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Purpose: Building on prior surveillance experiences from the Bolivian Amazon region, a new initiative aims to improve the livelihood of rural communities by detecting, preventing and combating zoonotic diseases. Methods & Materials: A new organisational approach has been chosen to develop sustainable health solutions for humans, domestic animals, wildlife and local ecosystems in remote indigenous communities with limited access to health services and whose territory is being affected by anthropogenic changes. The initiative is built on three pillars: research, capacity building and citizen engagement and is led by a local non-profit organisation, Teko Kavi, who works closely with Bolivian regional health and veterinary authorities, laboratories and universities as well as local indigenous community organisations, health centres and schools to improve awareness raising and building of networks and the much needed new capacities. The project is funded by a Danish social capacity building fund, and a Danish NGO-collaboration partner of Teko Kavi and two Danish universities provide One Health and capacity building expertise. Samples were collected in 2018 from 76 humans and 84 domestic animals in addition to environmental and wildlife samples in two Tacana Indigenous Territory villages in the San Buenaventura municipality located in the Amazon region of La Paz Department, Bolivia. Also, health information was collected for data analysis by face-to-face interviews of the tested people and owners of the tested animals. Results: The results are alarming: a high proportion of participating humans in the two villages were ill with fever, muscle pain, nausea and fatigue among other symptoms on or shortly prior to the day of sampling. Moreover, a high proportion (27%) of human serum samples were found to contain IgM antibodies directed against Leptospira spp., indicative of acute infection, while 63.6% of PCR-tests of urine samples from humans and 50% from animals were Lep

The reporting of observational studies in veterinary research presents many challenges that often are not adequately addressed in published reporting guidelines. A consensus meeting of experts was organized to develop an extension of the STROBE statement to address observational studies in veterinary medicine with respect to animal health, animal production, animal welfare and food safety outcomes. The consensus meeting was held 11-13 May 2014 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Seventeen experts from North America, Europe and Australia attended the meeting. The experts were epidemiologists and biostatisticians, many of whom hold or have held editorial positions with relevant journals. Prior to the meeting, 19 experts completed a survey about whether they felt any of the 22 items of the STROBE statement should be modified and whether items should be added to address unique issues related to observational studies in animal species with health, production, welfare or food safety outcomes. At the meeting, the participants were provided with the survey responses and relevant literature concerning the reporting of veterinary observational studies. During the meeting, each STROBE item was discussed to determine whether or not re-wording was recommended, and whether additions were warranted. Anonymous voting was used to determine whether there was consensus for each item change or addition. The consensus was that six items needed no modifications or additions. Modifications or additions were made to the STROBE items numbered as follows: 1 (title and abstract), 3 (objectives), 5 (setting), 6 (participants), 7 (variables), 8 (data sources/measurement), 9 (bias), 10 (study size), 12 (statistical methods), 13 (participants), 14 (descriptive data), 15 (outcome data), 16 (main results), 17 (other analyses), 19 (limitations) and 22 (funding). Published literature was not always available to support modification to, or inclusion of, an item. The methods and processes used in the deve

The STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) statement was first published in 2007 and again in 2014. The purpose of the original STROBE was to provide guidance for authors, reviewers and editors to improve the comprehensiveness of reporting; however, STROBE has a unique focus on observational studies. Although much of the guidance provided by the original STROBE document is directly applicable, it was deemed useful to map those statements to veterinary concepts, provide veterinary examples and highlight unique aspects of reporting in veterinary observational studies. Here, we present the examples and explanations for the checklist items included in the STROBE-Vet Statement. Thus, this is a companion document to the STROBE-Vet Statement Methods and process document, which describes the checklist and how it was developed.

In normotensive women with Type 1 diabetes and microalbuminuria we previously found preterm delivery (<34 weeks) in 23% of the pregnancies. Antihypertensive treatment was initiated in late pregnancy when preeclampsia was diagnosed and diastolic blood pressure > 90 mmHg. From April 2000 our routine was changed and early antihypertensive treatment with methyldopa was initiated if antihypertensive treatment was given prior to pregnancy, if urinary albumin excretion (UAE) was > 2 g/24 h, or blood pressure > 140/90 mmHg. The present study describes the impact of this more aggressive antiypertensive treatment in the prevalence of preterm delivery.