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Start Over Topic veterinary medicine Publication Year Range Last 50 years
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1. The challenge of West Nile virus in Europe: knowledge gaps and research priorities

Author

Sebastian Ulbert, Norbert Nowotny, Ana Moreno, Luisa Barzon, N. Pardigon, Penelope Koraka, Antonio Tenorio, Miguel Ángel Jiménez-Clavero, Jordi Figuerola, Paolo Cordioli, Niek N. Sanders, Byron E. E. Martina, Annapaola Rizzoli, Fondazione Edmund Mach - Edmund Mach Foundation [Italie] (FEM), Centro de Investigacion en Sanidad Animal (INIA-CISA), Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria = National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Universita degli Studi di Padova, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna 'Bruno Ubertini' (IZSLER), Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), Erasmus University Medical Center [Rotterdam] (Erasmus MC), University of Veterinary Medicine [Vienna] (Vetmeduni), Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Institut Pasteur [Paris], Universiteit Gent = Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (Fraunhofer IZI), Fraunhofer (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft), Instituto de Salud Carlos III [Madrid] (ISC), This paper is the product of a cooperative action promoted by the Coordinators and delegates of the EU funded projects on West Nile virus under the 7th European Programme, in particular the EuroWestNile project (www.eurowestnile.org, GA n. 261391), the EDENext project (www.edenext.eu , GA n. 261504) the Wings project (www.west-nile-shield-project.eu , GA n. 261426), and the Vectorie project (www.vectorie.eu , GA n. 261466). This study was partially funded by EU grant FP7-261504 EDENext and is catalogued by the EDENext Steering Committee as EDENext 142 (http://www.edenext.eu). AR was partially funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento grant LExEM (http://www.lexem.eu). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and don't necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission., This paper is dedicated to the memory of our wonderful colleague and friend, Dr Paolo Cordioli, who recently passed away. We thank the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for supporting this initiative and for promoting a stronger integration between public health and research in Europe. We also thank Dr Jolanta Kolodziejek of the Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna for establishing the phylogenetic trees and Matteo Marcantonio of the GIS/RS platform at the Edmund Mach Foundation for preparing the map in Figure 1, European Project: 261391,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,EUROWESTNILE(2011), European Project: 261504,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,EDENEXT(2011), European Project: 261426,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,WINGS(2011), European Project: 261466,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,VECTORIE(2010), Virology, Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua (Unipd), Institut Pasteur [Paris] (IP), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University (UGENT), and Publica

Subjects
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Veterinary medicine, Economic growth, WNV STRAINS, Epidemiology, viruses, MESH: Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, medicine.disease_cause, Disease Outbreaks, EXPERIMENTAL-INFECTION, ENVELOPE PROTEIN, Neuroinvasive disease, Medicine and Health Sciences, MESH: Genetic Variation, MESH: Disease Outbreaks, MESH: Phylogeny, Phylogeny, media_common, EARLY WARNING SYSTEM, biology, SUBSTITUTION, AMINO-ACID, 3. Good health, Europe, MESH: Research, Geography, Population Surveillance, [SDV.MP.VIR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Virology, West Nile virus, SPARROWS PASSER-DOMESTICUS, media_common.quotation_subject, Ecology (disciplines), MESH: Population Surveillance, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being, Virology, medicine, Humans, media_common.cataloged_instance, Veterinary Sciences, European union, TIME RT-PCR, Settore VET/06 - PARASSITOLOGIA E MALATTIE PARASSITARIE DEGLI ANIMALI, MESH: West Nile virus, MESH: West Nile Fever, MESH: Humans, Research, LINEAGE 1 STRAIN, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Genetic Variation, Outbreak, biology.organism_classification, USUTU VIRUS, Early warning system, MESH: Europe, CULEX-PIPIENS MOSQUITOS, Usutu virus, West Nile Fever, Diversity (politics)
Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is continuously spreading across Europe, and other continents, i.e. North and South America and many other regions of the world. Despite the overall sporadic nature of outbreaks with cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) in Europe, the spillover events have increased and the virus has been introduced into new areas. The high genetic diversity of the virus, with remarkable phenotypic variation, and its endemic circulation in several countries, require an intensification of the integrated and multidisciplinary research efforts built under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union (FP7). It is important to better clarify several aspects of WNV circulation in Europe, including its ecology, genomic diversity, pathogenicity, transmissibility, diagnosis and control options, under different environmental and socio-economic scenarios. Identifying WNV endemic as well as infection-free areas is becoming a need for the development of human vaccines and therapeutics and the application of blood and organs safety regulations. This review, produced as a joint initiative among European experts and based on analysis of 118 scientific papers published between 2004 and 2014, provides the state of knowledge on WNV and highlights the existing knowledge and research gaps that need to be addressed with high priority in Europe and neighbouring countries.

Published
2015

2. Combining Analytical Approaches and Multiple Sources of Information to Improve Interpretation of Diagnostic Test Results for Tuberculosis in Wild Meerkats

Author

Stuart J. Patterson, Charlene Clarke, Tim H. Clutton-Brock, Michele A. Miller, Sven D. C. Parsons, Dirk U. Pfeiffer, Timothée Vergne, Julian A. Drewe, Patterson, Stuart J [0000-0002-4907-8373], Clarke, Charlene [0000-0002-9497-2614], Miller, Michele A [0000-0002-5883-6076], Parsons, Sven DC [0000-0002-9033-9686], Pfeiffer, Dirk U [0000-0001-7000-0530], Drewe, Julian A [0000-0003-0709-8066], Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository, Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Royal Veterinary College, SAMRC Centre for TB Research, Stellenbosch University, Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology [Pretoria], University of Pretoria [South Africa]-University of Pretoria [South Africa], Large Animal Research Group, University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM), Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, City University of Hong Kong [Hong Kong] (CUHK), Interactions hôtes-agents pathogènes [Toulouse] (IHAP), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), This paper has relied on records of individual identities and life histories maintained by the Kalahari Meerkat Project, which is supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 294494), the Human Frontier Science Program (funding reference RGP0051/2017), the University of Zurich, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. This specific work was funded by BBSRC (training scholarship BB/F016891/1), the Royal Veterinary College and the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, kalahari-meerkats.com/fkmp. Thanks also to Irene Staehelin for her generous support. This research was funded partially by the South African government through the South African Medical Research Council and the National Research Foundation South African Research Chair Initiative (Grant #86949). MM, CC, and SP were supported by the South African government through the South African Medical Research Council and the National Research Foundation Chair Initiative (grant #86949)., and European Project: 294494,EC:FP7:ERC,ERC-2011-ADG_20110310,THCB2011(2012)

Subjects
General Veterinary, 040301 veterinary sciences, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], wildlife, Veterinary medicine, diagnostics, interpretation, tuberculosis, meerkats, 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences, 01 natural sciences, Article, 3. Good health, 0403 veterinary science, 010104 statistics & probability, QL1-991, SF600-1100, Animal Science and Zoology, 0101 mathematics, Zoology
Abstract

Data presented in this study is publicly available at https://figshare.com/s/45bd5369a97b4c2489bf (accessed on 25 October 2021).Ethical permission for the study was provided by the University of Pretoria (ECO20-14), and this manuscript has been approved for publication by the Royal Veterinary College (PPS_01715). Permission to carry out research in the region was granted by the Northern Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation.; International audience; Simple SummaryDiagnostic tests used in animals are ideally extensively trialled to ensure that practitioners have confidence in the results; the ideal target should be 100% of infected animals testing positive (sensitivity), and 100% of uninfected animals testing negative (specificity). In these trials, a gold standard is necessary, against which the diagnostic tests may be compared. Commonly, tests of wild animals are not extensively trialled due to shortages of samples and the rarity of gold standard tests. This study uses samples collected for the purpose of diagnosing Mycobacterium suricattae infection in meerkats and estimates the sensitivity and specificity of available tests, both individually, and in combination. A small number of post-mortems (gold standard) were carried out, providing definitive evidence of infected animals against which to compare the tests. In addition, test results were unconventionally compared to survival times and clinical characteristics, aiming to quantify the prognostic capabilities of the tests. The study therefore not only estimates the required parameters against which to assess these tests, but also provides a model for future assessment of diagnostic tests in imperfect field scenarios. Wildlife diseases are increasingly recognised as important to society, and so methods to better quantify these are increasingly important.AbstractDiagnostic tests are used to classify individual animals’ infection statuses. However, validating test performance in wild animals without gold standard tests is extremely challenging, and the issue is further complicated in chronic conditions where measured immune parameters vary over time. Here, we demonstrate the value of combining evidence from different diagnostic approaches to aid interpretation in the absence of gold standards, large sample sizes, and controlled environments. Over a two-year period, we sampled 268 free-living meerkats (Suricata suricatta) longitudinally for Mycobacterium suricattae (a causative agent of tuberculosis), using three ante-mortem diagnostic tests based on mycobacterial culture, and antigen-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, interpreting results both independently and in combination. Post-mortem cultures confirmed M. suricattae infection in 22 animals, which had prior ante-mortem information, 59% (13/22) of which were test-positive on a parallel test interpretation (PTI) of the three ante-mortem diagnostic assays (95% confidence interval: 37–79%). A similar ability to detect infection, 65.7% (95% credible interval: 42.7–84.7%), was estimated using a Bayesian approach to examine PTI. Strong evidence was found for a near doubling of the hazard of death (Hazard Ratio 1.75, CI: 1.14–2.67, p = 0.01), associated with a positive PTI result, thus demonstrating that these test results are related to disease outcomes. For individual tests, small sample sizes led to wide confidence intervals, but replication of conclusions, using different methods, increased our confidence in these results. This study demonstrates that combining multiple methodologies to evaluate diagnostic tests in free-ranging wildlife populations can be a useful approach for exploiting such valuable datasets.

Published
2021

3. Integrated Analysis of Environment, Cattle and Human Serological Data: Risks and Mechanisms of Transmission of Rift Valley Fever in Madagascar

Author

Annelise Tran, Vladimir Grosbois, Jean-Pierre Ravalohery, Fanjasoa Rakotomanana, Jean-Michel Heraud, Soa Fy Andriamandimby, Christophe Rogier, Seta Andriamamonjy, Véronique Chevalier, Benoit Durand, Marie-Marie Olive, Animal et gestion intégrée des risques (UPR AGIRs), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), Unité de Virologie [Antananarivo, Madagascar] (IPM), Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), Laboratoire de santé animale, sites de Maisons-Alfort et de Dozulé, Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (ANSES), Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), This study was supported in part by funds raised by (i) CIRAD (ii) the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES, grant # 131163/00) (iii) the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar. Human field work was funded by the Institut Pasteur of Madagascar (Internal Project through the ZORA (ZOonoses, Rodent and Arboviruses) project and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, and Cooperative Agreement #U51/IP000327). Moreover, this material is based upon work supported by the U. S. Department of Homeland Security under the Center of Excellence of Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases Grant Award Number 2010-ST061-AG0001. Cattle study was supported in part by funds raised by World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Central Emergency Response Fund of the United Nations. The views and conclusions contained in this paper are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either explicit or implicit, of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Subjects
Veterinary medicine, Epidemiology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, law.invention, 0302 clinical medicine, [SDV.MHEP.MI]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseases, Analyse du risque, MESH: Cattle Diseases, MESH: Animals, Neglected tropical diseases, Mammals, [SDV.MHEP.ME]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Emerging diseases, MESH: Middle Aged, 000 - Autres thèmes, Fièvre de la Vallée du Rift, Anopheles, Ruminants, 3. Good health, Transmission (mechanics), MESH: Young Adult, Densité de population, [SDV.MP.VIR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Virology, Enzootic, Infectious diseases, L72 - Organismes nuisibles des animaux, Genre humain, Bétail, Livestock, lcsh:RC955-962, MESH: Culex, Microbiology, MESH: Anopheles, 03 medical and health sciences, MESH: Cross-Sectional Studies, Madagascar, MESH: Humans, MESH: Seroepidemiologic Studies, Tropical diseases, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Organisms, lcsh:RA1-1270, MESH: Adult, [SDV.BBM.BM]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Molecular biology, 15. Life on land, medicine.disease, Invertebrates, Insect Vectors, 030104 developmental biology, Africa, Cattle, MESH: Female, MESH: Antibodies, Viral, 0301 basic medicine, RNA viruses, Cattle Diseases, Disease Vectors, L73 - Maladies des animaux, Mosquitoes, Serology, Geographical Locations, MESH: Madagascar, law, Zoonoses, Facteur de risque, Bunyaviruses, Medicine and Health Sciences, MESH: Rift Valley Fever, Comportement humain, Rift Valley fever, 2. Zero hunger, biology, lcsh:Public aspects of medicine, Agriculture, Facteur du milieu, Medical microbiology, Insects, MESH: Cattle, Vecteur de maladie, Vertebrates, Viruses, MESH: Rift Valley fever virus, Seasons, Pathogens, Research Article, lcsh:Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine, Zone humide, Arthropoda, Distribution géographique, Culex, 030231 tropical medicine, Viral diseases, MESH: Insect Vectors, Virus de la fièvre de la vallée du Rift, Sérologie, Bovines, medicine, Seroprevalence, Animals, MESH: Environment, Transmission des maladies, Biology and life sciences, Viral pathogens, Morbidité, biology.organism_classification, Rift Valley fever virus, MESH: Male, Microbial pathogens, Amniotes, People and Places, Earth Sciences, [SDV.SPEE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Santé publique et épidémiologie
Abstract

Background Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a vector-borne disease affecting ruminants and humans. Madagascar was heavily affected by RVF in 2008–2009, with evidence of a large and heterogeneous spread of the disease. The identification of at-risk environments is essential to optimize the available resources by targeting RVF surveillance in Madagascar. Herein, the objectives of our study were: (i) to identify the environmental factors and areas favorable to RVF transmission to both cattle and human and (ii) to identify human behaviors favoring human infections in Malagasy contexts. Methodology/Principal Findings First, we characterized the environments of Malagasy communes using a Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA). Then, we analyzed cattle and human serological data collected at national level using Generalized Linear Mixed Models, with the individual serological status (cattle or human) as the response, and MFA factors, as well as other potential risk factors (cattle density, human behavior) as explanatory variables. Cattle and human seroprevalence rates were positively associated to humid environments (p, Author Summary Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a pathogen that causes a vector-borne tropical disease. The disease affects ruminants and humans and severely impacts the health and economy of affected countries. Madagascar was heavily affected by Rift Valley fever (RVF) in 2008–2009, with evidence of a large and heterogeneous spread of the disease. Our study aims at identifying environmental and human-related risk factors for RVFV transmission. First, we characterized Malagasy environments according to their putative influence on RVFV mosquito density and population dynamics. Then we statistically analyzed cattle and human serological data collected at a national level with the individual serological status as response, and Malagasy environments previously characterized by climatic and landscape variables as well as other potential risk factors as explanatory variables. Our results identified humid environments of the western, north-western and eastern parts of the island as risky areas. The identification of at-risk environments is essential to focus veterinary surveillance and control of RVFV.

Published
2016