Search

Animal source foods (ASF) such as dairy, eggs, fish and meat are an important source of high-quality nutrients. Lack of ASF in diets can result in developmental disorders including stunting, anemia, poor cognitive and motor development. ASF are more effective in preventing stunting than other foods and promoting ASF consumption in low- and middle-income countries could help improve health, particularly among pregnant women and young children. Production and consumption of ASF are, however, also associated with potential food safety risks.

In the present study, the incidence of diseases in cattle in the area of a veterinary practice was analyzed spatially. Furthermore, the relationship between the incidence of diseases and the distance to geographical elements was investigated. For this study, all cattle farms that were customers of the ambulatory clinic of the animal hospital in Zurich (Tierspital Zürich) were exactly localized on a map. From clinical and treatment data program (Oblon Data®) all services and drugs between January 1st 2013 and December 31st 2013 were evaluated and added as attributes to the according farm. Along with the data of the animals kept on the respective farm, the relationship between prevalences and geographical elements was analyzed. Using these data, it was possible to define fifteen diseases of which incidences were spatially analyzed using a geographic information system (GIS). The results indicate that also on the level of a veterinary practice there are spatial differences in the incidence of diseases to find. However, the majority of diseases occur mainly in regions where the density of animals is also very high. As in earlier findings, this suggests that the size, the management and the proximity of a farm to the next farm (density) have a strong impact. A connection could be found between the distance to the geographical elements street, water and forest and the incidences of gastrointestinal parasitosis, claw disorders, reproduction disorders and cryptosporidiosis.

Brucellosis is a widespread zoonotic disease considered as an emerging and re-emerging disease with a resulting threat of public health and animal health. Official reports document an animal incidence in Kazakhstan of about 0.6% per year, and the country still registers high number of human cases annually . The main objective of this paper was to evaluate the distribution and economic impact of brucellosis in Kazakhstan. We analysed human disease incidence data obtained from the Government Sanitary & Epidemiological Service with the aim to estimate the burden of disease in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). We also estimated the economic impact in terms of monetary losses. Additionally, we mapped the geographical distribution of the disease throughout Kazakhstan. In total, 1,334 human cases of brucellosis were registered in 2015 in Kazakhstan that resulted in 713 DALYs. Around US Dollar 21 million was spent on compensation for animals that had to be slaughtered due to brucellosis, and an additional US Dollar 24 million was spent on testing animals. Animal brucellosis and human brucellosis occur throughout the whole country, some trends of which are reviewed in this paper. We estimated the burden of the disease and explored possible explanation for high human incidence rates. This paper is the first to estimate the human burden of disease and the economic costs in Kazakhstan. Both of these are substantial.

BACKGROUND: The zoonotic parasite Taenia saginata transmits between humans, the definitive host (causing taeniosis), and bovines as the intermediate host (causing cysticercosis). Central and western Asia and the Caucasus have large cattle populations and beef consumption is widespread. However, an overview of the extent of human T. saginata infection and bovine cysticercosis is lacking. This review aims to summarize the distribution of T. saginata in this region. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted, that gathered published and grey literature, and official data concerning T. saginata taeniosis and bovine cysticercosis in central and western Asia and the Caucasus published between January 1st, 1990 and December 31st, 2018. Where no data were available for a country within this period, published data from 1985-1990 were also accessed. RESULTS: From 10,786 articles initially scanned, we retrieved 98 full-text articles from which data were extracted. In addition, two unpublished datasets were provided on the incidence of human taeniosis. Data for human taeniosis and bovine cysticercosis were found for all countries except Turkmenistan. Human taeniosis prevalence varied from undetected to over 5.3%, with regional variations. Where bovine cysticercosis was detected, prevalences varied from case reports to 25%. CONCLUSIONS: The public health burden of T. saginata is assumed to be small as the parasite is of low pathogenicity to humans. However, this review indicates that infection continues to be widespread and this may result in a large economic burden, due to the resources utilized in meat inspection and condemnation or processing with subsequent downgrading of infected carcasses.

BackgroundRussia is traditionally an endemic area for Taenia saginata infection, where a programme for the prevention of infection has been implemented for sixty years. This paper aims, therefore, to review the recent epidemiology data of Taenia saginata infection in the Russian Federation.MethodsWe undertook a systematic review of published and grey literature, and official data for information on the incidence, prevalence and distribution of Taenia saginata taeniosis and cysticercosis in the Russian Federation between 1st January 1991 and 31st December 2017.ResultsFrom the 404 records returned by our search strategy, we identified 17 official county reports, 17 papers and one meeting abstract on the occurrence of taeniosis or cysticercosis from the Russian Federation, eligible for inclusion in this study. In the Russian Federation, Taenia saginata infection has been continuously present and notifiable in the study period between 1991-2016. In the same area, a continuous decrease in the incidence of human taeniosis cases was observed, from 1.4 to 0.04 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, as well as a reduction in the territory where the infection is reported. The prevalence of bovine cysticercosis, ranging between 0.1-19.0%, generally has a declining trend, especially after 2005.ConclusionsImportance of Taenia saginata infection as a medical and veterinary problem has been decreasing in the 21st century but it is still an infection with health and economic impact in the Russian Federation.

Burden and risk assessment play an increasingly important and accepted role in defining control policies for foodborne parasites (FBPs). Burden assessment is a top-down approach, starting from available epidemiological data, while risk assessment is a bottom-up or predictive approach, starting from exposure and dose-response data. Both methods however share a common goal of generating estimates of the health and economic impacts of the concerned hazards. These estimates can be used to generate an evidence-based ranking of the impact of FBPs (i.e. risk ranking) and a baseline against which the effects of interventions can be evaluated. Risk assessment further provides a scientific framework for evaluating the potential effects of intervention measures and, by combining with economic models, the expected efficiency of such measures.

The same anthelmintic treatment can have variable efficacy on individual animals even if the parasite population is homogenously susceptible. An extension of the R package eggCounts is proposed to take individual efficacy into account using a Bayesian hierarchical model. A simulation study is conducted to compare the performance of five different methods on estimating faecal egg count reduction and its uncertainty interval. Simulation results showed the individual efficacy model offered robust inference to two different data simulation procedures with low root mean squared error on the reduction estimate and appropriate uncertainty estimates. Different methods were used to evaluate the anthelmintic resistance in a dataset from USA with sheep and cattle faecal egg counts, where a strong anthelmintic resistance was detected. Open-source statistical tools were updated to include the proposed model.

BACKGROUND: Bluetongue disease, caused by bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8), appeared for the first time in the northern part of Europe in 2006, and subsequently rapidly spread causing severe economic losses to the farming industry. The implicated vectors of BTV in Europe are Culicoides species within the subgenus Avaritia (C. chiopterus, C. dewulfi, C. obsoletus and C. scoticus). Epidemiological data from Switzerland have shown that BTV, whose spread was eliminated at an early stage by vaccination campaigns, had not been circulating among livestock at higher altitudes where other species dominate the Culicoides fauna. In this study, we investigated the extent that Culicoides spp. prevailing at higher altitudes (mainly C. grisescens) can act as vectors for BTV. METHODS: Culicoides were collected at farms in the pre-alpine region (two sites at 1550 m above sea level, masl, referred to as pre-alpine I; one site at 2030 masl, pre-alpine II) and, for comparative purposes, from the Swiss Plateau (one site, 650 masl). They were fed on bovine blood/BTV suspensions (BTV-1, 4 or 8) and incubated for eight days under a fluctuating temperature regime (13-25 °C, mean 19 °C), reflecting a mid-summer warm spell in the pre-alpine region. Susceptibility to BTV transmission was assessed from head homogenates by RT-qPCR and virus isolation. RESULTS: Overall, 9196 female Culicoides were exposed to the three BTV strains through an artificial membrane, with feeding rates of 14-27%. Survival rates of blood-engorged Culicoides females at eight days post-infection depended on both virus serotype and altitude of origin. Virus dissemination (Cq ≤ the cut-off value as determined by serial virus dilutions) was confirmed only for BTV-1 in C. scoticus (dissemination efficiency 22.5%; 9/40) and C. obsoletus (5.6%; 1/18) from the Swiss Plateau area. There was no strong evidence of susceptibility to infection for Culicoides from the pre-alpine area when fed with all BTV strains (BTV-1, 4 and 8).

Background: The study evaluated the results of clinical examination and haematological and serum biochemical analyses in 503 cattle with traumatic reticuloperitonitis (TRP). Results: The most common clinical findings were abnormal demeanour and general condition (87%), decreased rumen motility (72%), poorly digested faeces (57%), decreased rumen fill (49%), fever (43%) and tachycardia (26%). In 58% of the cattle, at least one of three tests for reticular foreign bodies (pinching of the withers, pressure on the xiphoid and percussion of the abdominal wall) was positive, and in 42% all three tests were negative. The most common haematological findings were decreased haematocrit in 45% of cattle and leukocytosis in 42%. An increase in the concentration of fibrinogen in 69% of cattle and total protein in 64% were the main biochemical findings. The glutaraldehyde test time was decreased with coagulation occurring within 6 min in 75% of cattle. Conclusions: In many cases, a diagnosis of TRP is not possible based on individual clinical or laboratory findings because even the most common abnormalities are not seen in all cattle with TRP.

Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a highly pathogenic zoonotic parasitic disease caused by Echinococcus multilocularis. An ultrasound study in southern Kyrgyzstan during 2012 revealed a prevalence of 4.2% probable or confirmed AE and an additional 2.2% possible AE, representing an emerging situation. The risk for probable or confirmed AE was significantly higher in dog owners.

West Nile virus (WNV) is continuously spreading in Eastern and Southern Europe. However, the extent of vector competence of Aedes japonicus (Theobald, 1901) is controversial. In this work, we elucidated the dynamics of virus growth in this invasive mosquito species. Females of Ae. japonicus were reared from eggs collected in the field in Switzerland and fed on bovine blood spiked with two WNV lineage 1 strains (FIN, Italy; NY99, USA). Fully engorged females were incubated for 14 days under a fluctuating temperature regime of 24 ± 7 °C (average 24 °C), 45-90% relative humidity, which is realistic for a Central European mid-summer day. Infection, dissemination, and transmission rates were assessed from individual mosquitoes by analyzing the abdomen, legs and wings, and saliva for the presence of viral RNA. Saliva was also investigated for the presence of infectious virus particles. Overall, 302 females were exposed to WNV strain FIN and 293 to strain NY99. A higher infection rate was observed for NY99 (57.4%) compared to FIN (30.4%) (p = 0.003). There was no statistical evidence that the dissemination rate (viral RNA in legs and wings) was different between females infected with FIN (57.1%) compared to NY99 (35.5%) (p = 0.16). Viral RNA load of FIN compared to NY99 was significantly higher in the hemocoel (p = 0.031) of exposed females but not at other sites (legs and wings, saliva). This is the first study describing the vector competence parameters for two WNV strains in a European population of Ae. japonicus. The high dissemination and transmission rates for WNV under a realistic temperature regime in Ae. japonicus together with recent findings on its opportunistic feeding behavior (mammals and birds) indicate its potential role in WNV transmission in Central Europe where it is highly abundant.

The burden of human diseases in populations, or for an individual, is frequently estimated in terms of one of a number of Health Adjusted Life Years (HALYs). The Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) is a widely accepted HALY metric and is used by the World Health Organization and the Global Burden of Disease studies. Many human diseases are of animal origin and often cause ill health and production losses in domestic animals. The economic losses due to disease in animals are usually estimated in monetary terms. The monetary impact on animal health is not compatible with HALY approaches used to measure the impact on human health. To estimate the societal burden of zoonotic diseases that have substantial human and animal disease burden we propose methodology which can be accommodated within the DALY framework. Monetary losses due to the animal disease component of a zoonotic disease can be converted to an equivalent metric using a local gross national income per capita deflator. This essentially gives animal production losses a time trade-off for human life years. This is the time required to earn the income needed to replace that financial loss. This can then be assigned a DALY equivalent, termed animal loss equivalents (ALE), and added to the DALY associated with human ill health to give a modified DALY. This is referred to as the “zDALY”. ALEs could also be estimated using willingness-to-pay for animal health or survey tools to estimate the replacement time value for animals with high societal or emotional value (for example pets) that cannot be calculated directly using monetary worth. Thus the zDALY estimates the impact of a zoonotic disease to animal and human health. The losses due to the animal disease component of the modified DALY are straightforward to calculate. A number of worked examples such as echinococcosis, brucellosis, Q fever and cysticercosis from a diverse spectrum of countries with different levels of economic development illustrate the use of t