Blood lactate is a predictor of mortality in critically ill humans and animals. Handheld lactate meters have the potential to be used in the field to evaluate the condition of severely injured rhinoceroses but have not been compared with laboratory-based methods. Agreement between a handheld lactate meter and a laboratory method was assessed, as was the stability of rhino blood lactate in the anticoagulant sodium fluoride/potassium oxalate (fluoride/oxalate). Blood samples were obtained from 53 white rhinos that had been immobilised for management reasons. Lactate was measured by means of a handheld meter using whole blood in heparin (WBHEP), whole blood in fluoride/oxalate (WBFO) and fluoride/oxalate plasma (PFO). Results were recorded in both blood (BL) and plasma (PL) modes and compared to an established laboratory method for measuring plasma lactate. To assess the stability of lactate over time, blood lactate in fluoride/oxalate was measured on the handheld meter at intervals for up to 91 h. Agreement was best using WBFO in PL mode, with small bias (-0.16), tight 95% limits of agreement (LOA) (-1.46, 1.14) and a Pc (95% CI) of 0.97 (0.92, 0.99). The agreement was improved for all sample types when using the PL mode compared to the blood lactate (BL) mode. Blood lactate was stable in fluoride/oxalate for 91 h, with a mean change from baseline of 0.15 (-0.178, 0.478) mmol/L (mean, 95% CI). The handheld meter was found to be suitable for field use in white rhinos but provided more reliable results with the device in PL mode. Furthermore, rhino blood lactate was found to be stable in fluoride/oxalate for as long as 3 days.

Campylobacter spp. are common pathogenic bacteria in both veterinary and human medicine. Infections caused by Campylobacter spp. are usually treated using antibiotics. However, the injudicious use of antibiotics has been proven to spearhead the emergence of antibiotic resistance. The purpose of this study was to detect the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in Campylobacter spp. isolated from chickens and human clinical cases in South Africa. One hundred and sixty one isolates of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli were collected from chickens and human clinical cases and then screened for the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes. We observed a wide distribution of the tetO gene, which confers resistance to tetracycline. The gyrA genes that are responsible quinolone resistance were also detected. Finally, our study also detected the presence of the blaOXA-61, which is associated with ampicillin resistance. There was a higher (p < 0.05) prevalence of the studied antimicrobial resistance genes in chicken faeces compared with human clinical isolates. The tetO gene was the most prevalent gene detected, which was isolated at 64% and 68% from human and chicken isolates, respectively. The presence of gyrA genes was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with quinolone resistance. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the presence of gyrA (235 bp), gyrA (270 bp), blaOXA-61 and tetO antimicrobial resistance genes in C. jejuni and C. coli isolated from chickens and human clinical cases. This indicates that Campylobacter spp. have the potential of resistance to a number of antibiotic classes.

he present study aimed to prepare a combined inactivated vaccine containing bovine viral diarrhea genotype-1(BVD-1),bovine viral diarrhea genotype-2 (BVD-2), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR),parainfluenza-3 (PI-3) and bovine respiratory syncytial virus(BRSV) and adjuvanted with montanide oil ISA 206. Quality control results proved that the pneumo-5 vaccine was pure and completely safe to be used in calves without abnormalities. Potency test was performed on two groups of calves three for each group, where the first group was vaccinated with pneumo-5 vaccine adjuvant with montanide oil ISA 206 and the second group was left as non-vaccinated control group. In group (1), serum neutralization test revealed that the serum neutralizing antibody titers in BVD-1 and BVD-2 developed more higher than the minimal acceptable titer of the protective level (log10 0.9), while log10 0.6 was protective against IBR, PI-3 and BRS viruses at one month of vaccination and remained protective till the end of experiment compared to group (2) that showed no neutralizing antibody response. The prepared vaccine proved to be highly potent as the developed BVD-1, BVD-2, IBR, PI-3 and BRSV antibodies remained within the protective level for 9 months post vaccination.

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.

The experiment applied on four groups of calves, each of four calves. Three calves from each group were vaccinated with one of the following attenuated vaccines: Lumpy skin disease vaccine (LSD), Romanian sheep pox (RSP) vaccine, Held goat pox (HGP) vaccine and dual (bivalent) vaccine of SPV and GPV. All vaccines were evaluated by estimating the cellular immunity using lymphocyte blastogenesis measured by XTT assay, and humeral immunity using serum neutralization and ELISA tests of vaccinated calves. The NI coincided with the ELISA antibody results and corroborated the results of cell mediated immunity which demonstrated the capacity of LSD and dual vaccines to induce immune response higher than SP vaccine and GP vaccines. In conclusion, the current study proved that the LSD and dual vaccines were highly immunogenic than the RSP and HGP vaccines, and dual vaccine could be safely used for vaccination of cattle against lumpy skin disease.

Brucellosis is considered an economically important highly contagious and zoonotic bacterial disease of water buffaloes. Control of brucellosis in buffaloes is very important for public health. The efficacy of control program depends on the detection and eradication of infected animals coupled with vaccination and application of biosecurity. This study was carried out to control the brucellosis in buffalo farm in Assuit Governorate, Egypt during the period from April 2015 to August 2016. Out of 620 unvaccinated buffaloes, 87 (14.03%) aborted. Moreover, 90/620(14.51%), 82/620(13.22%), 82/620(13.22%), and 80/620 (12.9%) buffaloes were serologically positive by BAPA, RBPT, m SAT and Riv.T, respectively. Three isolates were differentiated as Brucella melitensis, biovar 3, one strain isolated from one vaginal swap out of 10 Riv.T. positive recently aborted buffaloes (10%) and two strains were isolated out of ten milk samples of Riv.T. positive buffaloes (20%). Eighty serological positive buffaloes to Riv.T were culled from the herd, while 60 serological negative heifers were vaccinated by Brucella abortus S 19 vaccine, with a dose of 3-8×109 cfu/5ml and monitored for serological titer for 240 days. After 6 months of vaccination, the number of serologically positive calves declined marginally to 50 (83.33%), 40 (66.67%), 50 (83.33%), 0 (0%), 40 (66.67%) and 0 (0%) by BAPA, RBPT, mSAT, CFT, iELISA and cELISA, respectively. Three successive serological tests every three weeks were done by screening tests, BAPA and RBPT and confirmed by Riv.T. At the end of the control program, all examined buffaloes were serologically negative. Application of biosecurity in the farm was applied by the sanitary disposal of aborted material and application of proper disinfectants at its recommended work strength and contact time.

Coagulase negative Staphylococci are the most prevalent cause of bovine subclinical mastitis. The current study were designed to study their occurrence, antibiogram and their ability to form biofilms. A total number of 95 CNS isolates were recovered from 400 lactating. S. xylosus (36.84%), S. chromogenes (12.63%), S. epidermidis (10.53%), S. saprophyticus (8.42%), S. haemolyticus (7.38%) were the most common recovered species. Disk diffusion method against 14 antimicrobials discs was used to detect their antibiogram. 100% were sensitive to Imipenem, 96.84% were sensitive to Enrofloxacin, 85.26% to Chlramphenicol and 84.21% to Vancomycin. But, 95.79% were resistant to Ampicillin, 77.9% resistant to Cefoxitin, 35.8% resistant to Cefuroxime, 32.63% resistant to Amoxycillin and 18.95% resistant to Clindamycin. Cultivation on Congo Red Agar (CRA) was carried out to detect biofilm formation. 47.37% were positive and S. epidermidis was the most biofilm positive species on CRA by the percentage of 70%. Haemolysins were studied by cultivating CNS on sheep blood agar. 25.26% were β-haemolytic, 71.57% (n=68) were γ-haemolytic and 3.15% were α- haemolytic.

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.