Development of environmental, safe and protective vaccines against infectious pathogens remains a challenge. In consequence of its high morbidity and mortality rates canine distemper is one of the most important diseases of young dogs. The object of the present study is to develop a selected method for preparation of an inactivated canine distemper vaccine. This method involved exposure of the virus to different concentrations of binary ethyleneimine (BEI), beta propiolactone (ßPL) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Complete virus inactivation was obtained with BEI (0.003M) for 6 hours, ßPL (1/5000) for 4 hours and H2O2 at a concentration of 3% rapidly inactivated a Vero cell adapted canine distemper virus strain within 3 h of exposure without affecting its antigenicity or immunogenicity. The safety, immunogenicity and potency induced in four groups of puppies were evaluated using the three prepared experimental batches of inactivated canine distemper vaccine. These results revealed that no residual infectious virus was detected in H2O2 inactivated CD vaccine that proved to be safe and effective when compared with the same virus harvest that inactivated with the classical inactivating agents as BEI and βPL. Thus, an alternative inactivation method, such as H2O2 is able to maintain the integrity of the virus protein may be essential for improving the potency of inactivated canine distemper virus vaccine produced sufficient of antibodies which measured by serum neutralization test (SNT) and was protected when challenged with virulent CD virus strain. These findings reinforce the idea that H2O2 can replace BEI and βPL as inactivating agents for canine distemper virus to reduce time and cost of inactivation process.

This investigation was carried out on 5457 animals; among which, 3916 cows, 1531 buffaloes and 10 she-camels in Beni-Suef and Fayoum provinces. Animals were subjected to clinical examination to study the congenital and acquired udder and teat surgical affections. Clinical findings of affected animals were recorded. It has been found that the prevalence of teat and udder affections were: in cattle (19.87%; 778/3916), 141 (3.6%) had congenital anomalies, (hyperthelia 2.17%, leaker 0.38%, athelia 0.26%, pendulous udder 0.20%, hypermastia 0.26%, hypoplasia of mammary gland 0.13%, hyperplasia of teat 0.08%, teat obstruction 0.08% and fistula 0.05%)and 637 (16.267%) suffered from acquired affections (fibrosis 6.26%, mastitis 3.29%, pendulous udder 1.18%, edema 1.15%, fistula/wound 0.84%, teat obstruction 0.66%, teat stenosis 0.66%, ulcer/crack 0.64%, abscess 0.54%, hematoma 0.26%, seborrhea 0.23%, impetigo 0.18%, neoplastic growths 0.18%, udder gangrene 0.15% and teat gangrene 0.05%). In buffaloes (11.43%; 175/1531), 11 (0.72%) had congenital anomalies (hypermastia 0.59%, hyperthelia 0.07% and fistula 0.07%), and 164 (10.71%) had acquired affections (fibrosis 2.81%, ulcer/cracks 2.09%, mastitis 1.89%, seborrhea 1.44%, obstruction 0.91%, edema 0.46%, hematoma 0.33%, fistula/wound 0.26%, teat gangrene 0.26%, stenosis 0.13%, abscess 0.07% and impetigo 0.07%). In shecamels, no congenital anomalies were recorded with only one animal showed an acute mastitis and other had a teat orifice obstruction.

Food contaminated with multiple antibiotic-resistant S.aureus can be a major threat to the public health. The purpose of this study was to isolate S.aureus from different food sources, determine their antimicrobial susceptibility as well as detection of mecA gene among some resistant isolates. Out of 125 samples, 19 S.aureus isolates were isolated, and the antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed high resistance against kanamycin, penicillin G, oxacillin, erythromycin and tetracycline were the most resistant antimicrobials agents. All the tested isolates isolates were multiple drug resistant (MDR).Eight out of 19 isolates were phenotypically resistant to oxacillin as well as they were carriers for mecA gene.

This study aimed to replace liquid foot pan in the poultry farm, with a novel model that is used more effectively in biosecurity program convenient with the workers in Egyptian farms that avoid foot pan. This novel model dry foot pan, semiliquid (wet) foot pan and floor mat that enabled the disinfectants to be worked for a longer time. In the present study authors are looking for a durable footbath, stable, fast, easily applied and log acting in the reduction of salmonellae. The efficacy of powder disinfectant (calcium hypochlorite powder, Halamid, Staldren, Virkon S and paraformaldehyde) were tested against salmonellae in a novel form of foot pan dry, semi-liquid and floor mat models. The disinfectants were diluted by calcium carbonate or sodium chloride powder in the dry form, surfactant in the semiliquid form and use of the sponge as a mat in the third form. Daily measurement of the active principle of the tested disinfectants and the log reduction of the Salmonellae were done. The dry form and semi liquid form of the Calcium hypochlorite was successfully effective for 10 days in dry form and 9 days in semiliquid form. However, Halamid and Staldren were successfully effective in dry form for 14 days and 17 days respectively, semiliquid form was worked for 21 day and 3 days and floor mat was effective for 21 days and 3 days respectively. Paraformaldehyde powder was also effective for 6 days in the dry form, but in the semiliquid form was effective for 10 days, floor mat was effective for 12 days. 5% Virkon S could be effective for 3 days in the dry form and semi-liquid form but only 2 days in the floor mat form.

The transmission of diseases between livestock and wildlife can be a hindrance to effective disease control. Maintenance hosts and contact rates should be explored to further understand the transmission dynamics at the wildlife-livestock interface. Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) has been shown to have wildlife maintenance hosts and has been confirmed as present in the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in the Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) in Uganda since the 1960s. The first aim of this study was to explore the spatio-temporal spread of cattle illegally grazing within the QENP recorded by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers in a wildlife crime database. Secondly, we aimed to quantify wildlife-livestock interactions and cattle movements, on the border of QENP, using a longitudinal questionnaire completed by 30 livestock owners. From this database, 426 cattle sightings were recorded within QENP in 8 years. Thirteen (3.1%) of these came within a 300 m–4 week space-time window of a buffalo herd, using the recorded GPS data. Livestock owners reported an average of 1.04 (95% CI 0.97–1.11) sightings of Uganda kob, waterbuck, buffalo or warthog per day over a 3-month period, with a rate of 0.22 (95% CI 0.20–0.25) sightings of buffalo per farmer per day. Reports placed 85.3% of the ungulate sightings and 88.0% of the buffalo sightings as further than 50 m away. Ungulate sightings were more likely to be closer to cattle at the homestead (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1–3.6) compared with the grazing area. Each cattle herd mixed with an average of five other cattle herds at both the communal grazing and watering points on a daily basis. Although wildlife and cattle regularly shared grazing and watering areas, they seldom came into contact close enough for aerosol transmission. Between species infection transmission is therefore likely to be by indirect or non-respiratory routes, which is suspected to be an infrequent mechanism of transmission of BTB. Occasional cross-species spillover of infection is possible, and the interaction of multiple wildlife species needs further investigation. Controlling the interface between wildlife and cattle in a situation where eradication is not being considered may have little impact on BTB disease control in cattle.

Evaluation of the real-time PCR, rose bengal test (RBT), competitive ELISA, and complement fixation test (CFT) was done on 335 camels sera. Real-time PCR, classified 335 camel serum samples to 268 (80%) as positive and 67 (20%) as negative. Real-time PCR, using species specific primers, distinguished 94/104 serum samples due to B. abortus, 4/104 samples due to B. melitensis and 6/104 due to mixed infection. The results of serological tests revealed that modified mRBT75 using 75 µl of serum, detected the highest number of positive samples 271 (80.9%), while 262 (78.2%), 257 (76.7%), 253 (75.5%) and 245 (73.1%) samples were found to be positive for brucellosis using CFT, cELISA, mRBT50, and RBT25, respectively. Compared to other serological tests, the CFT proved to have the best results in the criteria of test validations, namely; specificity (88%), PPV (96.9%), NPV (80.8%), PLR (7.9), NLR (0.06) and DOR (133.8). The Kappa (K) statistic agreements values between real-time PCR and rose bengal (RBT25), modified (mRBT50), (mRBT75), cELISA and CFT was 0.562 (± 0.053), 0.613 (± 0.052), 0.725 (± 0.048), 0.710 (± 0.047) and 0.801 (± 0.041), respectively. The authors recommend the use of real-time PCR on camel sera to confirm the disease.

8OBJECTIVE To develop a method to maintain the initial phenotype of airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells isolated from equine endobronchial biopsy specimens in long-term cell culture. SAMPLE Endobronchial tissue specimens (8 to 10/horse) collected from the lungs of previously healthy horses at necropsy (n = 12) and endobronchial biopsy specimens collected from standing, sedated, heaves-affected horses in clinical remission of the disease (5) and control horses (4). PROCEDURES A sampling protocol was developed to recover and maintain a contractile phenotype in ASM cells from endobronchial specimens from freshly harvested equine lungs and from healthy and heaves-affected horses. Immunologic techniques were used to evaluate the contractile phenotype of ASM cells in culture. RESULTS Characteristic ASM cells were successfully cultured from endobronchial tissue or biopsy specimens from both healthy and heaves-affected horses, and their contractile phenotype was maintained for up to 7 passages. Moreover, the capacity of cells at the seventh passage to contract in a collagen gel in response to methacholine was maintained. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE ASM cells isolated from equine endobronchial tissue and biopsy specimens were able to maintain a contractile phenotype in long-term cell cultures, suggesting they could be used for tissue engineering and in vitro studies of equine ASM cells.

OBJECTIVE To assess the possible impact of medetomidine on concentrations of alfaxalone in plasma, when coadministered as a constant rate infusion (CRI) to dogs, and to determine the possible impact of medetomidine on the cardiopulmonary effects of alfaxalone during CRI. ANIMALS 8 healthy adult Beagles. PROCEDURES 3 treatments were administered in a randomized crossover design as follows: 1 = saline (0.9% NaCl) solution injection, followed in 10 minutes by induction of anesthesia with alfaxalone (loading dose, 2.4 mg/kg; CRI, 3.6 mg/kg/h, for 60 minutes); 2 = medetomidine premedication (loading dose, 4.0 μg/kg; CRI, 4.0 μg/kg/h), followed by alfaxalone (as in treatment 1); and, 3 = medetomidine (as in treatment 2) and MK-467 (loading dose, 150 μg/kg; CRI, 120 μg/kg/h), followed by alfaxalone (as in treatment 1). The peripherally acting α2-adrenoceptor antagonist MK-467 was used to distinguish between the peripheral and central effects of medetomidine. Drugs were administered IV via cephalic catheters, and there was a minimum of 14 days between treatments. Cardiopulmonary parameters were measured for 70 minutes, and jugular venous blood samples were collected until 130 minutes after premedication. Drug concentrations in plasma were analyzed with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. RESULTS The characteristic cardiovascular effects of medetomidine, such as bradycardia, hypertension, and reduction in cardiac index, were obtunded by MK-467. The concentrations of alfaxalone in plasma were significantly increased in the presence of medetomidine, indicative of impaired drug distribution and clearance. This was counteracted by MK-467. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The alteration in alfaxalone clearance when coadministered with medetomidine may be attributed to the systemic vasoconstrictive and bradycardic effects of the α2-adrenoceptor agonist. This could be clinically important because the use of α2-adrenoceptor agonists may increase the risk of adverse effects if standard doses of alfaxalone are used.

OBJECTIVE To investigate protein kinase CK2 (CK2) expression in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of cats and to examine effects of CK2 downregulation on in vitro apoptosis and viability in SCC. SAMPLE Biopsy specimens of oral mucosa and testis and blood samples from clinically normal cats, biopsy specimens of oral SCC from cats, and feline SCC (SCCF1) and mammary gland carcinoma (K12) cell lines. PROCEDURES Immunohistochemically labeling for CK2α was performed on biopsy specimens. Sequences of the CK2α subunit gene and CK2α’ subunit gene in feline blood and feline cancer cell lines were determined by use of PCR and reverse-transcription PCR assays followed by direct Sanger sequencing. Specific small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) were developed for feline CK2α and CK2α'. The SCCF1 cells were treated with siRNA and assessed 72 hours later for CK2α and CK2α’ expression and markers of apoptosis (via western blot analysis) and for viability (via 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-5-[3-carboxymethoxyphenyl]-2-[4-sulfophenyl]-2H-tetrazolium assays). RESULTS CK2α was expressed in all feline oral mucosa samples and 7 of 8 oral SCC samples. Expression of CK2α and CK2α’ was successfully downregulated in SCCF1 cells by use of siRNAs, which resulted in decreased viability and induction of apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE In this study, CK2 appeared to be a promising therapeutic target for SCCs of cats. A possible treatment strategy for SCCs of cats would be RNA interference that targets CK2.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the usefulness of diffusion and perfusion MRI of the cerebrum in cats with familial spontaneous epilepsy (FSECs) and identify microstructural and functional deficit zones in affected cats. ANIMALS 19 FSECs and 12 healthy cats. PROCEDURES Diffusion-weighted, diffusion tensor, and perfusion-weighted MRI of the cerebrum were performed during interictal periods in FSECs. Imaging findings were compared between FSECs and control cats. Diffusion (apparent diffusion coefficient and fractional anisotropy) and perfusion (relative cerebral blood volume [rCBV], relative cerebral blood flow [rCBF], and mean transit time) variables were measured bilaterally in the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, parietal cortex gray matter, and subcortical white matter. Asymmetry of these variables in each region was also evaluated and compared between FSECs and control cats. RESULTS The apparent diffusion coefficient of the total amygdala of FSECs was significantly higher, compared with that of control cats. The fractional anisotropy of the right side and total hippocampus of FSECs was significantly lower, compared with that of control cats. The left and right sides and total hippocampal rCBV and rCBF were significantly lower in FSECs than in control cats. The rCBV and rCBF of the parietal cortex gray matter in FSECs were significantly lower than in control cats. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE In FSECs, diffusion and perfusion MRI detected microstructural changes and hypoperfusion (lowered function) in the cerebrum during interictal periods from that of healthy cats. These findings indicated that diffusion and perfusion MRI may be useful for noninvasive evaluation of epileptogenic foci in cats.