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Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the veterinary domain are widely implemented worldwide and can help to strengthen the capacities of Veterinary Services. Few analyses have been made of these initiatives. This study is aimed at developing an evaluation tool based on participatory approaches and focusing on the quality of PPP processes in the veterinary domain. The tool was divided into ten sections relevant to PPP process organisation and activities. The 44 evaluation criteria and six quality attributes (operationality, relevance, acceptability, inclusiveness, adaptability, and stability) were identified based on literature review and case-study application. The tool was adjusted during four regional PPP training workshops bringing together stakeholders from both public and private sectors. Finally, the tool was validated through an experts' elicitation process and applied in the field in Paraguay. The tool was developed in a non-normative perspective to help the partners adapt the PPP to their specific context, to maximize the opportunities and minimize the risks of such collaborations, and to formulate adapted recommendations to strengthen and improve the PPP collaborative process and thus the outcomes. In an ex-ante perspective, this tool would also help public and private actors to engage and develop a PPP process following the best possible practices. The aim of this tool is to help decision making in terms of PPP development and implementation in the veterinary domain to ensure the added value and relevance of such a collaborative approach in different countries worldwide., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Context and Objective: Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) surveillance in Belgium is essential to maintain the officially free status and to preserve animal and public health. An evaluation of the system is thus needed to ascertain the surveillance provides a precise description of the current situation in the country. The evaluation should assess stakeholders' perceptions and expectations about the system due to the fact that the acceptability has an influence on the levels of sensitivity and timeliness of the surveillance system. The objective of the study was to assess the acceptability of the bTB surveillance in Belgium, using participatory tools and the OASIS flash tool ('analysis tool for surveillance systems')., Methods: For the participatory process, focus group discussions and individual interviews were implemented with representatives involved with the system, both from cattle and wildlife part of the surveillance. Three main tools were used: (i) relational diagrams associated with smileys, (ii) flow diagrams associated with proportional piling, and (iii) impact diagrams associated with proportional piling. A total of six criteria were assessed, among which five were scored on a scale from -1 to +1. For the OASIS flash tool, one full day meeting with representatives from stakeholders involved with the surveillance was organised. A total of 19 criteria linked to acceptability were scored on a scale from 0 to 3., Results and Conclusion: Both methods highlighted a medium acceptability of the bTB surveillance. The main elements having a negative influence were the consequences of official notification of a bTB suspect case in a farm, the low remuneration paid to private veterinarians for execution of intradermal tuberculin tests and the practical difficulties about the containment of the animals. Based on the two evaluation processes, relevant recommendations to improve the surveillance were made. Based on the comparison between the two evaluation processes, the added value of the participatory approach was highlighted.

In a recent study dealing with a mouse model of Trypanosoma evansi-associated disease, a remarkable synchrony between the parasitaemia peak and the white-blood-cell count nadir was noticed. The present study was designed to establish whether there is a direct causal link between the parasite load during its exponential phase of growth and the disappearance of peripheral blood leukocytes. In vitro experiments performed with trypanosomes and purified peripheral blood mononucleated cells revealed the existence of a lymphotoxin embedded in the T. evansi membrane: a protein sensitive to serine proteases, with a molecular mass of less than 30 kDa. Lymphocytes death induced by this protein was found to depend on the intervention of a lymphocytic protein tyrosine phosphatase. When lymphocytes were exposed to increasing quantities of a monoclonal antibody raised against the extracellular portion of CD45, a transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatase covering over 10% of the lymphocyte surface, T. evansi membrane extracts showed a dose-dependent decrease in cytotoxicity. As the regulatory functions of CD45 concern not only the fate of lymphocytes but also the activation threshold of the TCR-dependent signal and the amplitude and nature of cytokinic effects, this demonstration of its involvement in T. evansi-dependent lymphotoxicity suggests that T. evansi might manipulate, via CD45, the host's cytokinic and adaptive responses.