Control of gastrointestinal parasitism with nematodes in dairy goats by treating the host category at risk.
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Infections of the gastrointestinal tract with parasitic nematodes remain one of the main limiting factors in grazing dairy goats. The usual mode of control of these parasitic diseases has up to now been based on the repeated use of anthelmintics. However, the prevalence rates of anthelmintic resistances, in particular to benzimidazoles, are now particularly high in the French dairy goat production. This situation makes it mandatory to reconsider the usual mode of control of these nematodes and to look for short term, alternative solutions which combine the control of gastrointestinal infections and management of anthelmintic resistances. One of the possible options is to leave a part of the flock without treatment during the grazing season in order to maintain alleles of susceptibility to anthelmintics within the worm populations. Previous epidemiological observations identifying the categories of host populations at risk are presented which provide the rationale for targeted applications of treatments. The results of assays on experimental flocks and from farm surveys examining the advantages and drawbacks of selective treatments are presented. The value of these results in combination with other alternative solutions of control are discussed in order to use minimum treatments with maximum benefits. (+info)
Paucibacillary paratuberculosis in a goat.
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A 5-year-old Saanen doe was presented with emaciation, good appetite, normal feces, and a dry flaky hair coat. Johne's disease was tentatively diagnosed. Gross postmortem findings were a thickened, corrugated ileum and enlarged edematous mesenteric lymph nodes. Histologically, there was extensive lymphocytic infiltration of the ileal lamina propria. Mycobacterium paratuberculosis could not be identified or cultured. (+info)
Immune responses of sheep to quadrivalent double emulsion foot-and-mouth disease vaccines: rate of development of immunity and variations among other ruminants.
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Despite representing the majority of the world's foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)-susceptible livestock, sheep and goats have generally been neglected with regard to their epidemiological role in the spread of FMD. In the present investigations, FMD virus quadrivalent double emulsion (Montanide ISA 206) vaccines were tested in sheep. The oil adjuvant elicited a better immune response at any time than did aluminum hydroxide gel vaccine, and the response developed quicker. The animals maintained their neutralizing antibody titers at >3 log(10) for the duration of the trial (90 days). Sheep were found to be late responders to serotypes A, C, and Asia-1; a clear upward shift in titer was observed at 60 days postvaccination. However, development of the immune response to serotype O in sheep was superior to that in cattle and goats. (+info)
Nairobi sheep disease virus, an important tick-borne pathogen of sheep and goats in Africa, is also present in Asia.
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Nairobi sheep disease (NSD) virus is the prototype of the tick-borne NSD serogroup, genus Nairovirus, family Bunyaviridae. It is highly pathogenic for sheep and goats, causes disease in humans, and is widespread throughout East Africa. Ganjam virus has caused disease in goats and humans in India. Due to their occurrence on different continents and association with different ticks, these viruses were considered distinct despite serologic cross-reactivity. Their S RNA genome segments and encoded nucleocapsid proteins were found to be 1590 nucleotides and 482 amino acids in length and differed by only 10 and 3% at nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively. Genetic and serologic data demonstrate that Ganjam virus is an Asian variant of NSD virus. These viruses were phylogenetically more closely related to Hazara virus than Dugbe virus. (+info)
Seroprevalence of anti-Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in sheep and goats from mountainous areas of Slovakia.
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In the present study, domestic animals such as sheep and goats from eastern Slovakia were screened for the presence of anti-Borrelia antibodies. Seroprevalence in 181 sheep and 65 goats were carried out in 1999 and 2000. Modified ELISA method was used for detection of anti-Borrelia IgG antibodies. Seroprevalence obtained was 15.8% and 17.5% in 1999 and 2000 respectively in sheep, whereas in goats it was 17.2% and 19.4% respectively. The results suggest that these domestic species have potential to transmit the disease to other animals. Though the role of sheep and goats in Lyme disease has not yet been documented, there is great possibility of transmission of the causative agent via co-feeding to human beings. (+info)
Characterization of LppS, an adhesin of Mycoplasma conjunctivae.
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A serine-rich membrane protein named LppS from Mycoplasma conjunctivae, the aetiological agent of infectious keratoconjunctivitis (IKC) of domestic and wild Caprinae, was characterized. Gene cloning and sequence analysis of the lppS gene revealed that it encoded a membrane protein precursor. The protein had a typical signal sequence and a signal peptidase II cleavage site followed by a cysteine residue representing a potential acylation site. The mature LppS protein had an apparent molecular mass of 150 kDa and was found in the detergent-associated fraction of Tween 20 extracted M. conjunctivae proteins. It possessed a serine-rich domain of 41 aa with 37 (90.2 %) serine residues. Twenty-seven of these serine residues were contiguous. The protein adhered to lamb joint synovial cells. Using an in vitro adhesion model, Fab fragments from IgG directed against recombinant purified LppS were shown to specifically inhibit adhesion of M. conjunctivae to lamb cells. Thus, LppS is likely to be an adhesin of M. conjunctivae that may play an important role in the pathogenesis of IKC. (+info)
Characterization of a chromosomal region of Mycoplasma sp. bovine group 7 strain PG50 encoding a glycerol transport locus (gtsABC).
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Mycoplasma species bovine group 7, represented by the type strain PG50, is one of six members of the Mycoplasma mycoides cluster and has been implicated in sporadic and outbreak cases of polyarthritis and mastitis in Australian dairy cattle. This study describes cloning and sequencing a 7.9 kb region of the PG50 chromosome and identification of genes involved in glycerol transport (gtsA, gtsB and gtsC) that are followed by a putative lipoprotein gene lppB and a genomic locus containing two ORFs encoding putative membrane proteins. Long range PCR using primers spanning gtsABC and downstream flanking genes, and Southern hybridization analyses using a suite of probes derived from M. mycoides subsp. mycoides small colony type (SC) strain Afade for gtsA, gtsB and gtsC, lppB and the two downstream genes confirmed that these genes were conserved among Mycoplasma sp. bovine group 7 isolates and mycoplasmas belonging to the M. mycoides subcluster [M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC, M. mycoides subsp. mycoides large colony type (LC) and M. mycoides subsp. capri] but were absent in mycoplasmas belonging to the Mycoplasma capricolum subcluster (M. capricolum subsp. capricolum and M. capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae). M. capricolum subsp. capricolum type strain California kid did not hybridize with the probe for gtsA and gave only weak or no hybridization signals with probes derived from the loci downstream of gtsABC, suggesting that this region has diverged in mycoplasmas belonging to subspecies of M. capricolum. It is shown that PG50, after the addition of a physiological concentration of glycerol to the growth medium, generates H(2)O(2) at levels comparable with strain Afade, implying that the glycerol transport system is functional in Mycoplasma sp. bovine group 7. This suggests that in PG50, as in M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC, glycerol uptake is followed by phosphorylation to glycerol 3-phosphate and then conversion to dihydroxyacetone phosphate, catalysed by L-alpha-glycerophosphate oxidase, resulting in the production of H(2)O(2). The ability of Mycoplasma sp. bovine group 7 to generate significant amounts of hydrogen peroxide may be important in pathogenesis. (+info)
A subacute disease presenting primarily as alopecia and weight loss occurred in 2 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on farms in Minnesota and in Texas. A presumptive diagnosis of malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) was made on the basis of histological lesions. Antibody against an epitope conserved among the MCF group viruses was detected in the serum of both deer. DNA samples from the deer were subjected to a variety of PCR amplifications. Alignment of the amplified sequences from the diseased animals revealed that they were 100% identical to each other and to the same DNA fragment from the newly recognized member of the MCF virus group endemic in domestic goats (Capra hircus), provisionally named caprine herpesvirus 2 (CpHV-2). A seroprevalence survey from one of the deer farms showed a high rate of subclincal infection in the deer population. This study provides further confirmation that CpHV-2 is a pathogen, at least for deer, and emphasizes the risk of loss from MCF when mixing cervids with goats. (+info)