ISSN 1311-1477 (print); ISSN 131-3543 (online)
Bulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine
VOL. 13, No 2, JUNE 2010
CONTENTS
Published by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia
University,
6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Volume 13, Number 2, June 2010, Summaries
Ivanov, A. I., 2010. Giardia and giardiasis. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 65-80.
The review summarizes the information related to contemporary taxonomy of species within the Giardia genus. The established genotypes of Giardia duodenalis are presented. Data from research carried out on the main aspects of epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical signs, diagnosis and treatment of giardiasis in humans and animals are analyzed. The major subjects of interest for future investigations are outlined.
Key words: Giardia, giardiasis, G. duodenalis, zoonoses
Kecheva, R. Z., 2010. Comparative investigations on blood adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol changes after total body gamma irradiation of rabbits and pigs at 0.1 and 0.5 Gy. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 81-86.
Ionizing radiation and the pathways of its deleterious effects on living beings are still of interest for investigators. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the dose-dependent alterations in blood plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol in two animal species with different radiosensitivity after total body gamma irradiation within the dose range 0.1–0.5 Gy. The experiments were carried out with 10 male 3-month-old White New Zealand rabbits and 10 male pigs (Big White×Landrace crosses) at the age of 45 days. All animals were submitted to external gamma irradiation at doses of 0.1 Gy or 0.5 Gy. The results for blood hormonal assays showed that the total body gamma irradiation of both species at doses of either 0.1 or 05. Gy altered the activity of pituitary and adrenal glands. Pituitary changes were mainly functional and transient, whereas the higher exposure dose resulted in mainly structural changes in adrenal glands manifested by insufficiency of cortisol-secreting cells. It could be affirmed that the radiosensitivity of pituitary and adrenal secretory cells was different as could be seen from ACTH and cortisol secretion after irradiation of two species at two different doses of gamma radiation.
Key words: ACTH, cortisol, ionized radiation, pigs, rabbits
Chipilev, N., H. Daskalov & T. Stoyanchev, 2010. Distribution of Listeria spp. in duck breast and liver during gavaging, plant processing and vacuum-packing. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 87-91.
The present research was carried out to investigate the prevalence of Listeria in 190 samples of duck breast and liver, obtained from three lots of ducks during gavaging (age of 79 days) and then, after slaughter processing and vacuum packing (age of 86 days). Seventeen feed samples were also studied. Data showed that contamination with Listeria spp. of gavaged ducks was 6.84% (13 specimens) and of feeds – 17.6% (3 samples). Positive swabs after slaughtering of ducks were 6 (4.3%) and those after vacuum-packing - 9 (6.4%). L. monocytogenes was found in 2.9% of all experimental specimens. The dominant serological group of Listeria spp. was II with 12 isolates followed by group I with 2 isolates.
Key words: duck breast and liver, food control, Listeria spp., Listeria monocytogenes
Doosti, A. & S. Moshkelani, 2010. Application of IS900 nested-PCR for detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis directly from faecal specimens. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 92-97.
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (MAP) is known to cause a chronic inflammation of intestine in cattle, called Johne's disease. The symptoms are very similar to Crohn's disease in humans. The feasibility of coupling a nested-PCR was investigated as a mean to improve turnaround time and detect MAP in the presence of contaminants. The aim of this study was to use nested-PCR as an accurate and rapid method to detect MAP in bovine faeces. Faecal samples from 120 dairy cattle were collected and the extracted DNA was evaluated by PCR test for the MAP-specific IS900 gene. Of the 120 specimens, 96 were identified positive by direct microscopy, whereas 4 were positive by single PCR. Nested-PCR showed a detection rate of 70.8% (68 out of 96 samples) as compared to direct microscopy. Nested PCR also identified many positive samples that were not detected by either Ziehl Neelsen staining or single PCR. The results show that IS900 nested-PCR assay may be applied to detect M. paratuberculosis directly from faecal sample of dairy cows and therefore could be a valuable diagnostic or screening test for herds with Johne’s disease.
Key words: Johne’s disease, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, nested-PCR
Sharma, N., V. Pandey & N. A. Sudhan, 2010. Comparison of some indirect screening tests for detection of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 98-103.
A total of 335 quarter milk samples from crossbred dairy cows were subjected to California mastitis (CMT), sodium lauryl sulphate (SLST), and somatic cell count (SCC) tests. CMT positive milk samples were 227, while 108 samples were CMT negative. Milk samples positive by SLST and SCC were 261 and 180 respectively. The CMT positive samples were subjected to cultural isolation (gold standard test for comparison of indirect mastitis tests). Of these, 201 samples were positive by cultural isolation. The sensitivity of the CMT, SLST and SCC was 86.07%, 74.63% and 88.60%; specificity 59.70%, 17.16% and 97.76%; percentage accuracy 75.52%, 51.64% and 91.94%; positive predictive value 76.21%, 57.47% and 98.33%; and negative predictive value - 74.07%, 31.08% and 84.52%, respectively. Kappa value of SCC was higher than that of CMT. CMT was concluded to be the most accurate test after cultural isolation and SCC. Unlike laboratory tests as cultural isolation and SCC that require adequate laboratory facilities and skilled personnel, CMT is a reliable diagnostic method in field conditions.
Key words: bacteriological culture, California mastitis test, mastitis, milk, sodium lauryl sulphate test, somatic cell count
El-Madawy, R. S., N. O. Khalifa & H. F. Khater, 2010. Detection of cryptosporidial infection among Egyptian stray dogs by using Cryptosporidium parvum outer wall protein gene. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 104-110.
Cryptosporidium parvum is a common intestinal parasite which is associated with severe acute diarrhoea in humans and animals. This work aimed to determine Cryptosporidium sp. in positive faecal samples by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Cryptosporidium oocysts were isolated from 10 out of 20 Egyptian stray dogs with diarrhoea. The zoonotic C. parvum was found to be present in two isolates which showed successful amplification of a specific DNA fragment at 550 bp with C. parvum outer wall protein (COWP) gene amplicon using two specific primers CRY-15 and CRY-9. This is the first investigation on the presence of C. parvum among Egyptian stray dogs and it has pointed to the existence of a genotype that may play an important role as a source of human and farm animal cryptosporidiosis.
Key words: Cryptosporidium parvum, Egypt, outer wall protein gene, PCR, stray dogs
Lyutskanov, M., V. Urumova & G. Zhelev, 2010. Comparative evaluation of the efficacy of various sanitizers in a poultry hatchery. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 111-116.
Disinfection procedures in hatcheries are an important part of the general set of anti-epidemic measures in poultry breeding and therefore justify the necessity of studies to evaluate the achieved disinfection effect. This study presents the results of a controlled trial with disinfectants from three chemical groups – the commercial preparations “Dezinfect-B,” “Sanifort,” and sodium hydroxide – on the efficacy of disinfection in a poultry hatchery. Control was performed through microbiological tests on samples from surfaces, obtained before and after their disinfection. The effect of the performed disinfection procedures was evaluated through the achieved microbial count reduction, residual microflora, and detection of the presence of indicator bacterial species. A higher efficacy was established for treatment with 2% solution of sodium hydroxide and 0.025% solution of Sanifort (99% sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate) compared to disinfection with 3% solution of Dezinfect-B, containing 1.6% iodine with exposure times of 60 min.
Key words: Dezinfect-B, disinfection, hatchery, Sanifort, sodium hydroxide
Mohammadi, A., M. Masoudian, Y. Nemati & S. Seifi, 2010. Serological and RT-PCR assays for detection of avian influenza of domestic pigeons in Kavar area (Fars province, Iran). Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2, 117-121.
Avian influenza (AI) is one of the most common and disastrous diseases in industrial poultry farms of Fars province, Iran. Based on the relatively high prevalence of the disease in Kavar area, 50 domestic pigeons were selected for serological analysis and virus shedding into the area. Blood and faecal samples were collected and evaluated using HI and RT-PCR methods respectively. The results showed that 17 serum samples (34%) had antibody titres ≥ 2–5 against the H9N2 AI virus, but the virus genome was not detected in any of faecal samples. although the results demonstrated that a considerable percentage of domestic pigeons dwelling the Kavar area were seropositive for AIV, no evidence was provided for transmission of the virus from domestic pigeons to the poultry farms of Kavar.
Key words: avian influenza, HI test, pigeons, RT-PCR test
Momtaz, H., 2010. Investigation of virulence factors in Escherichia coli isolated from clinical and subclinical bovine mastitis. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 13, No 2 , 122-126.
Escherichia coli, an opportunistic environmental pathogen, is one of the commonest causes of bovine clinical mastitis in the early lactation period. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) whose pathogenesis is associated with enterotoxigenic genes (stxI, stxII, and eaeA) cause serious acute illness and long-term side effects in both animals and humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the rate of virulence factors of E. coli isolates from cows with mastitis in the Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province, Iran. Milk samples from 400 cows with mastitis were obtained, cultured in MacConkey agar to select Gram-negative microorganisms and E. coli was further identified by microbiological tests. After DNA extraction, multiplex PCR amplification using specific primers was performed. Out of 400 samples, 42 specimens were found to be E. coli-positive according to the microbiological tests. The PCR results indicated that 14 out of 42 isolates carried the eaeA gene, 4 isolates were positive for the gene of F41 fimbriae and 10 for stxI and stxII genes.
Key words: bovine mastitis, E. coli, multiplex PCR, virulence factors