Prevalence Of Animal Diseases Research Articles

The Impact of Animal Disease Outbreaks on China’s Meat Imports

ABSTRACT We assess the effect of three animal disease outbreaks on China’s meat imports from 1992 to 2017, namely foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) for swine, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) for cattle, and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) for poultry. Using system-GMM and FGLS estimators, we find that outbreaks of animal diseases in exporting countries reduce China’s import of the meat products. Additionally, we find positive trade diversion and substitution effects in both FMD and HPAI but negative effects in BSE. Although these results indicate that China can accommodate its meat consumption needs through international trade now, we are skeptical that it can continue to do so if animal husbandry practices do not improve in China. This calls for major meat exporters to improve production efficiency and reduce the prevalence of animal diseases. With increasing environmental pressure and high dependency on imported feed caused by the expanding livestock sector, we recommend a sustainable diet by encouraging less consumption of meat.

Botulism a Major Risk in Animals After Flood in Pakistan; A Review

Flooding has affected and will likely continue to alter the occurrence, distribution, and prevalence of animal diseases, including botulism, according to a growing body of evidence. The pathogen Clostridium botulinum is thought to be one of several species that can produce the A–H-coded botulinum toxins. These toxins (BoNT) are thought to be the most harmful elements found in nature. The poison hits nerves that are firing more frequently, which causes the pattern of damage. The toxin specifically affects synapses and neuromuscular junctions by preventing the generation or release of acetylcholine there. The majority of animals who contract botulism die from it; it affects the breathing, chewing, and swallowing muscles as well as the diaphragm and intercostal muscles, leading to flaccid paralysis and respiratory arrest. The neurotoxins types C and D produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum in an animal or plant substance, during decomposition, are the cause of the condition in cattle. Failure of the respiratory system causes death. The toxin that causes botulism, also known as botulinus poisoning, is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. There are few available treatment options for the neuroparalytic disease botulism, which impacts the livestock business globally and has been documented in a number of nations.

Cystic Echinococcosis: An Impact Assessment of Prevention Programs in Endemic Developing Countries in Africa, Central Asia, and South America

Background. Cystic echinococcosis (CE), caused by the tapeworm species, Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (G1), is one of many primary neglected zoonoses worldwide. Within endemic developing countries, CE has multiple effects on animal and human health and well-being. To address such effects, veterinary and human medical sector collaboration on prevention program delivery is essential. To begin preliminary evaluations of county specific prevention programs, a critically appraised topic (CAT) was conducted. It sought to answer: What impact do CE prevention programs have on human and animal disease prevalence, in populations living in endemic developing countries within Africa, Central Asia, and South America? Methodology. The aim was to assess the ability of prevention and control program outputs to produce measurable differences in health, social, and economic outcomes (e.g., improved access to medical services, positive behavioral change, or reduced treatment costs, respectively). Included articles were obtained using predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria from the four databases (CAB Abstracts and Global Health; the National Library of Medicine (PubMed); ScienceDirect; and WHO Institutional Repository of Information Sharing (IRIS)). The articles were appraised using three checklists: the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the Critical Appraisals Skills Programme (CASP), and the Joanna Briggs Institute checklists. Results. Ten articles were selected. Geographically, 20% of studies were conducted in South America, 30% in Africa, and 50% in Central Asia. For definitive hosts, dogs, CoproELISA antigen testing, before and after Praziquantel (PZQ) de-worming, was a primary focus. For humans, who are intermediate hosts (IH), disease surveillance methods, namely ultrasound (US), were commonly assessed. Whilst for sheep, also acting as IH, disease prevention methods, such as the EG95 livestock vaccine and de-worming farm dogs, were evaluated. Common to all studies were issues of program sustainability, in terms of regular human US screening, dog de-worming, and annual sheep vaccination. This was attributed to transient and remote human or animal populations; limited access to adequate roads or hospitals; few skilled health workers or veterinarians; an over-reliance on communities to administer preventatives; and limited resources. Conclusion. Despite variations in result validity and collection periods, useful comparisons of CE endemic countries produced key research and program recommendations. Future research recommendations included testing the significance of multiple program outcomes in relation to prevalence (e.g., the social outcome: behavioral change), further research on the impact of livestock vaccinations, and the CE transmission role of waterways and sanitation. Program recommendations included calculating and distinguishing between stray versus owned dog populations; formal representation of internal and external stakeholder interests through institutional organization; establishing sustainable guidelines around the frequency of PZQ and vaccination administration; improved veterinary-human medical training and resource sharing; and combined prevention methods and multiple canine disease management.

Assessing Animal Disease Prevalence and Mortality in Smallholder Dairy Farms under Contrasting Management Practices and Stressful Environments in Tanzania

In dairy farming, deploying effective animal husbandry practices minimise disease infections and animal mortality. This improves animal health and welfare status, which is important in tropical smallholder dairy farming, where animals are persistently exposed to multiple environmental stresses. The hypothesis of this study was that animals managed in positive deviants and typical farms suffer different levels of disease infections and mortality, whether under low- or high-stress environments. The study adopted a two-factor nested design with farms contrasting in the level of animal husbandry (positive deviants and typical farms) nested within environments contrasting in the level of environmental stresses (low- and high-stress). A total of 1,999 animals were observed over 42 month period in the coastal lowlands and highlands of Tanzania. The disease prevalence was lower (p < 0.05) in positive deviant farms than in typical farms under low-stress (10.13 vs. 33.61 per 100 animal-years at risk) and high-stress (9.56 vs. 57.30 per 100 animal-years at risk). Cumulative disease incidence rate was also lower (p < 0.05) in positive deviant farms than in typical farms under low-stress (2.74% vs. 8.44%) and high-stress (2.58% vs. 14.34%). The probability of death for a disease infected dairy cattle was relatively lower in positive deviant farms compared to typical farms under low-stress (0.57% vs. 8.33%) and high-stress (0.60% vs. 6.99%). Per 100 animal-years at risk, the mortality density of cattle was lower (p < 0.05) in positive deviant farms compared to typical farms, 15.10 lower in low-stress and 2.60 lower in high-stress. These results show that compared to typical farms, positive deviant farms consistently attained (p < 0.05) lower animal disease infections and subsequent deaths, regardless of the level of environmental stress that the animals were exposed to. This implies that positive deviant farms deployed animal husbandry practices that more effectively minimised animal disease infections and deaths and therefore could maintain their animals in better health and welfare status.

Review on the Relationship of Climate Change and Prevalence of Animal Diseases

Climate change is a subset of the larger set of ecosystem change that is promoting the emergence and re emergence of animal diseases. It affects livestock health through several pathways. These includes effects on pathogens, such as higher temperatures affecting the rate of development of pathogens or parasites; effects on hosts, such as shifts in disease distribution that may affect susceptible animal populations; effects on vectors, such as changes in rainfall and temperature regimes that can affect both the distribution and the abundance of disease vectors; and effects on epidemiology, like altered transmission rates between hosts, food safety and animal production. Furthermore, Climate change influences the emergence and proliferation of disease hosts or vectors and pathogens and their breeding, development and disease transmission. Consequently, it affects distributions, host–parasite relationships and its assemblages to new areas. Indirectly the climate change can affect quantity and quality of fodder crops, animal production, severity and distribution of diseases in both domestic and wild animal that result in their migrations. Most developing countries are highly vulnerable to this climatic impact. From this developing countries Ethiopia is the one that faces recurrent drought due to climate change in its different parts that ends in economic crises. Even though this climatic change causes different economic impacts in the country, a few researches were conducted on it. Now climate models suggest that Ethiopia will see a further warming of between 0.7°C and 2.3°C by the 2020s and between 1.4°C and 2.9°C by the 2050s. So that, it is important to create awareness for the society how climatic change can occurred and result in prevalence of infectious animal disease that end up with economic crises of the country.

Domestic water buffaloes: Access to surface water, disease prevalence and associated economic losses

Given the shortage and non-availability of freshwater in Pakistan, wastewater is being used for bathing water buffaloes; however, this has a negative impact on animal welfare. Although there is a vast literature on indirect linkages between wastewater and animal productivity, studies focusing on the direct impacts of water buffaloes bathing in wastewater on animal productivity and economic losses are rare. Therefore, using 360 domestic water buffalo farms, this study examines the expenditure and production losses associated with bathing (in wastewater and freshwater) and non-bathing water buffaloes by employing partial budgeting and resource adjustment component techniques. Furthermore, it investigates the prevalence of animal diseases and associated economic effects using correlation analysis and propensity score matching techniques, respectively. The findings reveal that compared to their counterparts (freshwater bathing and non-bathing water buffaloes), buffaloes bathing in wastewater are at increased risk of clinical mastitis, foot and mouth disease (FMD) and tick infestation. Moreover, the use of wastewater for bathing buffaloes also leads to higher economic and production losses by affecting milk productivity, causing premature culling, and reducing slaughter value. The findings of the double-log model show that economic losses are higher if buffaloes bathe in wastewater within 30 min after milking, as there are more chances that those buffaloes would be exposed to bacterial penetration in the teat ducts, which may result in intramammary infection. According to the propensity score matching method, the higher economic damages per month are associated with buffaloes bathing in wastewater and freshwater, 155 and 110 USD per farm, respectively. The study findings reference the need for policies to restrict wastewater access by water buffaloes, and a regular check of and access to cool clean water wallows for bathing during hot summer days, to reduce excess heat and economic losses, and thus improve animal welfare.

Factors Associated with a Low Veterinary Regulatory Compliance in Uganda, Their Impact and Quality Management Approaches to Improve Performance

Organized veterinary services in Uganda were established in year 1908 and successfully controlled animal diseases nationally through a centralized chain of veterinary command. Such services were of public good, mandatory by regulations and also referred to as the “veterinary regulatory services”. However, from 1993; policy reforms were introduced coincidentally at the same time with a national animal health passive surveillance system. Despite reforms, continued losses in livestock were observed necessitating a longitudinal survey based on the above surveillance system. Study findings were to serve as an indicator of performance for the reforms as regards animal disease control. Overall aim of the study was to: Confirm the assumed increase of disease after reforms; identify predisposing factors; gauge their impact and make recommendations to improve service delivery. Results confirmed that: Local government veterinary personnel reduced by 90.61% after the first year of decentralization; national animal health report submissions reduced from average of 81% to only 47.06% with a correlation or association of negative (-) 27.3% albeit at p-value > 0.05. Further, correlation at p-value < 0.05 confirmed that: Contagious and other major animal disease cases increased by 46.1%; roundworm infestation in pigs increased by 69.4%; field animal vaccine availability decreased by (-) 64.3% with time and a positive correlation of 65.3% was confirmed between human deaths and the number of bites by suspected rabid animals. Regression confirmed that with other factors held constant; on average: 69.5% of all Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks in other areas of the country originated or depended on the same disease found in the cattle corridor while 42.7% human deaths from rabies was attributed to bites from suspected rabid animals. Conclusion was that: Increased animal disease prevalence was primarily attributed to the reform policies but confounded by other veterinary institution internal and external/shock factors. This requires further policy reforms and a review of the national animal health passive surveillance system by all stakeholders to be done through and implemented by an efficient quality management system which is: staff-management-client focused.

Direct and indirect effects of wastewater use and herd environment on the occurrence of animal diseases and animal health in Pakistan

The use of wastewater for rearing domestic animals is a common phenomenon in most of the developing countries like Pakistan that face a serious shortage of freshwater resources. However, most of the literature has only focused on the indirect effects of wastewater use on animal health or productivity, and literature on the direct effects of wastewater use is rare. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the direct and indirect effects of wastewater usage on the prevalence of animal diseases and animal health in Pakistan. The study is based on a household-level survey of 360 domestic water buffalo herds collected from 12 districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan. We tested the prevalence of the animal's diseases, animal's health, and wastewater-use preference with various econometric tools, such as the Poisson, negative binomial, and logistic regressions. The findings of the study show that the majority of the farmers use wastewater for buffalo bathing due to the shortage of freshwater resources. Results explore the prevalence of diseases such as clinical mastitis, tick infestation, and foot and mouth disease at the farm level significantly associated with buffalo bathing in the wastewater. Moreover, bathing in wastewater pre- and post-milking also plays a role in the occurrence of diseases. Particularly, if the buffalo's access to wastewater for bathing is within 60min after milking, the probability of the animals being exposed to mastitis is higher. Furthermore, on investigation, a number of factors are found, such as the distance to the water source, power shortage, groundwater availability, and the education of farmers that influence farmers' behavior of letting their animals take a bath in wastewater. Moreover, the use of different preventive measures improves the animal's health.

English

Prevalence of animal diseases is one of the major livestock production constraints in Kenya with high impacts on livelihoods due to related economic losses affecting food security in the country. The use of synthetic drugs for disease management has challenges. This makes the use of medicinal plants for treatment a rational alternative. Ascarids, Toxocara canis and Ancylostoma caninum are among the most frequently observed helminth parasites in dogs in Kenya. The two parasites are also known to cause helminthiasis in human beings. This study was designed to evaluate the in vitro efficacy of ethanol and aqueous extracts from bulbs of A. sativum and A. cepa and from leaves of J. curcas against T. canis and A. caninum parasites. Six&nbsp;(6) extracts from&nbsp;three (3) plants:&nbsp;A. cepa, A. sativum and J. curcas were selected for&nbsp;in vitro anthelmintic screening by measuring ability to inhibit hatching and development of eggs and survival of larvae in vitro. The ethanol extracts of A. cepa inhibited hatching of 100% of eggs of A. caninum between 10,000 and 2,500 ug/ml and 100% of eggs of T. canis between 10,000 and 1,250 ug/ml while that of A. sativum inhibited hatching of 100% of A. caninum eggs between 10,000 and 5,000 ug/ml. However the ethanol extract of A. sativum did not have the same effect on the development of T. canis eggs at these concentrations. The ethanol extracts of both A. cepa and A. sativum affected the survival of 100% of A. caninum larvae at a concentration of 156 ug/ml and above. The water extracts of the three plants had moderate effects on the eggs and the larvae of both parasites. The results indicate that the ethanol extracts of A. cepa and A. sativum have anthelmintic properties which should be investigated further to support the ethnoveterinary use of the plants as anthelmintics for control and treatment of worm infestation in dogs. Key words: Allium cepa, Allium sativum, Anthelmintic activity, Ancylostoma caninum, Jatropha curcas Toxocara canis.

The Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissues in the Small Intestine, Not the Large Intestine, Play a Major Role in Oral Prion Disease Pathogenesis.

ABSTRACTPrion diseases are infectious neurodegenerative disorders characterized by accumulations of abnormally folded cellular prion protein in affected tissues. Many natural prion diseases are acquired orally, and following exposure, the early replication of some prion isolates upon follicular dendritic cells (FDC) within gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) is important for the efficient spread of disease to the brain (neuroinvasion). Prion detection within large intestinal GALT biopsy specimens has been used to estimate human and animal disease prevalence. However, the relative contributions of the small and large intestinal GALT to oral prion pathogenesis were unknown. To address this issue, we created mice that specifically lacked FDC-containing GALT only in the small intestine. Our data show that oral prion disease susceptibility was dramatically reduced in mice lacking small intestinal GALT. Although these mice had FDC-containing GALT throughout their large intestines, these tissues were not early sites of prion accumulation or neuroinvasion. We also determined whether pathology specifically within the large intestine might influence prion pathogenesis. Congruent infection with the nematode parasite Trichuris muris in the large intestine around the time of oral prion exposure did not affect disease pathogenesis. Together, these data demonstrate that the small intestinal GALT are the major early sites of prion accumulation and neuroinvasion after oral exposure. This has important implications for our understanding of the factors that influence the risk of infection and the preclinical diagnosis of disease.IMPORTANCE Many natural prion diseases are acquired orally. After exposure, the accumulation of some prion diseases in the gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) is important for efficient spread of disease to the brain. However, the relative contributions of GALT in the small and large intestines to oral prion pathogenesis were unknown. We show that the small intestinal GALT are the essential early sites of prion accumulation. Furthermore, congruent infection with a large intestinal helminth (worm) around the time of oral prion exposure did not affect disease pathogenesis. This is important for our understanding of the factors that influence the risk of prion infection and the preclinical diagnosis of disease. The detection of prions within large intestinal GALT biopsy specimens has been used to estimate human and animal disease prevalence. However, our data suggest that using these biopsy specimens may miss individuals in the early stages of oral prion infection and significantly underestimate the disease prevalence.

Reality in Live Animal and Carcass Characteristics of Indigenous Cattle Slaughtered in Six Abattoirs in Tanzania

The objective of this study was to look on some slaughter and carcass characteristics of cattle slaughtered directly from extensive system in six abattoirs in regions where there is large number of livestock population. The data belong to 1,244 cattle slaughtered in the slaughter houses for a period of 21 consecutive days of January 2014. The information herein explore and validate the data given in different statistical sources. Since the beef industry is currently constrained by low genetic potential of existing stock, inadequate infrastructure, inadequate marketing system, prevalence of animal diseases, inadequate feed resources, weak livestock farmer’s organizations and inadequate technical support services, this information will be used by policy makers and scientists to improve the beef cattle productivity and beef products from the existing stock. The survey results of the 1,244 sampled animals showed that most of the animals were slaughtered when aged between four to six years and differed (P

Use of a Randomized Response Technique to obtain sensitive information on animal disease prevalence

In order for policy-makers to formulate effective disease control measures they require accurate estimates of the extent and prevalence of the disease. On occasion, obtaining these data can be difficult, as farmers may perceive relevant information as being sensitive to divulge. Consequently, underestimation of disease prevalence may occur due to farmer reticence about admitting to behaviours and outcomes that are considered professionally transgressive. To overcome such weaknesses, this study used a novel social science survey method known as the Randomized Response Technique in order to obtain population level estimations of transgressionary behavior and disease prevalence for the case of sheep scab in Wales. Since deregulation in 1992, sheep scab has become widespread throughout the UK. Previous estimates of sheep scab in the UK have employed survey techniques which do not adequately protect the anonymity of the farmers’ answers other than via verbal or institution backed promise. In this study, farmers at several agricultural shows in Wales were asked to complete questionnaires according to the Randomized Response Technique during the summer of 2009. The survey results suggest that 30% of farmers did not routinely treat their sheep for scab. A further 36.5% of the surveyed farmers admitted to having sheep scab in their flocks in the past 5 years. These estimates are both higher than obtained by previous surveys which used more traditional questionnaire structures. Survey responses revealed a strong willingness to reintroduce compulsory treatment measures to control or eradicate the disease. This is the first study to demonstrate the value of the Randomized Response Technique in the context of animal health.

Relative efficiency of ratio estimates of animal disease prevalence

An evaluation was made of the efficiency of the ratio estimator of the prevalence of animal disease relative to the unbiased estimator to determine when ratio estimation could be expected to offer an advantage. Actual data from a mastitis survey, in which all cows-in-milk in randomly selected herds were tested for the presence of various pathogens, were used to make the evaluation. Correlations of the numerator and denominator variables of the ratio estimate were found to be consistently too low to expect these estimates to be competitive with the unbiased estimates. Yet, the ratio estimates were found to be as efficient as those of the unbiased estimates because the coefficients of variation of the numerator and denominator variables differed sufficiently. The conditions under which ratio estimation will perform well are specified.

An application of sampling theory in animal disease prevalence survey design

The disease prevalence survey is one research approach available to epidemiologists working in preventive veterinary medicine. This paper demonstrates an application of sampling theory in the design of disease prevalence surveys and suggests ways in which this use of sampling methodology may enable the veterinary epidemiologists to better achieve their research objectives.