Three alpacas (Vicugna pacos) aged two to 22 months with a history of illthrift and diarrhoea were examined postmortem, and tissues were collected for histology, including immunohistochemical labelling for pestivirus antigen, virus isolation and TaqMan reverse transcriptase-pcr assay. Blood samples from two clinical cases and the remaining herd members were tested for bovine viral diarrhoea virus (bvdv) antibody by serum neutralisation, antigen detection and pcr assay. The three affected alpacas were positive for bvdv by pcr of splenic tissue and/or heparinised blood. Non-cytopathic bvdv was isolated from several tissues and plasma of two of the alpacas. dna sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the viral genome from the pcr product showed that the bvdv was of subgenotype 1b. Immunohistochemical examination of brain tissue was positive in two cases, consistent with a persistent infection. bvdv antibodies were detected in 16 of 25 clinically unaffected alpacas. There was no evidence of persistent infection in the in-contact animals. The source of the infection was not determined.

The need for wildlife surveillance is as great now as it ever has been. Here, members of the APHA’s Diseases of Wildlife Scheme explain why their work is important.

VEROCYTOTOXIGENIC Escherichia coli (VTEC) of serogroup O157 is an important pathogen of human beings, with potentially serious consequences, including the development of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (Mainil and Daube 2005). It has been isolated from many animal species, but ruminants, especially cattle, are considered to be the main reservoirs of infection (Caprioli and others 2005). Contact with the farming environment, and direct and indirect contact with animals other than domestic pets are risk factors that were identified in case-control studies of sporadic VTEC O157 infections (Locking and others 2001, O'Brien and others 2001). Companion animals can sometimes be implicated, as reported by Trevena and others (1996) who recovered indistinguishable strains of VTEC O157 from a child, pony and dog in one incident. This short communication reports a case of apparent zoonotic transmission of VTEC O157 from dogs, which was identified in 2007 during the course of a joint medical and veterinary investigation into an outbreak of VTEC infection in a group of young children. Three children in the group and two household contacts (adults) developed gastrointestinal symptoms. Non-sorbitol fermenting E coli O157 were isolated from stool samples of the five symptomatic cases and from an asymptomatic sibling contact. Methods summarised by

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