Our studies demonstrated the great variety of pathogenic bacteria from the Anaplasmataceae family in the blood of clinically ill sheep. A. ovis was identified unexpectedly often. For the first time, A. phagocytophilum was found in sub-Saharan Africa, and its further epidemiology may be now reconsidered. The roles of canine pathogen, A. platys, and yet undescribed Anaplasma sp. "Badiouré" in ovine pathology should be more closely studied.

Bacillus anthracis is the causative agent of anthrax and is classified as a ‘Category A’ biological weapon. Six complete genomes of B. anthracis (A0248, Ames, Ames Ancestor, CDC684, H0491, and Sterne) are currently available. In this report, we add three African strain genomes: Sen2Col2, Sen3 and Gmb1. To study the pan-genome of B. anthracis, we used bioinformatics tools, such as Cluster of Orthologous Groups, and performed phylogenetic analysis. We found that the three African strains contained the pX01 and pX02 plasmids, the nonsense mutation in the plcR gene and the four known prophages. These strains are most similar to the CDC684 strain and belong to the A cluster. We estimated that the B. anthracis pan-genome has 2893 core genes (99% of the genome size) and 85 accessory genes. We validated the hypothesis that B. anthracis has a closed pan-genome and found that the three African strains carry the two plasmids associated with bacterial virulence. The pan-genome nature of B. anthracis confirms its lack of exchange (similar to Clostridium tetani) and supports its exclusively pathogenic role, despite its survival in the environment. Moreover, thanks to the study of the core content single nucleotide polymorphisms, we can see that our three African strains diverged very recently from the other B. anthracis strains.

Les auteurs rapportent les résultats d'une étude sur les tiques et les hémoparasitoses des bovins, ovins et caprins de la zone soudano-sahélienne. Un détiquage systématique de 40 bovins, 40 ovins et 40 caprins est effectué pendant 15 mois dans le but de déterminer la dynamique des populations et de préciser les sites préférentiels de fixation des différentes espèces. Chez ces ruminants, les espèces suivantes sont récoltées : Hyalomma truncatum, H. marginatum rufipes, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, Rh. guilhoni, Amblyomma variegatum, Boophilus decoloratus. Parallèlement, des études sont menées sur les hémoparasitoses par réalisation de frottis de sang et de splénectomies. Chez les bovins, sont mis en évidence : Anaplasma marginale, Ehrlichia bovis, Theileria mutans. Les infections décelées chez les ovins et les caprins sont occasionnées par Anaplasma ovis, Ehrlichia ovina et Theileria ovis. Les valeurs de l'hématocrite d'animaux adultes apparemment sains sont étudiées, de même que les variations saisonnières de ce paramètre hématologique.

In recent years very virulent (VV) IBDV strains and classical (CV)IBDV

Summary : SERO-EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY AGAINST COWDRIOSIS FOR MAURE ZEBU CATTLE FROM DIFFERENTS AFRICAN AREASThe seroprevalence against heartwater for maure zebus coming from Mali and Mauritania is analysed by indirect ELISA using the major antigenic protein n°1-B (MAP1-B). Sero-epidemiological results realized on maure zebu cattle give a good adequation between the abundance or absence of the vector tick in the two countries for 98 % of prevalence in Mali (infected area) and 0 % of prevalence in Mauritania (non infected area). Résumé : La séroprévalence de la cowdriose chez des zébus maures en provenance du Mali et de Mauritanie a été analysée par la technique de l'ELISA indirect utilisant la protéine antigénique majeure n°1-B (MAP1-B). Les résultats de l'étude séro