Search

Documented freedom from disease is paramount for international free trade of animals and animal products. This study describes a scenario tree analysis to estimate the probability of freedom from Enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) in Italy and Slovenia using information gathered via the data collection tool developed in the COST action project SOUND-control. Data on EBL control programmes (CPs) from 2018 to 2021 were used to build the models. Since animals are only sampled on the farm, one surveillance system component (SSC) was considered. The posterior probability of freedom (PostPfree) was estimated in time steps of one year, from 2018 to 2021.  After each year, the calculated from the previous year, combined with the probability of introduction, was used as a prior probability for the next year.  The herd level design prevalence was set to 0.2% in accordance with the Council Directive 64/432/EEC and the within herd design prevalence was set to 15%.  As Slovenia implemented a risk-based surveillance, targeting the herds importing cattle, in its model the design herd prevalence was combined with an average adjusted risk to calculate the effective probability of a herd importing cattle being infected.  The models were run for 10,000 iterations.  Over the study period the mean estimates were: i) for Italy both the surveillance system sensitivity ( SSe) and PostPFree 100%, with no differences between simulations and years, ii) for Slovenia the SSe was 50.5% while the PostPFree was 81.6%.

Trichophyton verrucosum is the most common ringworm agent in cattle. Epidemiology of cattle dermatophytoses in Central Italy is not clear. Its diffusion among cattle and herdsmen was investigated in 20 Umbrian farms, Central Italy. Hairs and scales were taken from 395 animals and 31 workers. Typical ringworm was present in 71.7% of cattle under 6 months and in 11% of animals over 6 months. T. verrucosum was isolated from 98.9% of symptomatic heads and was the most prevalent dermatophyte in all herds investigated (isolated in 18 of the 20 farms). T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes was found in 16 symptomatic and in eight asymptomatic young animals. Prevalence of asymptomatic carriers of both species was significantly higher in young heads (21.1% vs. 8.1%) and the age below 6 months was the only statistically significant risk factor associated with dermatophytosis. About the workers, all the 14 men with lesions were positive for T. verrucosum; copresence of T. verrucosum and Microsporum gypseum was noticed in one case. Results indicate a high diffusion of T. verrucosum among both animals and humans in Umbrian farms and confirm the dermatophyte infection as a public health problem. Periodic epidemiological surveys, treatment of sick livestock and workers, cleaning/sanitisation of herds and vaccination programmes may be useful in controlling the infection., (© 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

Aim: Dermatophytosis are the most frequent fungal infections of pets and livestock and play an important role in animal and human health due to their zoonotic potential. Another important aspect of these infections is linked to the economic consequences in farm animal and fur production systems. An overview of dermatophytosis in animals is described in this paper. Epidemiological, clinical and zoonotic aspects are addressed, considering individual species, both pets and farmed animals., Methods: In particular, most recent investigations in the field of animal mycology, carried out in Central Italy, are reported, with particular reference to rabbit, ruminants, horse, dog, cat and some wild species., Results: The information in this article show how dermatophytes infect a wide range of animals which may be in contact with human beings either directly or indirectly. Consequently they are frequently a source of infection for human beings who, vice versa, may sometimes become contagious for animals., Conclusion: Fungal pathogens derive their power to spread from contamination of the animal's habitat - whether the animal is a conventional pet or not, a farm animal or living in the wild. Thus if treatment of the animal or human patient is to achieve optimal efficacy, it needs to be associated with adequate environmental measures.