Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a fatal herpesvirus infection of domestic and wild ruminants, with a short and dramatic clinical course characterized primarily by high fever, severe depression, swollen lymph nodes, salivation, diarrhea, dermatitis, neurological disorders, and ocular lesions often leading to blindness. In the present study, fatal clinical cases of sheep associated malignant catarrhal fever (SA-MCF) were identified in cattle in the state of Karnataka. These cases were initially presented with symptoms of diarrhea, respiratory distress, conjunctivitis, and nasal discharges. Laboratory diagnosis confirmed the detection of ovine herpesvirus-2 (OvHV-2) genome in the peripheral blood samples of two ailing animals. The blood samples collected subsequently from sheep of the neighboring areas also showed presence of OvHV-2 genome indicating a nidus of infection in the region. The positive test results were further confirmed by nucleotide sequencing of the OIE approved portion of tegument gene as well as complete ORF8 region of the OvHV-2 genome. Phylogenetic analysis based on the sequence of the latter region indicated close genetic relationship with other OvHV-2 reported elsewhere in the world.

A retrospective study on the epidemiology of foot and-mouth disease (FMD) in Karnataka, India between the years 1977 and 2012-13 based on the data collected through passive and active surveillance was undertaken. A total of 11,159 outbreaks with 0.271 million cases of FMD were recorded from 30 different revenue districts of Karnataka. There was a significant difference between the years for the annual incidence of FMD (P = \0.001, F = 19.10) and also between the months (P = \0.001, F = 4.22). Cattle and buffaloes were the predominant species affected being involved in all of the outbreaks reported. A significant correlation was observed between livestock density and the number of outbreaks reported (r = 0.70, p \ 0.02), and number of cases (r = 0.76, p \ 0.01) for all the agro-climatic zones. The Central dry zone (n = 2257, 19.89 %) reported the highest number of outbreaks followed by the Northern dry zone (n = 1881, 16.58 %) and the Southern transition zone (n = 1761, 15.52 %), and attack rates were concentrated in the North/Northeastern/Central dry and transition zones. A large majority of the outbreaks were caused by serotype O (64.04 %), followed by Asia 1 (19.87 %) and A (12.27 %). Serotype C was not reported since 1993 in the state. In recent years, serotype O has dominated (82.59 %), with the rest of the outbreaks being almost equally caused by A (9.01 %) and Asia 1 (8.40 %). The study highlights the significance of the O serotype and cattle as the main indicator species in the epidemiology of FMD in Karnataka, India. The findings from this study can be used as baseline epidemiological data for further research to identify endemic and epidemic areas for the development of a sustainable programme for the progressive control of FMD in the state of Karnataka as well as other endemic settings.

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting of 14 laboratoiy strains of leptospiral serovars (serovars australis, autumnalis, ballum, bataviae, canicola, grippotyphosa, hardjoprajitno, hebdomadis, icterohaemorrhagiae, javanica, pomona, pyrogenes, panama, and tarassovi) was carried out by using a pair of primers. Each serovar had a unique and distinct fingerprint pattern. DNAs of other bacterial species, including Escherichia coli, Pasteurella multocida, Salmonella spp., Pseudomoms spp., and Klebsiella spp., did not show any amplification. RAPD fingerprinting was found to be a rapid and sensitive method for serovar identification when it was compared to DNA restriction enzyme analysis, which produced a larger number of bands that made it more difficult to compare serovars.Leptospirosis, which is caused by one of the nine or more species of pathogenic leptospires, is an important disease that affects livestock and humans. At present, there are more than 212 recognized serovars of leptospires divided into 23 serogroups (4). Conventionally, leptospirosis is diagnosed by detecting serum antibodies by the microscopic agglutination test or enzyme immunoassays. Direct demonstration of the presence of leptospires in biological samples is a definitive method of diagnosis, but large numbers of organisms need to be in a sample for direct demonstration. Isolation of leptospires from clinical specimens by culturing is labor-intensive and slow (too slow for clinical diagnosis), and samples may be from contaminated sources. Recently, tests based on DNA restriction enzyme analysis (5,7) and DNA-DNA hybridization (6) and PCR assays (8) have been used to detect leptospires in clinical samples. Although DNA restriction enzyme analysis with different restriction enzymes is useful for identifying the leptospiral serovars, the large number of DNA fragments obtained makes differentiation between serovars difficult when only a few enzymes are used. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of Not1 digests of leptospiral DNA (3) has facilitated comparisons between serovars because there are fewer DNA fragments. Recently, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting, which produces fewer DNA fragments, has been used for rapid identification of leptospires (1, 2). This method makes it easy to compare different serovars.The goal of this work was to adapt the RAPD fingerprinting method so that it could be used to differentiate various leptospiral laboratory strains.Bacterial strains and media. A total of 14 laboratory strains of leptospiral serovars were grown in EMJH media. The serovars represented were serovars autumnalis (strain Akiyami A), australis (strain Ballico), ballum (strain Mus 127), bataviae (strain Swart), canicola (strain Hond Utrecht IV), grippotyphosa (strain Moskva V), hardjo (strain Hardjoprajitno), hebdomadis (strain Hebdomadis), icterohaemarrhagiae (strain RGA), javanica (strain Veldrat Bat.46), pomona (strain Pomona), pyrogenes (strain Salinem), panama (strain CZ 214), and tarassovi (strain Perepelicin)....

No abstract

No abstract