The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between biosecurity as scored on the Italian National Animal Welfare Reference Centre (Centro di Referenza Nazionale per il Benessere Animale – CReNBA) checklist and the prevalence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, Chlamydophila abortus and Neospora caninum on dairy farms located in Ragusa, Italy.

Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) has become the leading cause of health care-associated infections. Treatment is difficult due to the lack of an effective antimicrobial therapy, and mortality is high. This study investigated the occurrence of CRPA in farm animals (buffaloes and cattle), livestock drinking water, and humans in Egypt. A total of 180 samples were examined: 50 faecal each from buffaloes and cattle, 30 of livestock drinking water, and 50 stool from humans. The samples were cultured on cetrimide agar and the plates were incubated aerobically at 37°C for 24 h. The isolates were examined for the presence of the blaKPC, blaOXA₋₄₈, and blaNDM carbapenemase-encoding genes using PCR and investigated for the exotoxin A (toxA) gene. The toxA gene from carbapenem- group resistant isolates was phylogenetically analysed. P. aeruginosa was isolated from buffaloes, cattle, drinking water, and humans, with occurrences of 40%, 34%, 10%, and 20%, respectively. Carbapenem resistance genes were found in 60%, 59%, 67%, and 70% in buffalo, cattle, water and human samples, respectively. The toxA gene was detected in 80% of samples. The phylogenetic analysis showed that cattle and water sequences were in one cluster and more related to each other than to human isolates. Occurrence of CRPA among farm animals, drinking water, and humans was high, reflecting the environmental origin of P. aeruginosa and highlighting contaminated water as a potential transmitter of CRPA to livestock and next to humans.

In Malaysia, helminthiasis due to strongyles such as Haemonchuscontortus and coccidiosis caused by Eimeria sp. have been reported to cause severe economic losses in small ruminants livestock industry. This paper reports the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasite infections on small ruminants situated in Seberang Perai Selatan district, Penang. Faecal samples were obtained from a total of 193 animals,randomly selected from 14 ruminant farms. The results of this survey indicates that helminthiasis and coccidiosis is rampant insheep and goat farms. The most common infections diagnosed were helminthiasis (77.72%) and coccidiosis (60.10%) followedby Moniezia sp. (5.18%). From this study, it shows that parasitic diseases can be managed by good animal husbandryin farms since high parasitic infections were observed in farms that were poorly managed based on nutrition, hygiene andbasic animal husbandry practices. The smallholders depended on health and extension services from the State Veterinary Department. A continuous monitoring of small ruminant farms by the Department of Veterinary Services will provide important information for assisting farmers with managing the spread of parasitic infections and maintaining the productivity of animals.

Abscess is considered one of the most common surgical body surface swellings in farm animals. The recognition of the clinical, ultrasonographic and biochemical characters of abscesses is important in the management and control of this devastating swelling. One hundred twenty-two animals were selected out of two hundred and five animals presented abscesses in different body regions. The clinical and ultrasonographic examinations were carried out to verify the abscess development. The swabs and pus samples for bacteriological study were obtained before the surgical treatment once the abscess maturation was ascertained. The animals were normal clinically and there were no changes in the physiological parameters. The cattle represented the high percentage in abscess development (73.77%). The gluteal, umbilical and the subconjunctival regions were the common seats for abscess development. The size of abscesses varied from small orange to volleyball. In more than 90% of cases, the abscess was developed as a single lesion. The ultrasonographic examination showed that a well-demarcated echogenic wall for all abscesses, but its contents varied in echogenicity and homogeneity according to the type of abscess (acute or chronic) and its seat. Biochemically, a total two-hundred and ninety-two isolates were obtained which included eighteen single isolates and two-hundred and seventy-four mixed isolates. They included Corynebacterium and E. coli (n=40), S. aureus (n=38), S. epidermidis (n=36), Proteus (n=30), St. pyogenes (n=28), Neisseria (n=20), Bacillus subtilis (n=14), Bacillus cereus (n=12), Alcaligenes faecalis (n=12), Enterobacter aerogenes (n=10), Enterobacter aerogenes (n=6) and Klebsiella pneumonia (n=6). It could be concluded that there are multiple different species of micro-organisms could cause abscess formation in farm animals, and there is no specific micro-organism could be expected to be isolated from the abscess. Additionally, multiple different species of organisms could be isolated from the same abscess.

Biogas plant is an anaerobic digester that produces biogas fromorganic materials. The general purpose of implementing biogas plant in an animal farm is to obtain biogas from animal manure and the effluent of biogas digester after fermentation process can be used as organic fertiliser. There are 15 biogas plants based on livestock waste that have been developed throughout Malaysia until 2018. Two more biogas plants are planned to be built in Segamat and Keningau. All biogas plants built were originally aimed for domestic use which is as source of energyused for cooking and incinerator as well as to generate electricity for farm use. Out of 15 biogas plants, 7 plants were built on cattle farms, 4 plants on pig farms, 3 plantson poultry farms and only 1 plant on buffalo farm. Total construction cost for each biogas plant is between MYR4,500 to MYR30 million. Based on the survey conducted, it revealed that only 40% of the plants are still functional. However, 60% were dormant or nonfunctional due to poor maintenance, design errors, lack of technical knowledge to run the system consistently, improper planning and monitoring or insufficient livestock waste to continuously producing biogas.

This study was conducted to observe the occurrence of aflatoxin in chicken feed from Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 336 samples of chicken feed from Peninsular Malaysia were conveniently collected in this survey. The chicken feed represented the following three categories which are starter, grower and finisher. All samples werecollected from local poultry farms in East Coast Region (Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang), Northern Region (Perlis, Kedah, Penang, and Perak), Southern Region (Malacca, Johor) and Central Region (Selangor, Negeri Sembilan) of Peninsular Malaysia for a periodof six months (July-December 2015). Enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for screening of total aflatoxin (TA) in the samples. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detector was used for determination of aflatoxin B and G. Moisture content of samples was determined using the hot airoven method (AOAC International, 2011). Overall, the incidence of positive TA >20 µg/kg in chicken feed is 14.9% (50 samples). The average level of TA was found significantly different between different states at p<0.05 for both broiler grower and finisher. Thechromatograph results showed that positive samples were found in broiler finisher from Kedah (94.6 µg/kg and 42.1 µg/kg) and Penang(56.4 µg/kg) with aflatoxin B1. In this study, the range of moisture content were around 6.5-27.3%. About 40% samples have more than12% moisture content. One of the predisposing factors for aflatoxin accumulation in chicken feed is moisture content. The results warrantthe need for surveillance and constant monitoring programmes for the prevention of aflatoxin incidence in poultry farms.

In this study, the serological surveillance of Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV) in southern Egypt was carried out for 460 serum samples collected from domestic animals (unvaccinated), including cattle, sheep, goat, camel and donkey reared in three different provinces (Qena, Luxor and Aswan). Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect RVFV antibodies. The results showed that 97 out of 460 animals were positive by using blocking ELISA. The percentage of RVFV infection in cattle, sheep, goat, camel and donkey was 5.55%, 65.21%, 14.44%, 20.65% and 0%, respectively. Geographical distribution and breeding system were taken into consideration for RVFV infection in these animals. The most prevalent type of infection was identified in intensive breeding farms systems (27.63%), and then in individual breeding systems (11.68%). Qena had a higher infection rate of RVFV (23.55%), in comparison to Aswan and Luxor (20.65% and 14.14%, respectively). Marked seroprevalence recorded in this study indicates a high incidence of infection in sheep (65.21%) and camel (20.65%); this necessitates the application of more effective strategies to control these types of infections in Egypt. This study provides a concise picture about the RVFV disease in southern Egypt. We need more similar studies targeted to clarify the reliable epidemiological status of RVFV disease in southern Egypt and other localities.

Sound plays an important role in animal behaviour, welfare and production. It also helps the animal attendant in communicating with and controlling the animal. When sound becomes unpleasant and disturbing it is termed as noise and causes sound pollution. The threshold of bearing sound is different among animals and is affected by several factors such as age, shape of the ears, species and breed of the animal and health condition. Noise pollution affects behaviour, breeding, growth and well-being of birds. Noise was noted to cause sleep disturbances and affect the endocrine and cardiovascular systems, in laboratory animals. A review is presented on the effect of noise on animals based on the work of various researchers. Methods on how to keep animals safe from sound pollution has also been suggested.

Natural herbal remedies have been long used to control common parasitic infections in livestock. The effectiveness of two plant products was tested on goats with helminthiasis. A study was carried out in a commercial goat farm near Sg. Siput, whereby Azadirachta indica (neem) decoction and leaf extract as well as Jacaranda filicifolia (Jacaranda) leaf extract were fed orally to 3 groups of goats that previously with strongyle egg counts range from 587 to 1650 egg per gram (EPG) for a period of 5 weeks. In this study, theJacaranda Leaves Water Extract (JLWE) showed the highest number of fecal egg count with 2585 EPG at the end of study. All treatments showed reduced percentage of packed cell volume from 23% to 21%,which was not significant. However, there was no difference in the composition of strongyle larvae in the goats. The results show that neem decoction was effective in reducing faecal egg count but the Jacaranda leaf extract and neem leaf extract were not effective in reducing faecal egg counts in goats. Further work is required to assess the efficacy of these herbal products for worm control in goats.

A study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Newcastle disease (ND) and Avian Influenza (AI) from backyard chickens and ducks in Sabah. A total of 2,117 samples consisting of 1,498 swabs and 619 serum samples were taken from all districts in the state.&#xD;All samples tested were negative to Avian Influenza virus. 23.59% of the 619 serum samples collected were sero-positive for Newcastle Disease with the highest HI titre being 1/256. Only one pool of 4&#xD;trachael swabs or 0.27% of the total 1,498 swabs was positive on virus isolation for Newcastle Disease. No Avian influenza virus was isolated from all the samples collected.