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Raising awareness about Toxoplasma gondii infection among cat owners in Bangladesh is indispensable to formulate persuasive management tactics to avoid zoonotic infections from pet cats. However, to the authors' best knowledge, no studies have been performed in Bangladesh to determine knowledge and practices of toxoplasmosis in cat owners. Therefore, the objectives of the current study were to cover this research gap. We carried out a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh from June 2020 through December 2021. A structured online questionnaire was distributed to cat owners, which were voluntarily completed by them. The questionnaire included socio-demographic data, aetiology, transmissions, clinical signs, and preventive practices towards toxoplasmosis. Overall, 1,019 cat owners participated voluntarily in the cross-sectional survey. Among them, 793 (77.82%) participants showed poor knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis. Under specific knowledge sections, 62.51% of the participants revealed incorrect knowledge that toxoplasmosis was a zoonotic disease. In the same way, (72.03-85.77) % of the cat owners were unaware that the disease could be transmitted from improperly washed vegetables, raw or undercooked meat and fish, and contaminated water and milk with cat faeces. Respondents' age, education, occupation, residence type, and marital status were significantly (p .05) associated with their knowledge level. Besides, 94.11% of cat owners had a good practice level. They followed good practices in different issues; however, they practiced those activities without knowing their impacts on disease control. Cat owners' age, education, occupation, and residence type had a significant (p .05) association with the practice level against toxoplasmosis. This is the first study highlighting the low level of knowledge among cat owners about toxoplasmosis in Bangladesh. These knowledge gaps could increase the risk and transmission of Toxoplasma gondii infection among them and their families. The survey recommends the arrangement of educational training and programmes to increase the awareness of toxoplasmosis among cat owners.

Dogs, the most common companion animal of humans, perform not only the auxiliary of an individual, but also contribute to the nations’ crime and defence departments. Knowing the determinant-based disease status of dogs is imperative to keep them healthy by subsequent prevention and control of those diseases; however, such baseline epidemiological information is limited. Therefore, a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the proportional incidence of dog diseases to explore their magnitudes, and we compared them to different levels of intrinsic (age, gender, breed) and extrinsic determinants (season). Purposively, data of a total of 1,557 cases of different diseases were collected from the record book of the Central Veterinary Hospital (CVH), Dhaka, Bangladesh. The proportional incidence was calculated as the proportion of cases of a specific disease among total number of cases of all types of diseases attended the hospital during the study period. Diseases of dog were categorized into infectious, non-infectious, and non-specific. Results showed that the highest proportional incidence was noted in infectious diseases (53.8%) followed by non-infectious diseases (23.4%) and the lowest in non-specific (22.7%) cases. Among them, disease-specific proportional incidence was remarkable in case of mange (9.5%), parvovirosis (8.7%), lacerated wound (8.5%), ectoparasitism (8.3%), helminthiasis (7.8%), and fracture (5.7%). The occurrence of mange varied significantly (p < 0.05) among all studied determinants (age, gender, breed, and season); while significant discrepancies (p < 0.05) in magnitudes of lacerated wound, dystocia, abortion, and gastroenteritis were observed among various groups of age, gender, and breed. Accordingly, dermatitis and orchitis had significant differences (p < 0.05) in proportional incidence amid various levels of age, gender, and season; whilst the burden of parvovirosis and alopecia differed significantly (p < 0.05) amongst different categories of age, breed, and season. The magnitude of otorrhoea showed a significant (p < 0.05) variation among different groups of gender, breed, and season. The proportional incidence of other diseases also varied significantly (p < 0.05) amongst either one or two studied determinants. This study provides a valuable insight about important diseases in dogs, which may serve as useful baseline information for disease prioritization and subsequent planning of effective control and prevention measures against those diseases., Magnitudes, Determinants, Dog diseases.

SARS-CoV-2, a new coronavirus strain responsible for COVID-19 has emerged in Wuhan City, China and still continuing its worldwide pandemic nature. Considering the severity of the disease, a number of studies are underway, and full genomic sequences have already been released in the last few weeks to enable the understanding of the evolutionary origin and molecular characteristics of this virus. Bioinformatics analysis, satellite derived imaging data and epidemiological attributes were employed to investigate origin, immunogenic resemblance and global threat of newly pandemic SARS-CoV-2 including Bangladesh perspective. Based on currently available genomic information, a phylogeny study was employed focusing four types of representative viral proteins (spike, membrane, envelope and nucleoprotein) of SARS-CoV-2, HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, SARS-CoV, HCoV-NL63, HKU1, MERS-CoV, HKU4, HKU5 and BufCoV-HKU26. The findings clearly demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 exhibited evolutionary convergent relation with previously reported SARS-CoV. It was also found that SARS-CoV-2 proteins were highly similar and identical to SARS-CoV proteins, though proteins from other coronaviruses showed lower level of similarity and identical patterns. The cross-checked conservancy analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antigenic epitopes showed significant conservancy with antigenic epitopes derived from SARS-CoV. The study also prioritized the temperature comparison through satellite imaging alongside compiling and analyzing the epidemiological outbreak information on the 2019 novel coronavirus based on several open datasets on COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) and discussed possible threats to Bangladesh., Highlights • Phylogenetic tree clearly demonstrating the ancestral origin and distant evolutionary relationships of the newly epidemic novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. • SARS-CoV-2 proteins showed highest level of similarity and identical patterns with SARS-CoV. • SARS-CoV-2 antigenic epitopes were significantly conserved with antigenic epitopes derived from SARS-CoV • COVID-19 poses a great burden across the world in terms of geographical coverage, occurrence of cases and death toll.

Recently a new coronavirus strain, COVID-19 has emerged in Wuhan City, China which cause disease and in many cases deaths to humans. Considering its severity a number of works are working on it and full genomic sequences has already released in the last few weeks to understand the evolutionary origin and molecular characteristics of this virus. Based on currently available genomic information a phylogenetic tree was constructed from four types of representative viral proteins (Spike, Membrane, Envelope and Nucleoproetin) of COVID-19, HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, SARS-CoV, HCoV-NL63, HKU1, MERS-CoV, HKU4, HKU5 and BufCoV-HKU26 clearly demonstrated that the ancestral origin and distant evolutionary relation of newly epidemic novel coronavirus (COVID-19). It had been found that COVID-19 was evolutionary related to SARS-CoV. It was also found that COVID-19 proteins were almost more than ninety (90%) similar and identical with SARS-CoV proteins. The cross-checked conservancy analysis of COVID-19 antigenic epitopes showed significant conservancy with SARS-CoV proteins. VaxiJen server reveal almost 100% immunogenic potential of four viral proteins with COVID-19. In this article, we present an effort on molecular evolutionary analysis, temperature comparison and compile and analyze epidemiological outbreak information on the 2019 novel coronavirus based on the several open datasets on COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) and possible threat to Bangladesh.Authors Md Bashir Uddin and Mahmudul Hasan contributed equally to this work

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and devastating viral disease among all cloven-footed animals. In Bangladesh, the disease is endemic, with outbreaks occurring throughout the year in the haor regions. Thus, the FMD outbreaks impact livelihoods in the haor area and are of great concern. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence, distribution, and risk factors for clinical FMD in some selected areas of haor in Sylhet division of Bangladesh. We examined 1,388 cattle, of which 343 were clinically affected with FMD (prevalence 24.71%, CI95% = 22.44 - 26.98) during the period from July 2017 through June 2018. Though production loss was observed, no mortality was recorded in the infected animals. The data article shows the spatial distribution of FMD prevalence. The temporal pattern indicates a higher number of FMD cases in June (47.01%, CI95% = 38.97 - 55.07). The gender was found associated (OR = 2.98; p < 0.001) with the potential risk of FMD occurrence through univariate analysis. Besides, indigenous breeds of cattle (OR = 2.83; p < 0.001) are found to be more susceptible to FMD compared to exotic and crossbreeds. The risk factors identified in this article will serve as a baseline for the development of risk based FMD control program in future.

Cryptosporidium parvum, a predominant causal agent of a fatal zoonotic protozoan diarrhoeal disease called cryptosporidiosis, bears a worldwide public health concern for childhood mortality and poses a key threat to the dairy and water industries. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small but powerful posttranscriptional gene silencing RNA molecules, regulate a variety of molecular, biological, and cellular processes in animals and plants. As to the present date, there is a paucity of information regarding miRNAs of C. parvum; hence, this study was used to identify miRNAs in the organism using a comprehensible expressed sequence tag–based homology search approach consisting of a series of computational screening process from the identification of putative miRNA candidates to the functional annotation of the important gene targets in C. parvum. The results revealed a conserved miRNA that targeted 487 genes in the model organism ( Drosophila melanogaster) and 85 genes in C. parvum, of which 11 genes had direct involvements in several crucial virulence factors such as environmental oocyst protection, excystation, locomotion, adhesion, invasion, stress protection, intracellular growth, and survival. Besides, 20 genes showed their association with various major pathways dedicated for the ribosomal biosynthesis, DNA repair, transportation, protein production, gene expression, cell cycle, cell proliferation, development, immune response, differentiation, and nutrient metabolism of the organism in the host. Thus, this study provides a strong evidence of great impact of identified miRNA on the biology, virulence, and pathogenesis of C. parvum. Furthermore, the study suggests that the detected miRNA could be a potential epigenomic tool for controlling the protozoon through silencing those virulent and pathway-related target genes.