Astudy on the occurrence ofhydatidosis and liver fluke infection in slaughtered animals was carried out overyear ( l999_200()) at basrah abattiors . the study carried 1851 sheep ,655 cattle and 172 but't'alo. The study showed 134 (7.2%) .55 (8.3% ) and 64(36 . 5 %) had hydatid cyst respectively . the l'requenc_~ ol’ the cyst in lung o3(47.()l°/o) .29(52.72"/o) and 3l (48.4%) in inspected animals (sheep .cattle and bulitalo ) while in liver 7I(52.9%) .36(65.4%) and 33(51.5"/o) respectively also animals had been inspected for hepatic fascioliasis of - 5l(2.75%) .29 (4.42%) and 28 (l(>.2"/o ) respectively . the rate of infection had also been reported according to seasonal variation among the sam species of ammals,the study showed high infection rate with hydatid cyst in sheep.cattlc i ‘md bullill“ '” -“P""lt—’ l~“-3"“"?t) ~ l5.4""0)ilI1"/é») t‘c.~’Pecticl)’.while infection rate with fascioliasis is high in sheep(3.2"/o) and bufl'alo(22.9%) in winter

Evaluation of the effect of common antibiotics used in the farm production , on the immune system of chickens during the 21 days of life were investigated. A total of 60, one-dayold chicks were divided into Four equal groups and was raised for 30 days. Three groups were treated with Ampieillin, Enrofloxacin & Amoxyeillin respectively whereas the4"‘group was served as control. Antibiotic treatment was similar to regimen used in commercial chicken production. which included utilization of antibiotic at 1“ day of life and after vaccination. Body weight, bursa of fabrieius weight and bursa of fabrieius to body weight ratio were calculated in order to monitor the growth rate of bursa during the 2] days of life. All birds were vaccinated against ND at 7&2ldays of age. Blood samples were collected at l4&?.9 days of age. Blood total protein, albumin and globulin were determined. Antibiotic treatment often resulted in significant decrease (l’ Keywords Ampicillin --- Fabricius --- lmmunomodulating

12 local breed cows, their age between 6-7 years old suffering from right alamnasal displacernem depending on their case history and general cxantinzrtion, treated surgically with two different surgical procedures (Right Flank Omentopexy and Right Flank abomasopcxy).

Serum samples from 20 out of 180 (11.1 %) apparently healthy Nigerian indigenous chickens were negative for antibodies against chicken anaemia virus using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Of the 160 positive sera (88.9 %), 12 (7.5 %) had titres ranging from 1 500-3 000, 46 (28.8 %) had titres from 3 000-5 000 while 102 (63.8 %) had titres between 5 000-11 000. The overall mean titre value was 5 845 + 2 402. This appears to be evidence of a natural outbreak of the infection since the chickens had no history of vaccination against any poultry disease.

In this study we evaluated the validity of well-known human electrocardiographic markers of myocardial pathology in Dorper sheep. These markers include: the duration of the QRS complex of premature ventricular complexes (PVCs), the presence of notching of the QRS complex of PVCs and change of the ST-segment of PVCs. It was shown that these three electrocardiographic phenomena correlate with myocardial pathology in the hearts of Dorper sheep. We also describe a new electrocardiographic indicator of myocardial pathology, namely an increase in the frequency of cardiac memory T waves as a new electrocardiographic surrogate for myocardial pathology in the hearts of Dorper sheep.

Three hundred and eighty-four samples of leaf litter, soil, faeces from domestic and game animals, compost and aqueous cultures of infective nematode larvae contaminated with unidentified fungi were plated out on water agar, baited with pure infective larvae of Haemonchus contortus, incubated and examined for the presence of nematophagous fungi. Duddingtonia flagrans was isolated from five samples, and 73 samples were positive for other nematophagous fungi.

During the period between January 1999 and December 2000, the distribution and seasonal patterns of amphistome infections in cattle in the highveld and lowveld communal grazing areas of Zimbabwe were determined through monthly coprological examination. Cattle faecal samples were collected from 12 and nine dipping sites in the highveld and lowveld communal grazing areas, respectively. Patterns of distribution and seasonal fluctuations of intermediate host-snail populations and the climatic factors influencing the distribution were also determined by sampling at monthly intervals for a period of 24 months (November 1998 to October 2000) in six dams and six streams in the highveld and in nine dams in the lowveld communal grazing areas. Each site was sampled for relative snail density and the vegetation cover and type, physical and chemical properties of water, and mean monthly rainfall and temperature were recorded. Aquatic vegetation and grass samples 0-1 m from the edges of the snail habitats were collected monthly to determine the presence or absence of amphistome metacercariae. Snails collected at the same time were individually checked for the emergence of larval stages of amphistomes. A total of 16 264 (calves 5 418, weaners 5 461 and adults 5 385) faecal samples were collected during the entire period of the study and 4 790 (29.5 %) of the samples were positive for amphistome eggs. For both regions the number of animals positive for amphistome eggs differed significantly between the 2 years, with the second year having a significantly higher prevalence (P < 0.01) than the first year. Significantly higher prevalences were found in the highveld compared to the lowveld (P < 0.001), for adult cattle than calves (P < 0.01), and in the wet over the dry season (P < 0.01). Faecal egg output peaked from October to March in both years of the study. Bulinus tropicus, Bulinus forskalii and Biomphalaria pfeifferi were recorded from the study sites. The main intermediate host for amphistomes was B. tropicus with a prevalence of infection of 8.5 %. However, amphistome cercariae were also recorded in Biom. Pfeifferi and B. forskalii. Amphistome cercariae were recorded from both the highveld and lowveld areas with peak prevalence during the post-rainy season (March to May). Metacercariae were found on herbage from the fringes of the snail habitats between February and August, with most of the metacercariae concentrated on herbage 0-1 m from the edges of the habitats. Based on the epidemiological findings a control programme was devised. From this study, large burdens of immature flukes could be expected in cattle during the dry months. Since adult cattle would be resistant to the pathogenic effects of the migrating immature amphistomes the target for control would be young animals being exposed to the infection for the first time. Therefore, the first anthelmintic treatment can be administered in calves in mid June when maximum migration of immature amphistomes starting 3-4 weeks after infection in the early dry season would be expected. A second treatment could be given in late July or early August to remove potentially dangerous burdens of immature flukes acquired later in the dry season. Where resources permit, another strategy would be to treat against the mature flukes in March or April in order to reduce the number of eggs deposited on pastures and the opportunity for infection of the intermediate host snails. To reduce cercarial shedding by the intermediate host snails molluscicides can also be applied during the peak transmission periods (April/May and August/September).

In July 2003 a 2-year-old Thoroughbred colt was imported from Harare, Zimbabwe to the Ashburton Training Centre, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Five months after importation, the colt presented with clinical signs suggestive of rabies: it was uncoordinated, showed muscle tremors and was biting at itself. Brain tissue was submitted for analysis and the clinical diagnosis was confirmed by the fluorescent antibody test and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the cytoplasmic domain of the glycoprotein and the G-L intergenic region of the rabies virus confirmed it to be an infection with a canid rabies virus, originating from an area in Zimbabwe endemic for the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) and side-striped jackal (Canis adustus) rabies.

The virulence of four South African field isolates of NAD-dependent Haemophilus paragallinarum and two field isolates of NAD-independent H. paragallinarum has previously been tested in unvaccinated chickens. In this study, the disease profiles caused by the NAD-dependent isolates of H. paragallinarum in vaccinated chickens were studied. It was shown that the clinical signs induced in the vaccinated chickens were substantially less severe than were those in unvaccinated chickens, as was expected. However, due to the high virulence of the serovar C-3 isolates, clinical signs in the vaccinated chickens challenged with this isolate were still detected. These were as severe as those occurring in unvaccinated chickens challenged with serovar B-1 isolates. Although the clinical signs induced in unvaccinated birds challenged with serovar A-1 were more severe than those occurring when vaccinated birds were challenged with serovar C-3, the overall disease profiles were similar. Substantial clinical signs were recorded in vaccinated birds challenged with serovar C-3. This could be interpreted as vaccination failure if the disease profile obtained in unvaccinated birds is not considered. It was found that a high level of protection was provided by this vaccine against challenge by serovar C-3. The high virulence of this serovar resulted in the development of clinical signs in vaccinated birds. These findings could possibly explain the large number of so-called vaccination failures that are reported in South Africa.

In the present study, the humoral immune response developed following vaccination with the live-attenuated (Smithburn) Rift Valley fever (RVF) vaccine in sheep, goats, cattle, buffaloes and camels was investigated. Results showed that, serum neutralizing antibody titers of RVF virus started to appear in the sera of all vaccinated animals with live-attenuated Rift valley fever vaccine after the first week post-vaccination and reached its peak after the third month of vaccination. It persisted to be higher than the acceptable limit of protection (>40) in the sera of sheep and goats in more than 6 months post-vaccination while it declined in the sera of cattle, buffaloes and camels to become lower than the acceptable limit of protection (<40) after the sixth month post-vaccination. On the other hand, the serum neutralizing antibody titers remained negative in the sera of non-vaccinated (control) animals throughout the study. It could be concluded that, the neutralizing antibodies following vaccination of cattle, buffaloes and camels with live attenuated RVF (Smithburn) vaccine was low and of a short duration compared with those in sheep and goats. Hence, it is important to prepare a new vaccine which is safe and gives a high immune response for long period in cattle, buffaloes and camels instead of live attenuated (Smithburn) RVF vaccine to protect these animals species against this disease.