Influenza A viruses spread naturally among aquatic birds, especially the wild ones. The aim of the current study is to investigate the avian influenza virus subtype H9N2 in the wild and domestic ducks in different geographical areas of Basrah Governorate, namely Shatt Al Arab, Abu Al-Khaseeb, Az Zubayr, and Al Qurnah. The presence of the virus was initially investigated generally using a pair of universal primers by performing the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Subsequently, the virus subtype H9N2 was detected in both bird species. The results showed that the overall prevalence of the virus, regardless of subtype, was 66%. The total percentage in wild ducks was 78.6%, which showed significantly higher values than what was in domestic ducks, where it was 52.8%. Regarding the spread of the virus according to geographical location, the percentage of viruses in wild ducks was comparable in all areas involved in the study, while in domestic ducks it was higher in the Al Qurnah region, northern Basrah Governorate, compared to the rest of the regions.

The aim of this study was to look into the toxicity of captopril and enalapril in high doses in the liver. The animals in this experiment were divided into five groups of ten each, with the first group serving as a control group, receiving only distilled water, the second and thrird groups receiving doses of captopril 10 and 20%, and the fourth and fifth groups receiving doses of enalapril 10 and 20%. The dose is taken orally once every three days for four weeks. After one week, samples were collected, and then again four weeks later. After one week of treatment with Enalapril 20%, biochemical testing revealed significant elevations in ALT and AST. After 1 and 4 weeks of treatment with Enalapril 20%, there was a decrease in glutathione and an increase in malondialdehyde, whereas captopril 20% and Enalapril 10 and 20% significantly raised malondialdehyde levels. Rats given captopril 20% revealed diffuse vacuolar degeneration. The 10% Enalapril group experienced similar symptoms, however the 20% Enalapril group experienced vacuolar degeneration, coagulative necrosis, significant inflammatory cell infiltration, portal vein congestion, and sinusoidal dilatation. The researchers looked at the expression of TNF-a in the livers of rats after four weeks of therapy with Captopril 10% and 20% and Enalapril 20% (20%). The results revealed three levels of expression: low, medium, and high. According to the findings of this study, Enalapril has higher adverse impacts on the liver than captopril at the same dose ratio.

Gastrointestinal parasites (GIP) are often associated with diarrhea in buffaloes, which affects health, growth, and production. They are also sources of infestation in the herd, nearby herds, and grazing areas. The current study aims to diagnose the different types of GIP that infect buffaloes in the Mosul city, Iraq, and to determine their infestation rate. A total of 100 fecal samples were randomly collected from buffaloes of different ages (ranging from 1.5 to 5 years old) and both sexes in various regions of Mosul city. These samples were examined using direct smear technique, with or without iodine dye, flotation method, and sedimentation method, with or without methylene blue dye, between September 2022 and February 2023. The overall infestation rate with GIP was 59%, comprising intestinal protozoa (56%), Nematodes (6%), and Trematodes (2%). That included Buxtonella sulcata (56%); Trichostrongylus spp. (3%); Haemonchus spp. (1%); Cooperia spp. (1%); Ostertagia ostertagi. (1%); and Fasciola hepatica (2%). Moreover, a variation in the infestation rates according to the months of collected samples was observed; significantly (P<0.05) highest infestation rate was recorded in February at 93.3%, followed by November at 82%, and the lowest infestation rate was recorded in October and September at 16% and 36.3%, respectively. In conclusion, the highest infestation rate with GIP in buffaloes in the city of Mosul, Iraq, this must be given increased attention by owners and veterinarians for strategical control of these parasites. 

Obesity is a metabolic condition that causes people to develop a variety of diseases and has emerged as a serious global public-health problem. Tocotrienol, a member of the vitamin E family that comes from the annatto bean (Bixa orellana), is special in that it doesn't contain alpha-tocopherol and instead mostly consists of delta-tocotrienol (approximately 90%) and gamma-tocotrienol (about 10%). This investigation aimed to ascertain whether annatto tocotrienol could improve certain biochemical indicators and metabolic hormones in male rats fed a high-fat diet. Eighteen adult male rats in total were split into three groups randomly (6 for each). Control group was given a diet low in fat (LF 10 % kcal from fat), High fat diet (HFD) group was fed with high fat diet (HF 60 % kcal from fat), And high fat diet with tocotrienol (HFDT) group was fed with high fat diet additive tocotrienol (60 mg/kg) dissolved in olive oil (1ml/kg) for 12 weeks. Tocotrienol treatment led to a significant decrease in total protein and globulin compared with the high-fat diet group and it significantly increased HDL-C compared with rats fed on a high-fat diet and control groups. While, tocotrienols significantly reduced the level of LDL and insulin hormone in the High fat diet plus tocotrienols group compared to the other groups.

The gastrointestinal tract provides the biological environment for nutrient digestion and absorption. Its physical and chemical barriers are crucial to protect from invading pathogens and toxic substances. On this basis, the intactness of the gastrointestinal tract, with its multiple functions and impacts, is one of the key prerequisites for human and animal health. Undoubtedly, the functions of a healthy gut system also largely benefit the welfare and performance of animals in farming systems such as poultry industries. Broiler chickens grow rapidly, as a result of rigorous genetic programs, due to the high absorption capacity of intestinal epithelia for nutrients, the quick transport of nutrients to the muscle, and their efficient conversion into energy and biomass. Due to oxygen metabolism or enteric commensal bacteria, intestinal epithelial cells create reactive oxygen and nitrogen species physiologically. However, increased generation of these oxidants goes along with the formation of free radicals resulting in oxidative stress causing lipid peroxidation and dramatic molecular changes in the structure and function of the cell and mitochondrial membranes. These effects contribute to chronic oxidative stress and inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and generally affect all chicken organs, tissues, and cells. Hence, all forms of chronic stress, regardless of the origin, negatively impact the chicken's overall performance, health, and welfare. This review article highlights some enteric inflammation models and biomarkers to evaluate gut integrity in chickens and discusses the repercussions that chronic stress and intestinal inflammation have on the health and performance of commercial poultry.

The presence of microorganisms is one of the major factors affecting the quality of smoked fish sold in the open markets. Smoked blue whiting fish (Micromesistius poutasou), commonly called (Panla) sold in the Odeomu market in Osun State, were analyzed for microbial contaminants. Isolates were identified using conventional biochemical methods, and antibiotics susceptibility testing was carried out using the disc diffusion method. The total bacterial counts (TBC) results showed that the fish samples had high bacterial counts, ranging from 2.1×103 to 9.2×103 colony-forming units (CFU)/g. Bacteria isolated from the fish samples were: E. coli (45.46%), Enterobacter spp. (1.01%), Klebsiella spp. (6.06%), Proteus spp. (9.09%), Salmonella spp. (7.07%), Shigella spp. (19.19%), Bacillus spp. (4.04%) and Staphylococcus spp. (8.08%). The antibiotic sensitivity pattern of Gram-Negative bacteria indicated that all the isolates were resistant to more than three antibiotics. All E. coli isolates were resistant to augmentin and ceftazidime, 82.2% were resistant to cefuroxime, 17.7% to gentamicin, and 6.7% to ofloxacin. Screening of resistance genes showed that all six selected multiple antibiotic-resistant E. coli isolates tested harbored TEM gene, and two isolates (33.33%) harbored the aac (3)-II gene. None of the isolates harbored SHV, CTX-M, and qnr B genes. Our results showed that smoked blue whiting fish may pose a significant risk of spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria that contain multiple antibiotic-resistance genes, highlighting a serious public health concern

In order to evaluate the infection of veterinarians by brucellosis in Algeria and to study the associated epidemiological factors, we created a survey consisting of 21 questions that was distributed in paper and digital versions. We collected responses of 100 veterinarians. The survey revealed that 15% of the veterinarians got infected with brucellosis during their practice. Almost half (47%) contracted the disease through direct contact with diseased animals and/or their products, mostly during intervention for retained placenta (75%); 20% became infected during vaccination campaigns against brucellosis, due to unprotected hands, where13% were infected through consumption of raw milk. Factors such as the frequency of encountering brucellosis farms, negligence in wearing protective equipment, lack of training in handling the vaccine, as well as lack of work hygiene were reported by these professionals.

Infectious bronchitis (IB) is a viral disease that causes serious economic losses in the broiler industry. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Olea europaea leaves and propolis extracts (OLP) mixture at a rate of 400 μg and 100 mg/mL, respectively, in curing IB in broiler chickens. One-day-old Ross broiler chicks were randomized into four groups (G) of twenty-one chicks; G1 (control negative; no infection and treatment); G2 (no infection, treatment only), G3 (control positive; infection only and no treatment) and G4 (infection and treatment) that infected with IBv (106 EID50/ml) at 21 days old. The OLP treatment was applied for birds in G2 and G4 at a dose of 0.5 mL/liter drinking water for three successive days. The growth performance, clinical and pathological examinations, and viral shedding were evaluated. The use of the OLP resulted in protection from IB infection through the significant improvement of performance parameters such as weight gain and feed conversion ratio, decrease in mortality rate, lowering disease severity, and rapid recovery from the observed clinical signs (mainly respiratory signs), gross and microscopic lesions in the trachea, lung, and kidneys as compared to those in the positive control (G3). Moreover, the viral shedding in the OLP-treated chicks (G4) was significantly decreased in tracheal and cloacal swabs to a rate less than 3×103 IBv genome copy number and became not detectable at 14-days post-infection (dpi) in their cloacal swabs. In conclusion, OLP can potentially display an antiviral effect against IB in broiler chickens. Therefore, adding OLP to the chicken drinking water is recommended to prevent and control IB [Ger. J. Vet. Res. 2023; 3(2.000): 1-10]

Bovine brucellosis is an infectious zoonotic disease of great impact on animal welfare and has significant economic implications on livestock farm worldwide. The disease is caused primarily by Brucella abortus (B. abortus), while B. melitensis is less common, and B. suis infection is rare. B. melitensis is the most common causative agent of brucellosis in small ruminants and humans. Although the main host of B. melitensis is considered to be small ruminants, this bacterium is also present in large ruminants. Despite brucellosis has been eradicated in many European countries, it is still endemic in Mediterranean countries and Turkey. The most prevalent Brucella species in the Mediterranean basin and Turkey is B. melitensis biovar (bv) 3. Previous studies have reported that B. melitensis bv2 is quite low in Turkey. This is the first study to isolate B. melitensis bv2 from cattle in Turkey. The strains were characterized using classical biotyping methods and then were molecularly confirmed. Multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA-16) typing of the strains revealed a novel genotype (1-5-3-13-3-2-3-2-4-41-8-5-4-3-3-7), which matches the Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) profiles in the database of ST8 (3-2-3-2-1-5-3-2-8). These results indicate that B. melitensis bv2 can easily infect cattle and this has to be considered in the epidemiology and control of bovine brucellosis. Circulating the highly pathogenic B. melitensis bv2 in cattle farms is of public health concern. [Ger. J. Vet. Res. 2023; 3(2.000): 11-15]

In this study, a Brucella antigen-capture ELISA (Ag-cELISA) prototype was developed. To study the validity of the developed Ag-cELISA, milk samples collected from Brucella-positive goats (n=120) and cattle (n= 64), as well as from unknown Brucella-status cattle (n=105) and sheep (n=65) herds were tested by Ag-cELISA, I-ELISA, and culture method. All Brucella-positive samples were confirmed using PCR. It was found that the developed Ag-cELISA could detect 50-100 bacteria per well (equivalent to 103 to 2×103 cells per mL) as the lowest limit of detection (LOD) and was therefore considered moderately sensitive to detect brucellae in milk. In an infected goat herd, out of 120 milk samples, 41, 32, and 17 were positive by Ag-cELISA, I-ELISA, and culture, respectively. Ag-cELISA detected 15 positive cases out of 17 culture-positive milk samples. Two culture-positive milk samples were not detected in Ag-cELISA. The relative sensitivity and specificity between Ag-cELISA and I-ELISA were 78% and 100%, respectively. In an infected cow herd, out of 64 milk samples, 32, 23, and 11 were found positive by Ag-cELISA, I-ELISA, and culture, respectively. Ten out of 11 culturally positive milk samples were found positive by Ag-cELISA. The relative sensitivity and specificity between the Ag-cELISA and I-ELISA were 71.9% and 100%, respectively. From randomly collected 105 cow and 110 sheep milk samples from herds of unknown Brucella-infection status, three (2.85%) and five (4.5%) samples were found positive using Ag-cELISA, respectively. These results showed that Ag-cELISA could be used to detect brucellae in milk more practically and safely than bacterial culture. On the other hand, this information re-affirms that milk can be an important source of brucellosis and creates a public health risk in humans; therefore, increased public awareness is of utmost importance