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Raising awareness about Toxoplasma gondii infection among cat owners in Bangladesh is indispensable to formulate persuasive management tactics to avoid zoonotic infections from pet cats. However, to the authors' best knowledge, no studies have been performed in Bangladesh to determine knowledge and practices of toxoplasmosis in cat owners. Therefore, the objectives of the current study were to cover this research gap. We carried out a cross‐sectional study in Bangladesh from June 2020 through December 2021. A structured online questionnaire was distributed to cat owners, which were voluntarily completed by them. The questionnaire included socio‐demographic data, aetiology, transmissions, clinical signs, and preventive practices towards toxoplasmosis. Overall, 1,019 cat owners participated voluntarily in the cross‐sectional survey. Among them, 793 (77.82%) participants showed poor knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis. Under specific knowledge sections, 62.51% of the participants revealed incorrect knowledge that toxoplasmosis was a zoonotic disease. In the same way, (72.03–85.77) % of the cat owners were unaware that the disease could be transmitted from improperly washed vegetables, raw or undercooked meat and fish, and contaminated water and milk with cat faeces. Respondents' age, education, occupation, residence type, and marital status were significantly (p <.05) associated with their knowledge level. Besides, 94.11% of cat owners had a good practice level. They followed good practices in different issues; however, they practiced those activities without knowing their impacts on disease control. Cat owners' age, education, occupation, and residence type had a significant (p <.05) association with the practice level against toxoplasmosis. This is the first study highlighting the low level of knowledge among cat owners about toxoplasmosis in Bangladesh. These knowledge gaps could increase the risk and transmission of Toxoplasma gondii infection among them and their families. The survey recommends the arrangement of educational training and programmes to increase the awareness of toxoplasmosis among cat owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A retrospective study for the assessment of current rational use of veterinary drugs was conducted at Jaintapur upazila veterinary hospital, Sylhet, Bangladesh. Nine hundred eighty one (981) registered patients were analyzed retrospectively for the study. A total of 2,242 drugs were prescribed for a total of 981 patients. The average number of drugs per prescription was 2.28 with maximum of 4 drugs. Out of 2,242 drugs, 40.50% antimicrobials, 23.59% anthelmintics, and 35.91% other drugs were prescribed for treatment. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was 13.66% and the remaining 86.34% was prescribed with trade name. The level of education of the prescribers was also assessed and it was found that, 70.54% and 29.46% of the prescriptions were done by Veterinary Field Assistants (VFA) and Veterinarians, respectively. Among the all encounters 82.98% patients were treated empirically and 17.02% patients were treated based on confirmatory diagnosis. The most commonly prescribed antimicrobials were Oxytetracycline 241 (26.54%), Streptomycin-Penicillin fixed combination 247 (27.20%) and Cephalosporin 119 (13.11%) and anthelmintics were Levamisole-Triclabendazole combination 129 (24.39%), Ivermectin 119 (22.5%) and Piperazine citrate 62 (11.72%). Most of the antimicrobials were prescribed for respiratory system (34.32%) followed by musculoskeletal-integumentary system (24.06%). On the other hand most of the anthelmintics were prescribed for treating digestive (45.36%) and respiratory (17.14%) system. Anthelmintics (5.5%) were found to be prescribed for the treatment of parasitic infestation and antimicrobials for bacterial infection (1.9%) and surgical (0.3%) cases. Study found anomalies in rational use of veterinary drugs in particular, prescribing generic, proper diagnosis and guideline of drug formulary in the study area. Therefore, strict measures should be taken to promote the rational use of veterinary drugs and to safe guard the public from the effects of drug residuals as well as antimicrobial resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and devastating viral disease among all cloven-footed animals. In Bangladesh, the disease is endemic, with outbreaks occurring throughout the year in the haor regions. Thus, the FMD outbreaks impact livelihoods in the haor area and are of great concern. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence, distribution, and risk factors for clinical FMD in some selected areas of haor in Sylhet division of Bangladesh. We examined 1,388 cattle, of which 343 were clinically affected with FMD (prevalence 24.71%, CI95% = 22.44 - 26.98) during the period from July 2017 through June 2018. Though production loss was observed, no mortality was recorded in the infected animals. The data article shows the spatial distribution of FMD prevalence. The temporal pattern indicates a higher number of FMD cases in June (47.01%, CI95% = 38.97 - 55.07). The gender was found associated (OR = 2.98; p < 0.001) with the potential risk of FMD occurrence through univariate analysis. Besides, indigenous breeds of cattle (OR = 2.83; p < 0.001) are found to be more susceptible to FMD compared to exotic and crossbreeds. The risk factors identified in this article will serve as a baseline for the development of risk based FMD control program in future., (© 2019 The Author(s).)