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Abstract The continuing spread of African swine fever (ASF) outside Africa in Europe, the Russian Federation, China and most recently to Mongolia and Vietnam, has heightened awareness of the threat posed by this devastating disease to the global pig industry and food security. In this review we summarise what we know about the African swine fever virus (ASFV), the disease it causes, how it spreads and the current global situation. We discuss current control methods in domestic and wild pigs and prospects for development of vaccines and other tools for control. Highlights • We describe the history of the spread of African swine fever virus in domestic and wild swine. • The mechanisms by which the virus spreads in different epidemiological scenarios. • The pathogenesis of different virus isolates. • Current methods used to control ASF and progress towards development of vaccines and other control strategies. • Future research priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the occurrence of low pathogenic avian influenza in Europe and North America. As part of its surveillance program for avian influenza in poultry, Denmark detected the presence of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) H7N1 on a poultry farm with geese, ducks and mallards in the Svendorg region on the island of Funen in April 2008.

The article reports that inactivated vaccines for bluetongue virus (BTV)-1, BTV-2, BTV-4 and BTV-8 are all available and are being used in vaccination programs in several European countries. However, there is no cross-reactivity between serotypes and therefore no cross-protection between vaccines. The re-emergence of BTV-1 and BTV-8 in France suggests that there is an existing threat of disease in naive animals, as well as a threat of emergence of a new serotype in immune or vaccinated animals.

The article reports on an outbreak of Newcastle disease in Europe. The disease affected racing pigeons in the Ita-Suomi region in Finland in June 2008. In Germany, an outbreak of avian paramyxovirus type 1 was reported in April 2008 in pigeons on a farm with mixed avian species. Another Newcastle disease outbreak was reported in March in backyard poultry in Romania.

The article discusses several rabies cases in Europe and South America as of September 2008. France reported another case of rabies in a dog imported from the Gambia in April 2008. Following a positive rabies case in cattle in the Rivera region in October 2007, Uruguay reported eight new outbreaks of rabies, serotype RABV, in April to June 2008, seven in cattle and one in a horse.

The article reports that sporadic outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 continue to be reported in both wild birds and domestic poultry over a wide geographic area in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. These outbreaks appear to be associated with either the migratory movements of wild waterfowl, or by movements associated with unfavorable weather conditions.

Background: Functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) secondary to left-sided heart disease may lead to poor quality of life and reduced long-term survival. This study evaluated clinical and functional outcomes of patients undergoing tricuspid valve (TV) repair using a rigid three-dimensional ring (Contour 3D, Medtronic) concomitant with another procedure., Methods: From September 2011 to July 2015, 112 patients (mean age 70.9 ± 9.0 years) were enrolled at 10 centers in Europe, Israel, and the United States. Inclusion criteria were FTR ≥ moderate and/or tricuspid annular diameter (TAD) ≥ 40 mm. Echocardiography was planned before surgery and at discharge with echocardiographic and clinical follow-ups performed 6 months postoperatively., Results: Three fourths (74.4%) of patients had higher than moderate TR. Mean TAD was 41.0 ± 7.3 mm; 61.7% of patients were in the New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III/IV. The most common concomitant procedure was mitral valve repair (57 patients, 53.3%). The 30-day mortality rate was 0.9% ( n  = 1). The mean EuroSCORE II was 8.9 ± 8.4% (median: 5.9%; interquartile range: 3.5-11.5%). The observed to expected ratio (O/E) based on the median was 0.1. Six deaths occurred during follow-up (three cardiac related). Mean implanted ring size was 30.3 ± 2.7. At 6 months, 94.4% of patients showed ≤ mild TR, and 92.0% were in NYHA class I/II ( p  < 0.001 vs baseline for both). Mean pressure gradient across the TV was 2.0 ± 1.1 mm Hg; leaflet coaptation length was 7.5 ± 3.3 mm., Conclusion: The Contour 3D annuloplasty ring used for treatment of FTR substantially reduced TR for up to 6 postoperative months with low mean pressure gradients across the TV and significant improvement in NYHA class., Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01532921., Competing Interests: Ralf Guenzinger has no conflicts of interest to declare. Ruediger Lange is a consultant for Medtronic. Jean-Francois Obadia is a consultant for St. Jude Medical, Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, Landanger, and Delacroix-Chevalier and receives research support from Abbott. Shuzhen Li is an employee and shareholder of Medtronic. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

During the Schmallenberg virus (SBV) epidemic, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) collected data on SBV occurrence across Europe in order to provide an assessment of spread and impact. By May 2013, twenty-nine countries were reporting to EFSA and twenty-two countries had reported cases of SBV. The total number of SBV herds reported was 13,846 and the number of SBV laboratory confirmed herds was 8730. The surveillance activities were based on the detection of SBV clinical cases (either adults or newborns). Malformation in newborns was the most commonly reported clinical sign of SBV-infection. All countries were able to provide the date when the first suspicion of SBV in the herd was reported and nineteen could report the location of the herd at a regional level. This allowed the spread of SBV in Europe to be measured both temporally and spatially. The number of SBV confirmed herds started to increase in December 2011 and two peaks were observed in 2012 (February and May). Confirmed herds continued to be reported in 2012 and into 2013. An increase during winter 2012 and spring 2013 was again observed, but the number of confirmed herds was lower than in the previous year. SBV spread rapidly throughout Europe from the initial area of detection. SBV was detected above the latitude of 60° North, which exceeds the northern expansion observed during the bluetongue virus serotype 8 epidemic in 2006-2009. The impact of SBV was calculated as ratio of the number of herds with at least one malformed SBV positive foetus and the total number of herds in this region. The 75th percentile of the malformations ratio in the various affected countries for the whole reporting period was below 1% and 3% for cattle and sheep herds, respectively. International data collection on emerging diseases represents a challenge as the nature of available data, data quality and the proportion of reported cases may vary widely between affected countries. Surveillance activities on emerging animal diseases are often structured only for case detection making the estimation of infection/diseases prevalence and the investigation of risk factors difficult. The impact of the disease must be determined to allow risk managers to take appropriate decisions. Simple within-herd impact indicators suitable for emerging disease outbreaks should be defined that could be measured as part of routine animal health surveillance programmes and allow for rapid and reliable impact assessment of emerging animal health diseases., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

There is widespread evidence both of the exclusion of older people from clinical research, and of under-recruitment to clinical trials. This review and opinion piece provides practical advice to assist researchers both to adopt realistic, achievable recruitment rates and to increase the number of older people taking part in research. It analyses 14 consecutive recently published trials, providing the number needed to be screened to recruit one older participant (around 3:1), numbers excluded (up to 49%), drop out rates (5-37%) and whether the planned power was achieved. The value of planning and logistics are outlined, and approaches to optimising recruitment in hospital, primary care and care home settings are discussed, together with the challenges of involving older adults with mental incapacity and those from minority groups in research. The increasingly important task of engaging older members of the public and older patients in research is also discussed. Increasing the participation of older people in research will improve the generalisability of research findings and inform best practice in the clinical management of the growing older population.