In a seroepidemiological survey using an indirect haemagglutination assay, the prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis in central Ethiopia was 22.9% of 899 sheep, 11.6% of 753 goats and 6.6% of 785 cattle. There were high titres of 1:256 or more which suggest current infections. These results indicate that toxoplasmosis may be an important cause of reproductive wastage in small ruminants. The public health significance of this disease is discussed. Improved hygiene and management could reduce the prevalence of the disease.

A study was conducted to investigate causes of lamb morbidity and mortality on farms and on-station at Debre Berhan during 1989 and 1990. It showed pneumonia (bacterial and/or verminous), starvation-mismothering exposure (SME) complex, gastrointestinal parasites, enteritis, abomasal impaction and physical injuries to be important health constraints on productivity. Neonatal mortalities were 51.5% and 46.3% on farms and on-station respectively and occurred owing to management problems such as SME, abomasal impaction and physical injuries. On the farms the lamb birth weight was 2.56 +/- 0.25 kg and was significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the dam's age, lambing weight, litter size, sex of lamb and year of lambing, but not by the season of lambing. Birth weight significantly (p < 0.05) influenced lamb mortality. Lambs with a low birth weight tended to die from SME. Morbidities and mortalities due to infectious causes increased in older lambs, suggesting that infections were acquired with age when resistance was lowered owing to inadequate nutrition and poor management. Heavy loss of lambs could be overcome by such health management interventions as foster mothering, warming lambs during the cold season and vaccination with polyvalent vaccines against pasteurellosis, clostridial infection and Dictyocaulus filaria.

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CI-994 (acetyldinaline) is an orally active anticancer drug currently in Phase 1 clinical trials. To assess its preclinical toxicity, CI-994 was administered orally as suspensions to Wistar rats (10/sex/dose) and in capsules to beagle dogs (3/sex/dose) once daily for two weeks. Doses were 1.5, 5, and 15 mg/kg for rats (9, 30, and 90 mg/m2, respectively), and 0.5, 2, and 5 mg/kg for dogs (10, 40, and 100 mg/m2, respectively). Systemic exposure was dose-proportional based on toxicokinetic analysis in dogs. Severe clinical signs and mortality occurred at the highest dose in both species beginning on Day 10. Neutropenia, lymphocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, lymphoid depletion, bone marrow hypocellularity, and testicular degeneration were observed in both species, primarily at the mid- and high-doses. Despite continued treatment, neutrophil counts in dogs returned to control levels in Week 2. Other microscopic findings in rats included splenic hematopoietic depletion at all doses and epithelial cell necrosis in various tissues at 15 mg/kg. Additional bone marrow changes in dogs involved myeloid and megakaryocyte hyperplasia at 2 mg/kg and abnormal myeloid and megakaryocyte maturation at 2 and 5 mg/kg. Except for the testicular effects in both species, all changes were reversible within a 4-week (rat) or 9-week (dog) recovery period. The results of these studies show that target organ effects of CI-994 principally involve tissues with rapidly dividing cell populations and that bone marrow suppression is the dose-limiting toxicity. CI-994 also seems to interfere with the release and/or maturation of cells in the bone marrow.