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In order to estimate prevalence, levels and patterns of Listeria monocytogenes contamination, a total of 774 swine carcasses were traced along the Parma ham production chain. Analyses were conducted on isolates originated from the same carcass, collected at different stages during processing, resulting in 0.2% (faeces at intestine removal from carcasses), 3.0% (swabbing of carcasses), 12.5% (fresh hams) and 2.0% prevalence (dry-cured hams). The highest contamination levels of L. monocytogenes were reached in fresh hams after cutting and were followed by a marked decrease during the subsequent processing stages. All the 132 isolates were characterized by serotyping and Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). Transfer of L. monocytogenes between different stages of the processing chain was not reported, whereas processing itself has proved to be an important cause of contamination. The sole isolate of fecal origin belonged to a pulsotype that was uncommon to any of those recovered in carcasses, fresh hams and dry-cured hams, indicating that contaminations from farms does not significantly affect Parma ham production. For the majority of the strains isolated from the same production plants, PFGE profiles were highly similar. In several cases, the same pulsotypes were recurrently detected, over time, in carcasses and fresh ham samples sharing the same processing environment. Aw levels were also measured, showing that drying of the ham surface was able to induce a considerable decrease of the contamination levels, although unable to ultimately remove L. monocytogenes.

Summary Dourine is trypanosomosis that affects equids, it's mainly sexually transmitted. The disease was first eradicated in Italy in the 1940s, but there was then a serious epidemic in the mid-70s. After sporadic reports at the end of the 1990s, in May 2011 it was reported once more. Clinical diagnosis of dourine can be complex, as clinical signs and gross lesions are not always present. Direct laboratory diagnosis is also problematic, given the low number of parasites normally present in infected tissues and the mild, short-lasting parasitaemia. This article describes the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data enabling confirmation of the suspicion of dourine in Italy in the 2011 epidemic.

Free trade of animals and their products is based on the international or bilateral recognition of the health status of the animal populations being traded. This recognition is based on documentation of their health status by the exporting country, based on the results of continuing surveillance. According to the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), this may be based on various methods of surveillance, such as: documenting non-specific surveillance (clinical surveillance, passive notification of suspect cases, etc.); documenting activities that increase the sensitivity of non-specific surveillance (training activities, rewards/sanctions for notification/failure to notify, etc.); documenting all specific surveillance and its results (random surveys, targeted and risk-based surveillance, convenience-testing activities, etc.). Usually, the infection is the subject of the declaration of freedom. While clinical and passive surveillance can provide a high level of confidence that foot and mouth disease (FMD) infection is absent, this is not the case in vaccinated populations. In these populations, specific surveillance becomes much more important than non-specific clinical surveillance. Specific surveillance is severely restricted by the performance of the test(s) employed. The imperfect specificity of any serological test is further complicated when techniques to differentiate infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) are used, because imperfect purification of the antigen used for vaccination may foster the production of undesired antibodies in the vaccinated animals. The authors discuss various approaches to overcome this problem; their merits and flaws in documenting the absence of infection or virus circulation for animal diseases in general, and for FMD in particular. Particular attention is paid to finding methods that can be applied in a variety of epidemiological conditions and organisational structures, since these vary greatly among OIE Members.

A capture operation to ascertain health status in free-ranging buffaloes from six different areas in the Caprivi Strip in the northeast corner of Namibia was conducted in October 2009. Basic information on the ticks and tick-borne pathogens normally found in wildlife from this area are scarce. The objective of this study was to assess the host status of African buffaloes, Syncerus caffer, for ixodid ticks and two selected tick-borne pathogens in the Caprivi Strip, a key area bordering Angola, Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Four different tick species have been identified among the 233 collected specimens, and, of 95 tested buffaloes, 54 (57%) were positive for Theileria parva, whereas only 3 (3%) showed evidence of being infected with Ehrlichia ruminantium.

The bluetongue (BT) epidemic that has prevailed in Europe since 2000 is the first example of continental spread of the BT virus (BTV) in large naive populations of susceptible animals. Based on the results of intensive surveillance and research in countries of the southern Mediterranean that were affected by the infection early on in the epidemic, a new strategy for prevention and control of the disease was developed to limit direct losses and to reduce the consequences due to movement restrictions. The basic innovations that were introduced were the use of mass vaccination of all domestic ruminant species to limit the spread of BTV and the use of intensive active surveillance to limit, as far as possible, the zone where movement restrictions must be applied. The novel strategy that was adopted dramatically reduced the number of clinical outbreaks in southern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin and ensured safer animal trade. In 2006, the first BTV-8 epidemic occurred, this time in north-western Europe. During this epidemic, affected countries adopted a 'wait and see' approach. No vaccination was implemented until 2008 and, in many instances, the movement of animals was authorised within restricted areas, thereby facilitating the spread of infection. The delay in administering vaccination was due to the decision to avoid the use of modified live virus vaccines, although this type of vaccine performed satisfactorily in the previous BT epidemics in southern Europe. Bluetongue has demonstrated that the infectious agents present in southern Africa can easily spread to the Mediterranean Basin, which should be considered a single entity as far as the epidemiology of animal diseases is concerned. Therefore, any effective strategy for the prevention and control of animal disease in Europe must take into account this reality and recognise the need for regional surveillance networks that include all the countries that border the Mediterranean.

Summary To assess the immunogenicity of Zulvac ! 8 Bovis (a commercial inactivated vaccine against bluetongue virus serotype 8 ‐ BTV8) under field conditions, 71 cattle vaccinated according to manufacturer schedule in Verona province (Italy) were tested for the presence of BTV8 neutralizing antibodies at 21, 29, 36, 43, 49, 102 and 201 days post-vaccination (dpv). Another group of 528 BTV8 vaccinated cattle in Mantova province (Italy) was also tested once between 113 and 174 dpv. The vaccine was able to elicit an immune response in 69 (97.2%) and 346 (65.5%) animals of the Verona and Mantova groups, respectively.

Since 2000 severe, long-lasting epidemics of bluetongue virus (BTV) have been described in Italy, caused by BTV serotypes 2, 4, 9 and 16. Vaccination programs have been applied extensively to control the infection, in spite of concerns about the potential dissemination of attenuated vaccine strains of BTV in susceptible animals. Accordingly, rapid and reliable differentiation between vaccine and field strains is paramount in routine diagnosis of BTV to evaluate the extent of this phenomenon. In the present study, we report the development of two real-time RT-PCR assays able to recognise BTV serotypes 2 and 9, respectively, and we evaluated the use of the assays for discrimination between field and vaccine strains. A total of 65 samples collected in Italy from 2000 to 2006 and diagnosed as positive for either BTV-2 or -9 were analysed by the TaqMan assays. Both the assays were found to be highly sensitive and reproducible, ensuring correct serotype characterisation and prediction of the origin of the strains, as confirmed by characterisation using virus neutralisation and sequencing.

We have measured the content of polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxins, and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (together defined as “dioxins”) in 269 samples of food of animal origin collected through the regional veterinary services, covering the national territory. Quantification of the dioxins was accomplished by isotope dilution method, and toxic equivalents (TEQ) were calculated. The average daily food intake was obtained from two main sources: national data collected by the National Institute of Nutrition, and data from an ongoing cohort study on diet and cancer including 40, 000 Italian subjects. The mean value of dioxins measured in food of animal origin was 0.144 ± 0.266 pg-TEQ/g (range: 0.003–1.655 pg-TEQ/g). Fish was the item with the highest content. The estimated intake of dioxins with main food items of animal origin is presented. The major contribution to dioxins intake with food comes from cow milk and fish consumption. These results are in agreement with what observed in studies conducted in other countries, such as Germany, Finland, Japan, Spain, and are below the limits set by the European legislation.

The authors studied the persistence of infection in 46 ewes experimentally infected with Brucella melitensis biovar 3 and monitored through three subsequent reproductive cycles. The entire experimental period lasted for 151 weeks. Infection of ewes and elimination of Brucella in milk, or its presence in vaginal discharges, persisted throughout the duration of the trial, as demonstrated by recurrent elimination of Brucella in milk and vaginal discharges. Brucella melitensis was recovered from the tissues of one ewe killed at the end of the trial. The strain was recovered from vaginal swabs and milk following parturition in the third reproductive cycle from an ewe that had aborted in the first cycle but was not pregnant in the second cycle. From a public health point of view, the periodical recovery of Brucella from the milk during the entire trial period illustrated that brucellosis in sheep remains a continuous occupational risk and a significant public health problem for consumers of fresh milk and milk products. That risk may persist for at least 3 years following the initial infection of the flock. Lamb antibody titres became negative in all lambs within 5 months after birth. This suggested that serological tests on lambs may have no practical diagnostic significance if performed during the first 5 months of life. Nevertheless, the birth of three infected lambs suggested that the phenomenon of latent carrier state may represent another way for B. melitensis to persist in a flock.

The current outbreaks of bluetongue (BT) disease in sheep in the central parts of the Mediterranean basin are being combated by extensive vaccination to control further spread of the virus and to suppress its long-term maintenance in the field. To be able to monitor the success of this campaign, and to be able to identify new foci of the disease, it is necessary to harness diagnostic methods, both rapid and sensitive, for differentiating reliably field from vaccine strains of bluetongue virus (BTV). A new method is described for their differentiation using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) probes with real-time PCR. The method is based on the principle that the melting temperature of a DNA duplex gives information about the sequence, and allows even double-base alterations in the amplicon to be identified. The RT-PCR, the generation of melting curves, and fluorescence detection were all performed using the LightCycler system (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany).

It is well known that the immune response in sheep against Brucella melitensis is subject to individual variation, depending on diverse factors. It bears asking whether these factors (e.g. clinical disease, active infection, state of previous immunity), when affecting a group, can cause variation in the performance of different diagnostic tests. To clarify some of the circumstances in which this immune response can vary, we examine the immune-response profile of sheep protected against the clinical disease by prior vaccination with strain Rev. 1 in comparison with the profile of unprotected females showing the classical brucellosis symptoms. An experimental infection was provoked at midpregnancy under controlled conditions of both non-vaccinated (n=7) and previously Rev.1-vaccinated ewes (n=5). Their immune response was monitored from 7 to 9 weeks before abortion or normal birth to 30 weeks afterwards. Antibody response was assessed by classical tests (Rose Bengal test, complement fixation test (CFT)) in comparison with other diagnostic tests (indirect ELISA (iELISA), competitive ELISA (cELISA), fluorescence polarization assay (FPA), immunocapture test (ICT)). In addition, the cell-mediated immune response was indirectly evaluated by the in vitro antigen-specific release of gamma-interferon. The antibody levels and antigen-specific gamma-IFN profile of the non-vaccinated ewes having the disease and excreting the pathogen was notably high and differed significantly (P

Summary In August 2000 bluetongue (BT) disease appeared amongst sheep on the island of Sardinia spreading later to Sicily and to mainland Italy. The majority of areas affected by BT were surveyed for Culicoides imicola, the only proven vector of the disease known to occur in the Mediterranean region. The data from 1456 light-trap collections, made in months with a mean temperature of 12.5°C, were used to test the accuracy of current models predicting the prevalence and abundance of C. imicola across the region. For Italy, the distribution of C. imicola was found to be very irregular and did not fit the modelled predictions. The possible reasons for this are discussed, and suggestions made as to which variables may improve this fit in the development of future risk models. In Italy, past surveys failed to reveal the presence of C. imicola, and so could be construed as evidence of its recent invasion, and thus rampant spread northwards. Although equivocal, historical records indicate that C. imicola was overlooked in the past. Six recommendations are made as to the possible future course of Culicoides research in southern Europe.

This report describes adverse events to vaccination in eight children in southern Italy. These children were seen in the Emergency Room of a hospital of the Local Health Unit SA2 (Salerno, Italy) after administration of hexavalent vaccine (Hexavac, Aventis-Pasteur). On analysing available documentation on the adverse reactions (label instructions, Medline), the Authors concluded the cases reported were to be expected. However, the label instructions did not give sufficient information on the type and frequency of adverse reactions. If the label instructions are to furnish complete, operative information for the vaccination units, the Italian instructions for the Hexavac vaccine can be considered inadequate.

Summary The authors report a case of casual isolation of virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV) from embryonated eggs. The virus was isolated from uninfected chicken embryo liver and fibroblast cultures prepared from commercial embryonated fowls' eggs. A serological and virological investigation carried out on the breeders which had laid those eggs showed high titres against NDV, and virus isolation from cloacal swabs. The virus was also isolated from the progeny of the same breeders which showed no clinical signs of ND, following episodes of mortality. Vertical transmission of the virus is discussed.

To assess the immunogenicity of Zulvac 8 Bovis (a commercial inactivated vaccine against bluetongue virus serotype 8 - BTV8) under field conditions, 71 cattle vaccinated according to manufacturer schedule in Verona province (Italy) were tested for the presence of BTV8 neutralizing antibodies at 21, 29, 36, 43, 49, 102 and 201 days post-vaccination (dpv). Another group of 528 BTV8 vaccinated cattle in Mantova province (Italy) was also tested once between 113 and 174 dpv. The vaccine was able to elicit an immune response in 69 (97.2%) and 346 (65.5%) animals of the Verona and Mantova groups, respectively.

In August 2000 bluetongue (BT) disease appeared amongst sheep on the island of Sardinia spreading later to Sicily and to mainland Italy. The majority of areas affected by BT were surveyed for Culicoides imicola, the only proven vector of the disease known to occur in the Mediterranean region. The data from 1456 light-trap collections, made in months with a mean temperature of 12.5 degrees C, were used to test the accuracy of current models predicting the prevalence and abundance of C. imicola across the region. For Italy, the distribution of C. imicola was found to be very irregular and did not fit the modelled predictions. The possible reasons for this are discussed, and suggestions made as to which variables may improve this fit in the development of future risk models. In Italy, past surveys failed to reveal the presence of C. imicola, and so could be construed as evidence of its recent invasion, and thus rampant spread northwards. Although equivocal, historical records indicate that C. imicola was overlooked in the past. Six recommendations are made as to the possible future course of Culicoides research in southern Europe.

A new immunocapture technique has been applied to the diagnosis of ovine brucellosis under experimental conditions. The tests were made on a serum bank derived from both young and adult ewes vaccinated conjunctivally with the Rev 1 strain at a dose of 10 8 to 10 9 colony-forming units. Adult ewes were infected experimentally two-and-a-half years after they had been vaccinated and the results were compared with an unvaccinated control group. The condition of each animal in terms of infection with Brucella melitensis was determined by clinical and bacteriological investigations. The development of the immune response was compared by the rose bengal test, the complement fixation test, the Coombs9 test and the immunocapture technique for 180 days after the vaccination and for 410 days after the experimental infection, that is, the two following gestations. The results suggest that the new technique is more specific in animals vaccinated conjunctivally, regardless of their age when they were vaccinated. After the experimental infection, significantly (P