High Level Of Hygiene Research Articles

Raw milk producers with high levels of hygiene and safety.

There is world-wide increasing interest in the consumption of unprocessed, natural food commodities including fresh (unpasteurised) milk and milk products. Consumers are actively seeking out raw milk, partly due to health reasons, but also for taste, freshness, closeness to the producer and to support local agriculture. The need for high levels of hygiene and safety in farms producing raw milk for direct consumption has long been recognised and has led to federal and industry-initiated systems for safe raw milk production. Raw milk producers in North America and Europe have demonstrated that raw milk, intended for direct consumption, can be produced safe and hygienic. The aim of this paper is to describe practices that have been developed for safe raw milk production. The German Vorzugsmilch is a federally regulated programme for legal raw milk production that was established already in the 1930s to provide raw milk with high hygienic standards controlled for zoonotic diseases to consumers. The Raw Milk Institute is a non-profit organisation established in California that has developed a voluntary safe raw milk programme in North America. RAWMI has developed a risk analysis and management system for raw milk dairy farmers to assist farmers in making individually tailored solutions for various production systems. In British Colombia, Canada, small herd share farms have employed good manufacturing practices, a risk management approach and performed monthly samples for pathogens and indicator bacteria to demonstrate safety and consistency. The major components of the raw milk systems applied, and the results of regular milk microbial indicator bacteria are presented. For the German system, the results from standard monthly pathogen tests are compared to zoonotic pathogen tests from other milk sources. The overall results indicate that raw milk can be produced with a high level of hygiene and safety in various systems.

Raw milk producers with high levels of hygiene and safety - CORRIGENDUM.

An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM: THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Tourism is considered to be one of the most profitable and dynamic sectors of the economy. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the following quarantine restrictions have caused substantial losses and a critical decline in supply and demand in the tourism sector. Furthermore, the mentioned above provokes a further recession in conditions of economic, social and political tension. Therefore, the urgency of solving this scientific problem lies in need to develop a new strategy for qualitative change and improvement of business processes in the tourism industry. Consequently, it will allow intensifying the efforts to restore the tourism sector of Ukraine. The primary purpose of the study is conducting the forecast of the tourism industry development in Ukraine during the pandemic COVID-19. There were two scenarios considered to build the forecast of tourism activity: 1) without the quarantine restrictions; 2) taking into account the quarantine restrictions on movement. The integrated model of moving average autoregression (ARIMA) became a methodological tool of the conducted research. The object of the study was the Ukraine resident’s requests on the traffic routes from January 13, 2020, to May 09, 2020. Eviews 11 SV software has become a tool for the practical implementation of all stages of this study. According to the results of empirical analysis, the recovery of the tourism sector will have a slightly positive trend in case of the quarantine restrictions. Thus, the authors emphasized the need to increase the tourism market competitiveness through the introducing the new proposals, ensuring a high level of hygiene and safety, attracting innovative management methods, active using the modern information technology, etc. The study results are considered to be the basis for further research on building a strategy for tourism recovery in Ukraine.

Monitoring of potential contaminants in beer from the Czech Republic

The health safety of beer is still a discussed topic. In the Czech Republic, there is a well-developed system for controlling the content of potential beer contaminants, which are regularly attended by a number of large and medium-sized breweries and are organized by laboratories of the Research Institute of Brewing and Malting. For many years aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons, biogenic amines, nitrates, phthalates, ATNC, nitrosamines, polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, mycotoxins, coliforms, and recently pesticides in beer have been analyzed. This study summarizes five-year results and extends information about the origin, health risks and hygiene limits of controlled substances and bacteria in beer. The study proves that the level of health safety of beers in the Czech Republic is very high, which is closely related to the high hygiene level of controlled breweries. The number of positive samples was only minor, 8 positive samples were found in 220 beer samples controlled for 44 chemical contaminants. Three positive samples contaminated by coliform bacteria were found among 675 controlled ones.

A survey of the incidence of worm parasites in laying chickens in Abak Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This research is based on parasitic helminthes of laying birds conducted in July 2018 in the Department of Animal Science, Akwa Ibom State University, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. This work aimed at identifying the types of worm parasites that may be found in laying birds (poultry) farms and to determine their prevalent rates in layers together with the percentage infestation of these worm parasites in Abak Local Government Area. A total of 270 sterile samples were collected randomly from 10 farms in 3 weeks at Abak Local government Area. These sterile samples were transported immediately for analysis in the laboratory using floatation method with saturated salt solution. With the aid of x10 microscope, it was discovered that out of the 270 (or 100%) samples examined for helminthes only two types of nematodes were identified. A sum total of 196 (or 73%) nematode eggs were found and a total of 113 (or 42%) Ascardia gallinarum eggs were tested positive and 83 (or 31%) Heterakis gallinarum were tested positive while a total of 74 (or 27%) fecal sample tested negative. The high prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes as observed in this area has a strong relationship with their mode of feeding and living conditions which lead to reduced body weight, decreased egg production and deaths thus affecting the meat quality and nutrient content of the chicken. Laying birds should be dewormed every three months and high level of hygiene should be maintained in the farm. It was concluded that there is a high prevalence of helminthes in Abak Local government Area in laying birds, which may lead to high losses. Thus, improved farm management and disease control to enhance their potentials is necessary.

Breast sparganosis: a case report.

A 57-year-old Korean female patient presented with a migrated palpable left breast mass. Physical examination revealed a 3-cm soft, non-tender mass in the upper inner quadrant of her left breast. Mammography showed 8.2-cm extended nodular and tortuous tubular masses in the upper portion of her left breast. Ultrasonography revealed a 5.8-cm extended nodular, tortuous tubular and hypoechoic to anechoic lesion in the subcutaneous mammary parenchymal layer. A lumpectomy was conducted and revealed a 30-cm live tapeworm. Histopathologic examination of the excised breast tissue revealed chronic granulomatous inflammation and eosinophilic infiltration by a parasitic organism, which was confirmed as a sparganum. After surgery, the patient was treated with a single dose of praziquantel and albendazole. Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan are known to have high endemicity of sparganosis, mostly because of their dietary customs. When examining patients from these countries, sparganosis should be considered because of the unique dietary customs despite the high level of hygiene.

Isolation, molecular and phenotypic characterization of Cronobacter spp. in ready-to-eat salads and foods from Japanese cuisine commercialized in Brazil

The aim of this study was to detect Cronobacter from 30 samples of ready-to-eat (RTE) salads and 30 foods from Japanese cuisine as commercially available in Brazil. The detection of Cronobacter was as according to the ISO standard 22964:2017. The isolates were phenotypically characterized by Vitek 2.0 and the antibiotic susceptibility profile was determined using the standardized agar disc diffusion method. Molecular characterization was accomplished by real-time PCR targeting dnaG gene, multiplex-PCR targeting cgcA gene, and fusA allele sequencing. Twenty-seven samples (45.0%) contained Cronobacter, 14 (23.3%) samples of foods from Japanese cuisine and 13 (21.7%) samples of RTE salads. Twenty-nine unique Cronobacter isolates were selected from the 27 positive samples and were identified as C. sakazakii (n = 18), C. malonaticus (n = 8), and C. dublinensis (n = 3). A high genetic diversity was observed, with 29 Cronobacter strains being assigned to 11 different fusA alleles, a ratio of 2.6 strains by fusA allele was found. The cgcA multiplex-PCR failed to identify many of the Cronobacter isolates at the species level. Four (13.8%) Cronobacter isolates were resistant to one or more antibiotics tested (n = 12). The presence of Cronobacter in RTE foods could be a potential threat to human health and highlights the need for high levels of hygiene, particularly when preparing food for elderly, immunosuppressed persons or adults with prior underlying pathology. Epidemiological surveillance agencies should be aware of the risk that these RTE foods may represent, for these groups.

Fluorescent Bioaerosol Particles Resulting from Human Occupancy with and Without Respirators

Airborne transmission of pathogenic aerosols via human breath plays a major role in infectious disease outbreaks in indoor environments. Yet, their bioaerosol emission profiles are still not well quantified. Here, we first studied bioaerosol emission rates of human exhaled breath from 12 healthy subjects, and then evaluated the bioaerosol emissions when wearing two different respirators “Doctor masks” and N95 in a controlled environment (27 m3) using a bioaerosol sensor-ultraviolet aerodynamic particle spectrometer (UV-APS). The human bioaerosol contribution was further confirmed through classroom observation. The results showed that there was a peak around 1.5 µm for the fluorescent particles emitted from humans’ breath. For the controlled environment, the presence of 5 people without wearing masks increased bioaerosol concentration by 107% within 30 min at an average emission rate of 8.4 × 105 fluorescent particles person–1 hour–1 resulting from the occupancy. When wearing N95 masks or “Doctor masks”, bioaerosol increases were observed to be 81% or 31% for the controlled environment, respectively, lower compared to those without masks. In-classroom observation also showed a fluorescent particle concentration increase of about 50%. In all experiments, we observed a decline in PM number concentration. Bioaerosol emission from exhaled breath was calculated to account for about 17% of the increase in the controlled environment. The results here suggest the need for re-evaluating microbial aerosol exposure risks for medical sites that demand high levels of hygiene even while wearing a respirator.

Trichuris suis secrete products that reduce disease severity in a multiple sclerosis model.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) disease, which affects about 1 in 1000 individuals in the western world. It has been suggested that this relatively high prevalence is linked to a high level of hygiene, i.e. a reduced exposure to various microorganisms, including parasites. Parasites are known to employ different immunomodulatory and antiinflammatory strategies, which enable them to evade destruction by the immune system. We have investigated the immunomodulation by the swine whipworm, Trichuris suis, by measuring the impact of oral administration of T. suis ova as well as of intraperitoneal administration of T. suis excretory/secretory products on the development and progression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis - an animal model that shares clinical and pathological characteristics with multiple sclerosis. Intraperitoneal administration of excretory/secretory products before disease onset, resulted in a significant decrease in disease severity as well as markedly reduced TH1 and TH17 T-cell responses, centrally in the spinal cord as well as in the periphery, i.e. the spleen. Thus, parenteral administration of T. suis-derived products results in a skewing of the immune response with a significant impact on disease severity in a CNS inflammatory disease model.

Preparation of High-temperature Silicone Rubber Mold and its Application in Food Industry

This study aims to aid and use a new kind of multi-functional control agent by synthesis, preparation good adhesive properties and resistance to yellowing performance. Volatile low, health indicators to meet EU hygiene standards in food contact materials food grade high temperature vulcanized silicone rubber, expand the scope of application of silicone rubber. Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) is a new type of silicone rubber products, which is developing rapidly in recent years. In addition to holding a number of typical silicone rubber inherent advantages, LSR also has manufacturing simple process, high production efficiency, excellent overall performance, low cost, energy-saving and other features. LSR is mainly used pacifiers, bottles and other daily necessities production. Safe non-toxic silicone rubber has excellent chemical inertness, high level of hygiene, nitrosamine and other harmful substances, making it the first choice for baby supplies. In addition, the use of its good permeability characteristics can also be made of fruits and vegetables fresh atmosphere film. Tableware products in the industry, silicone rubber tableware products was a new kitchen utensils, with soft, does not damage the non-stick coating. Silicone rubber cutlery most common is silicone rubber nylon composite type tableware.

Evaluation of Hygiene and Safety Criteria in the Production of a Traditional Piedmont Cheese.

Traditional products and related processes must be safe to protect consumers’ health. The aim of this study was to evaluate microbiological criteria of a traditional Piedmont cheese, made by two different cheese producers (A and B). Three batches of each cheese were considered. The following seven samples of each batch were collected: raw milk, milk at 38°C, curd, cheese at 7, 30, 60, 90 days of ripening. During cheese making process, training activities dealing with food safety were conducted. Analyses regarding food safety and process hygiene criteria were set up according to the EC Regulation 2073/2005. Other microbiological and chemical-physical analyses [lactic streptococci, lactobacilli, pH and water activity (Aw)] were performed as well. Shiga-toxin Escherichia coli, aflatoxin M1 and antimicrobial substances were considered only for raw milk. All samples resulted negative for food safety criteria; Enterobacteriaceae, E.coli and coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS) were high in the first phase of cheese production, however they decreased at the end of ripening. A high level of CPS in milk was found in producer A, likewise in some cheese samples a count of >5 Log CFU/g was reached; staphylococcal enterotoxins resulted negative. The pH and Aw values decreased during the cheese ripening period. The competition between lactic flora and potential pathogen microorganisms and decreasing of pH and Aw are considered positive factors in order to ensure safety of dairy products. Moreover, training activities play a crucial role to manage critical points and perform corrective action. Responsible application of good manufacturing practices are considered key factors to obtain a high hygienic level in dairy products.

Teaching minority children hygiene: investigating hygiene education in kindergartens and homes of ethnic minority children in northern Vietnam

Objectives. Ethnic minority children in Vietnam experience high levels of hygiene- and sanitation-related diseases. Improving hygiene for minority children is therefore vital for improving child health. The study objective was to investigate how kindergarten and home environments influence the learning of hygiene of pre-school ethnic minority children in rural Vietnam.Design. Eight months of ethnographic field studies were conducted among four ethnic minority groups living in highland and lowland communities in northern Vietnam. Data included participant observation in four kindergartens and 20 homes of pre-school children, together with 67 semi-structured interviews with caregivers and five kindergarten staff. Thematic analysis was applied and concepts of social learning provided inputs to the analysis.Findings. This study showed that poor living conditions with lack of basic sanitation infrastructures were important barriers for the implementation of safe home child hygiene. Furthermore, the everyday life of highland villages, with parents working away from the households resulted in little daily adult supervision of safe child hygiene practices. While kindergartens were identified as potentially important institutions for improving child hygiene education, essential and well-functioning hygiene infrastructures were lacking. Also, hygiene teaching relied on theoretical and non-practice-based learning styles, which did not facilitate hygiene behaviour change in small children. Minority children were further disadvantaged as teaching was only provided in non-minority language.Conclusions. Kindergartens can be important institutions for the promotion of safe hygiene practices among children, but they must invest in the maintenance of hygiene and sanitation infrastructures and adopt a strong practice-based teaching approach in daily work and in teacher's education. To support highland minority children in particular, teaching styles must take local living conditions and caregiver structures into account and teach in local languages. Creating stronger links between home and institutional learning environments can be vital to support disadvantaged highland families in improving child health.

The effect of one generation of controlled mating on the expression of hygienic behaviour in honey bees

SummaryHoney bee mating cannot be directly controlled in the same way as in many agriculturally important animals. Instrumental insemination is, however, possible and can be used as an aid in selective breeding. Hygienic behaviour, in which worker bees detect and remove dead or diseased brood from capped cells, is a heritable trait that confers colony-level resistance against brood diseases. Using the freeze-killed brood (FKB) bioassay we compared the levels of hygiene in colonies headed by daughter queens reared from hygienic mother colonies that were either instrumentally inseminated with sperm from drones reared from hygienic colonies or allowed to mate naturally with naturally-occurring drones. Hygiene levels were significantly higher in the colonies of the instrumentally inseminated queens than in the colonies of the naturally-mated queens. However, the hygiene levels in the naturally-mated colonies were encouragingly high and indicate that supplying beekeepers with naturally-mated queens, or virgin queens to mate locally, can result in colonies with high levels of hygiene.

Honey bee hygienic behaviour does not incur a cost via removal of healthy brood

In the honey bee, hygienic behaviour, the removal of dead or diseased brood from capped cells by workers, is a heritable trait that confers colony-level resistance against brood diseases. This behaviour is quite rare. Only c. 10% of unselected colonies show high levels of hygiene. Previous studies suggested that hygiene might be rare because it also results in the removal of healthy brood, thereby imposing an ongoing cost even when brood diseases are absent. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying hygienic behaviour in 10 colonies using a standard technique, the freeze-killed brood (FKB) bioassay. At the same time, we also quantified the removal of untreated brood. The study colonies showed a wide range in hygienic behaviour, removing 19.7-100% of the FKB. The removal of untreated brood ranged from 2% to 44.4%. However, there was no correlation between the two removal rates for any of the four age groups of untreated brood studied (eggs, young larvae, older larvae from uncapped cells and larvae/pupae from capped cells). These results do not support the cost-to-healthy-brood hypothesis for the rarity of hygienic behaviour.

Hygienic Behavior in Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae): Effects of Brood, Food, and Time of the Year

Hygienic behavior in honey bees is a heritable trait of individual workers that confers colony-level resistance against various brood diseases. Hygienic workers detect and remove dead or diseased brood from sealed cells. However, this behavior is quite rare, with only c.10% of unselected colonies showing high levels of hygiene. Beekeepers can potentially increase this by screening colonies for hygiene and breeding from the best. However, the level of hygiene expressed by a colony is variable, which poses a challenge to colony selection. In this study, we systematically varied two factors thought to be of importance in influencing hygiene levels, "nectar" availability, by feeding or not feeding sucrose syrup, and brood amount, by adding or removing brood, to determine what effect they had on hygienic behavior. We tested 19 colonies repeatedly over a 4-mo period using the freeze-killed brood assay, a standard technique to quantify hygienic behavior. Two days after freeze-killed brood treatment, our colonies showed a wide range of brood removal levels, with colony means ranging from 31.7 +/- 22.5 to 93 +/- 6.9 (mean % +/- SD). Neither the food nor the brood manipulation had an effect on hygiene levels. Colony size and time of year were also nonsignificant. The only significant effect was a three-way interaction between syrup availability, amount of brood, and time of the year, resulting in reduced hygienic behavior early in the season (spring), in colonies with added brood that were not fed sucrose syrup. Overall, these results suggest that hygienic behavior is not greatly affected by environmental conditions typical of a real-life beekeeping, and that screening of colonies can be done anytime without special regard to nectar conditions or brood levels.

Virus infections among young children—the first year of the INDIS study

The frequencies of early childhood infections were studied in healthy children with increased genetic risk for type 1 diabetes participating in the ongoing prospective high intensive infection follow-up Study, INDIS, started in 2009 in Turku, Finland. Here the results obtained from 160 stool to 160 nasal swab specimens collected in parallel at times of infectious symptoms in 2009-2010 from 45 children at the age of 24 months or younger are reported. The specimens were analyzed for enteric (human enterovirus, norovirus, rotavirus, sapovirus, astrovirus) and respiratory RNA viruses (human enterovirus and rhinovirus) common in early childhood, respectively, using highly validated virus-specific real-time PCR methods. According to the results 96% of the children had at least one virus infection during the study period and one or several viral agents were detected in 76% of sample sets. The most prevalent viral agents were human rhinovirus, enterovirus, parechovirus, and norovirus (genotype GII) with positive specimens 57.5%, 28.8%, 19.4%, and 6.9%, respectively. Other intestinal viruses were found in less than 2% of stool specimens. Single infections covered 40.0% of the specimens while multiple infections with two or more infectious agents were detected in 36.3% of specimens and altogether 11 combinations of viruses were included in the mixed infections. Although human enterovirus is known to be a frequent finding in stool specimens, especially during early childhood, it was found in this study more frequently in nasal swab specimens. Whether this is true, more general, in countries with the high hygiene level remains to be shown.

Presence of faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and diarrheagenic E. coli pathotypes in ready-to-eat salads, from an area where crops are irrigated with untreated sewage water

Consumption of ready-to-eat (RTE) salads has increased worldwide. Consequently, the number of outbreaks caused by food-borne pathogens, including diarrheagenic E. coli pathotypes (DEPs), associated with the consumption of RTE-salads has increased. DEPs include enterotoxigenic (ETEC), typical and atypical enteropathogenic (tEPEC, aEPEC), enteroinvasive (EIEC), enteroaggregative (EAEC), diffuse adherent (DAEC) and Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) E. coli. In less-developed areas of the world, fresh crops continue to be irrigated with untreated sewage water. The aims of this study were to evaluate the microbiological quality and prevalence of DEPs in RTE-salads of raw vegetables, purchased from restaurants at Pachuca-City, Hidalgo, Mexico, where most locally consumed vegetables are irrigated with untreated sewage water. A total of 130 salads were purchased from restaurants of three categories: A) national chain restaurants and B) local restaurants, both with the H distinctive (a recognition that the Secretary of Tourism grants to restaurants that manage supplies with high levels of hygiene); and C) local small inexpensive restaurants without H distinctive. A total of 6 restaurants were included, 2 per category (A1–2, B1–2, C1–2). Each sample was tested for the presence of faecal coliforms (FC) and E. coli by standard procedures. E. coli strains were further characterized for the presence of DEPs loci by two multiplex polymerase chain reactions. Among the 130 salad samples 99% (129) were contaminated with FC; 85% (110/129) harboured E. coli and 7% (8/110) DEPs. The amount of positive salad samples for FC and E. coli was similar between restaurants and categories. The FC mean (571 FC/g) of all samples was significantly higher (p<0.001) than the E. coli mean (63 E. coli/g). A weak correlation of 7.7% (r2=0.077, p=0.003) between median FC and E. coli MPN (most probable number) per sample was found. Of the 8 salad samples contaminated with DEPs, 2 were spinach salads from restaurant A2 and 3 were (Mixed salad) samples from each C restaurant. Three samples harboured non-O157 STEC strains, 2 EIEC, 1 ETEC and 2 samples had non-O157 STEC and EIEC strains, simultaneously. A significant difference (p=0.008) between the prevalence of E. coli vs. DEPs was observed. Independently of the restaurants' overall hygienic status, most RTE-salads had a poor microbiological quality and some harboured DEPs that have been associated with illness in Mexico. Health authorities should focus on implementing DEPs screening in raw vegetables and enforcing the legislation that forbids irrigation with untreated sewage water of both root and leafy vegetables.

Dynamics of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage in healthy children attending a day care center in northern Spain. influence of detection techniques on the results

BackgroundPneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage precedes invasive infection and is the source for dissemination of the disease. Differences in sampling methodology, isolation or identification techniques, as well as the period (pre -or post-vaccination) when the study was performed, can influence the reported rates of colonization and the distribution of serotypes carried.ObjectivesTo evaluate the prevalence and dynamics of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal colonization in healthy children aged 6-34 months attending a day care center with a high level of hygiene and no overcrowding. The study was performed 3-4 years after the 7-valent pneumococcal vaccine was introduced, using multiple methodologies to detect and characterize the isolates.MethodsOver 12 months, 25 children were sampled three times, 53 children twice and 27 children once. Three Streptococcus pneumoniae typing techniques were used: Quellung, Pneumotest-Latex-kit and multiplex-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The similarity of isolates of the same serotype was established by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and occasionally the multilocus sequence type (ST) was also determined.ResultsOverall pneumococcal carriage and multiple colonization rates were 89.5% (94/105) and 39%, respectively. Among 218 pneumococci detected, 21 different serotypes and 13 non-typeable isolates were found. The most prevalent serotypes were 19A, 16F and 15B. Serotypes 15B, 19A and 21 were mainly found as single carriage; in contrast serotypes 6B, 11A and 20, as well as infrequent serotypes, were isolated mainly as part of multiple carriage. Most 19A isolates were ST193 but most serotypes showed high genetic heterogeneity. Changes in the pneumococci colonizing each child were frequent and the same serotype detected on two occasions frequently showed a different genotype. By multiplex-PCR, 100% of pneumococci could be detected and 94% could be serotyped versus 80.3% by the Quellung reaction and Pneumotest-Latex in combination (p < 0.001).ConclusionsRates of S. pneumoniae carriage and multiple colonization were very high. Prevalent serotypes differed from those found in similar studies in the pre-vaccination period. In the same child, clearance of a pneumococcal strain and acquisition of a new one was frequent in a short period of time. The most effective technique for detecting pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriers was multiplex-PCR.

Inactivation of high and low pathogenic avian influenza virus H5 subtypes by copper ions incorporated in zeolite-textile materials

The effect of cotton textiles containing Cu2+ held by zeolites (CuZeo-textile) on the inactivation of H5 subtype viruses was examined. Allantoic fluid (AF) containing a virus (AF virus) (0.1ml) was applied to the textile (3×3-cm), and incubated for a specific period at ambient temperature. After each incubation, 0.9ml of culture medium was added followed by squeezing to recover the virus into the medium. The recovered virus was titrated using Madin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells or 10-day-old embryonated chicken eggs.The highly pathogenic H5N1 and the low pathogenic H5N3 viruses were inactivated on the CuZeo-textile, even after short incubation. The titer of A/chicken/Yamaguchi/7/04 (H5N1) in MDCK cells and in eggs declined by >5.0 log10 and 5.0log10, respectively, in 30s. The titer of A/whooper swan/Hokkaido/1/08 (H5N1) in MDCK cells declined by 2.3 and 3.5 in 1 and 5min, respectively. When A/whistling swan/Shimane/499/83 (H5N3) was treated on the CuZeo-textile for 10min, the titer declined by >5.0log10 in MDCK cells and by >3.5log10 in eggs. In contrast, no decrease in the titers was observed on cotton textiles containing zeolites alone (Zeo-textile). Neither cytopathic effects nor NP antigens were detected in MDCK cells inoculated with the H5N1 virus treated on the CuZeo-textile. The viral genes (H5, N1, M, and NP) were amplified from the virus treated on the CuZeo-textile by RT-PCR. The hemagglutinating activity of the CuZeo-textile treated virus was unaffected, indicating that virus–receptor interactions were maintained. Electron microscopic analysis revealed a small number of particles with morphological abnormalities in the H5N3 virus samples recovered immediately from the CuZeo-textile, while no particles were detectable in the 10-min treated sample, suggesting the rapid destruction of virions by the Cu2+ in the CuZeo-textile. The loss of infectivity of H5 viruses could, therefore, be due to the destruction of virions by Cu2+. Interestingly, CuCl2 treatment (500 and 5000μM) did not have an antiviral effect on the AF viruses (H5N1 and H5N3) even after 48h of incubation, although the titer of the purified H5N3 virus treated with CuCl2 declined greatly. The antiviral effect was inhibited by adding the AF to the purified H5N3 virus prior to the CuCl2 treatment. The known antibacterial/antifungal activities of copper suggest that the CuZeo-textile can be applied at a high level of hygiene in both animals and humans.

Compost barns - an alternative housing system for dairy cows?

Abstract Cultivated compost housing systems for dairy cattle are reported in the literature from Israel, the USA and the Netherlands. A deep-bedded pack is commonly supported by large amounts of wood shavings and sawdust to enhance microbial activity and evaporation. Aerobic composting processes are maintained by cultivating the bedded pack once or twice daily with a heavy harrow. Existing studies indicate that cultivated compost housing systems can be an alternative to free-stall housing systems for dairy cows, which improves animal welfare in terms of low prevalence of lame cows, high cow comfort with low prevalence of hock lesions and unrestrained lying comfort. Udder health and milk quality appear to be acceptable, but high bacterial counts in the bedding emphasize that a high level of hygiene at milking is vital to keep the incidence of mastitis low and maintain a high milk quality. Ammonia emission from a compost barn with slatted floor in the feeding alley may be comparable to levels of a free stall barn with slatted floor aisles, but results are conflicting. Cultivated compost housing systems may potentially pose challenges in relation to emission of ammonia, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane, but the literature is sparse. Feasibility of sustainable bedding material is essential to develop and spread the system among farmers in different geographic locations, and therefore we need to know more about potential bedding materials, their effect on mastitis pathogens and emission of ammonia and greenhouse gases.