 187 samples from regular visiting group (RV), 94 samples from first visiting group (FV), 52 samples from abandoned group (A), 54 samples from special breeder group (SB), and 25 samples from preliminary breeder group (PB) showed that RV(94.7%) and SB(88.9%) groups had the higher levels of protective antibody, but PB (36.0%) group revealed the lowest level. Among 96 blood samples with lower protective antibody levels, 14 samples (14.6%), 72 samples (75.0%) and 10 samples (10.4%) were below the protective antibody levels to distemper/parvo-virus, distemper only and parvovirus only, respectively. These results implied that antibody to parvovirus was well generated than that to distemper. Eighty six samples (20.9%) showed the protective antibody titer under 1:96 to distemper and 24 samples (5.8%), the protective antibody titer under 1:40 to parvovirus.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2010

Brucellosis is a serious zoonosis, recognized worldwide. It primarily affects animals, which act as reservoirs for human infection as well as being of economic significance to the agri-food industry. Bangladesh has been reported as an endemic area for brucellosis. So a cross sectional study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and potential risk factors of brucellosis in cattle in Dinajpur and Mymensingh districts of Bangladesh. A total of 182 cattle were examined by Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) between September 2008 and October 2009. Then Positive, doubtful, and negative samples were further confirmed with slow agglutination test (SAT) and both indirect and competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA and cELISA). A questionnaire was used to collect epidemiological information of the animals. The overall animal-level prevalence was 3.30%. Brucellosis seroprevalence was higher (4.76% by cELISA) in cattle above 48 months than those under 48 months. Female showed higher seroprevalence (10.67%) than male (6.25%). Higher seroprevalence was also found in cattle bred naturally (20.0%) than artificially (8.77%) and cattle that aborted or with previous abortion record (22.22%) showed higher seroprevalence than non-aborted (7.69%). The sensitivity of RBT and SAT was found 100% as compared to cELISA standard test, whereas specificity of RBT (95.35%) was higher than that of SAT (94.32%).

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.186-198
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• 2016

HPAI(Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) is a contagious animal disease that spreads rapidly by diffusion after the first occurrence. The disease has brought tremendous social costs and economic losses. KAHIS (Korea Animal Health Information System) is the integrated system for supporting the task of preventing epidemics. They provide decision-support information, recording vehicle visiting times and facility location, etc., which is possible by enforcing registration of all livestock related facilities and vehicles. KAHIS has accumulated spatial and temporal information that enables effective tracing of potential disease trajectories and diffusion through vehicle movements. The contact network is created utilizing spatial and temporal information in KAHIS to inform facility connection via vehicle visitation. Based on the contact network, it is possible to infer spatial and temporal mechanism of disease spread and diffusion. The study objective is to empirically demonstrate how to utilize primary spatial and temporal information in KAHIS in the form of the contact network. Based on the contact network, facilities with the possibility of infection can be pinpointed within the potential spatial and temporal extent where the disease has spread and diffused. This aids the decision-making process in the task of preventing epidemics. By interpreting our demonstration results, policy implications were presented. Finally, some suggestions were made to comprehensively utilize the contact network to draw enhanced decision-support information.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1717-1721
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• 2008

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a life-threatening emerging respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, SARS-CoV. The nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV is highly antigenic and may be a suitable candidate for diagnostic applications. We constructed truncated recombinant N proteins (N1 [1-422 aa], N2 [1-109 aa], and N3 [110-422 aa]) and determined their antigenicity by Western blotting using convalescent SARS serum. The recombinants containing N1 and N3 reacted with convalescent SARS serum in Western blotting. However, the recombinant with N2 did not. In ELISA using N1 or N3 as the antigens, positive results were observed in 10 of to (100%) SARS-CoV-positive human sera. None of 50 healthy sera gave positive results in either assay. These data indicate that the ELISA using N1 or N3 has high sensitivity and specificity. These results suggest that the middle or C-terminal region of the SARS N protein is important for eliciting antibodies against SARS-CoV during the immune response, and ELISA reactions using N1 or N3 may be a valuable tool for SARS diagnosis.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.65.1-65.13
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• 2020

Background: Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) causes major economic losses in fur-bearing animal production. The control of most AMDV outbreaks is complex due to the difficulties of establishing the source of infection based only on the available on-farm epidemiological data. In this sense, phylogenetic analysis of the strains present in a farm may help elucidate the origin of the infection and improve the control and biosecurity measures. Objectives: This study had the following aims: characterize the AMDV strains from most outbreaks produced at Spanish farms between 2012-2019 at the molecular level, and assess the utility of the combined use of molecular and epidemiological data to track the possible routes of infection. Methods: Thirty-seven strains from 17 farms were partially sequenced for the NS1 and VP2 genes and analyzed phylogenetically with other strains described worldwide. Results: Spanish AMDV strains are clustered in four major clades that generally show a good geographical correlation, confirming that most had been established in Spain a long time ago. The combined study of phylogenetic results and epidemiological information of each farm suggests that most of the AMDV outbreaks since 2012 had been produced by within-farm reservoirs, while a few of them may have been due to the introduction of the virus through international trade. Conclusions: The combination of phylogenetic inference, together with epidemiological data, helps assess the possible origin of AMDV infections in mink farms and improving the control and prevention of this disease.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2015

CSF is a major concern for the swine industry, representing currently the most epizootically dangerous disease to the species. Numerous CSFV isolates with various degrees of virulence have already been isolated worldwide, ranging from low virulent strains that do not result in any apparent clinical signs to highly virulent strains that cause a severe per acute hemorrhagic fever with very high mortality. The molecular epidemiology of CSFVs has proven to be an essential tool for effective disease control and the development of safe and effective vaccines. Therefore, this study cloned and sequenced local CSFV isolates, and conducted a phylogenetic analysis based on the E2 glycoprotein encoding sequences.The RNA was extracted from PK15 cell culture passaged CSFV isolates, the cDNA prepared, and the complete E2 gene amplified with a product size of 1186 bp. The gelpurified PCR product was cloned into a pGEMT easy vector and the positive clone commercially sequenced. Aligning the nucleotide (1119 bp) and amino acid (373) sequences with 29 reference strains revealed nucleotide and amino acid sequence identities of 82.60-97.80% and 88.70-98.70%, respectively, indicating a higher mutation rate of the field CSFV strains. The phylogenetic analysis based on the complete E2 amino acid sequences also revealed a reliable differentiation of all the analyzed strains into specific genetic groups and subgroups, plus the local isolate (CSFV-E2) was found to cluster with the CSFV subgroup 2.2. Thus, the full-length E2 cds proved to be most suitable for a reliable and statistically significant phylogenetic analysis of CSFV isolates.