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Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) systemic disease is currently considered one of the most relevant infectious diseases in swine industry worldwide from an economical point of view. Although piglets generally become diseased between 8 and 16 weeks of age, they can be infected much earlier, even already in utero. However, data on the prevalence of PCV2 infection in newborn piglets are very variable (lower than 40 up to 82%) and most of the studies have been performed in US. In European pig farms, using group-housing systems for gestating sows, a different herd PCV2 infection and immunological status may be expected and was recently reported in Germany. If that is the current scenario in most European farms, strategies to prevent horizontal transmission become essential for the control of the infection. The aim of our study was to determine the PCV2 prevalence in newborn piglets on 4 endemically infected farms in the Netherlands under European conditions. Eleven sows and 8 piglets per litter from 4 farms selected by their assumed PCV2 endemic infection status were sampled. Plasma from piglets was analysed with a PCV2 qPCR and serum from the sows was analysed with a commercial circovirus IgG ELSIA, circovirus IgM ELISA and PCV2 qPCR. In none of the samples from the piglets PCV2 was detected by the qPCR. None of the samples from the sows tested positive in the qPCR and circovirus IgM ELISA. The true- and apparent prevalence of IgG at herd and sow level were 0.75 and 0.81 and, 0.30 and 0.32, respectively, and no statistically significant association with sow parity was observed. These results reveal a very low prevalence of PCV2 in newborn piglets on endemically infected farms in The Netherlands, opening the opportunity of re-evaluation of the control measures applied in these farms.

Equine herpes virus type 1 (EHV-1) is een belangrijke pathogeen bij paarden. EHV-1 kan in een gevoelige paardenpopulatie respiratoire klachten en abortus veroorzaken, maar kan ook verantwoordelijk zijn voor het ontstaan van neurologische klachten (equine herpes myeloencephalopathie: EHM). Wereldwijd bestaat de indruk dat EHM de laatste jaren vaker voorkomt, waardoor de aandacht voor epidemiologische aspecten en preventie van overdracht van EHV-1 is toegenomen. Dit heeft er onder meer toe geleid dat de adviestermijn (zowel in de Amerikaanse EHV-1 consensus statement als in de in 2015 verschenen Nederlandse 'Richtlijn rhinopneumonie bij het paard') voor het sluiten van een bedrijf waar EHM is geconstateerd, is verlengd van 21 naar 28 dagen. Dit omdat met name bij de neurologische vorm van EHV-1 is gebleken dat de uitscheiding van het virus langere tijd optreedt dan voorheen wel werd gedacht. Ook in de hier beschreven patiënt komt dit naar voren. Er wordt een korte update gegeven van de huidige kennis ten aanzien van EHV-1 waarbij de nadruk ligt op belangrijke aspecten van EHM, transmissie van het virus en management van het bedrijf en preventie van verspreiding in het geval van een uitbraak.

BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy poses threats to patients' health. The Systematic Tool to Reduce Inappropriate Prescribing (STRIP) is a drug optimization process for conducting medication reviews in primary care. To effectively and efficiently incorporate this method into daily practice, the STRIP Assistant--a decision support system that aims to assist physicians with the pharmacotherapeutic analysis of patients' medical records--has been developed. It generates context-specific advice based on clinical guidelines. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to validate the STRIP Assistant's usability as a tool for physicians to optimize medical records for polypharmacy patients. METHODS: In an online experiment, 42 physicians were asked to optimize medical records for two comparable polypharmacy patients, one in their usual manner and one using the STRIP Assistant. Changes in effectiveness were measured by comparing respondents' optimized medicine prescriptions with medication prepared by an expert panel of two geriatrician-pharmacologists. Efficiency was operationalized by recording the time the respondents took to optimize the two cases. User satisfaction was measured with the System Usability Scale (SUS). Independent and paired t tests were used for analysis. RESULTS: Medication optimization significantly improved with the STRIP Assistant. Appropriate decisions increased from 58% without the STRIP Assistant to 76% with it (p < 0.0001). Inappropriate decisions decreased from 42% without the STRIP Assistant to 24% with it (p < 0.0001). Participants spent significantly more time optimizing medication with the STRIP Assistant (24 min) than without it (13 min; p < 0.0001). They assigned it a below-average SUS score of 63.25. CONCLUSION: The STRIP Assistant improves the effectiveness of medication reviews for polypharmacy patients.

The areas of Europe in which West Nile virus (WNV)-transmission to humans is observed have expanded over the last few years, with endemic circulation amongst animals of southern Europe. This situation calls for heightened vigilance to the clinical presentation of WNV infection in humans. The average incubation period lasts 2-6 days. Of those infected, 20% will experience a mild, non-specific disease presentation such as high fever, headache, myalgia, possibly with rash and lymphadenopathy

Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1)-associated myeloencephalopathy (EHM) may follow an infection with the virus in horses. This study tested three hypotheses: (1) a large inhaled dose of a neuropathogenic EHV-1 strain would induce a cell-associated viraemia in all infected horses; (2) neurological disease will only occur in viraemic horses, and (3) the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) composition following EHV-1 viraemia will be an indicator for EHM. Four EHV-1 seronegative horses were inoculated with EHV-1 by inhalation. Three developed clinical signs of neurological disease, which were mild in two horses and lacking typical EHM histopathological findings, but moderately severe in the third horse. This latter animal was the only one found to be viraemic, with xanthochromic CSF and spinal cord histopathology findings characteristic of EHM. This study showed that cell-associated viraemia was not guaranteed, despite a large-dose inoculation with EHV-1, yet viraemia was probably a pre-requisite for subsequent development of EHM. The histopathological changes used to confirm EHM may be predicted from CSF analysis.

The apicomplexan protozoan parasite Neospora caninum is one of the most frequently diagnosed causes of bovine abortion. Transmission of the parasite occurs vertically from cow to calf with great efficiency, sustaining the infection within cattle herds for many generations. The herd-level prevalence of N. caninum on PEI is estimated to be 20.3%. This is relatively high compared to other Canadian provinces and research is needed to aid in the control of this infection on dairy farms. Serology is the only method available to diagnose N. caninum infection in live animals, but herd surveillance, using serology, is expensive and time consuming, especially in large dairy herds. The use of milk as a diagnostic tool could be very beneficial to the dairy industry, as it would allow for a fast and inexpensive way to test herds for N. caninum exposure. Furthermore, because the majority of dairy herds in PEI collect milk samples monthly (DHI; Dairy Herd Improvement), Neospora surveillance using milk would result in less stress on the lactating cow, and no special visits would be required to collect samples., American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings of the Annual Conference, 2005

Control of paratuberculosis in dairy herds is based on preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Mptb) from cows to calves by management measures, supported by removal of cows excreting these bacteria by the fecal route (Mptb shedders). Fecal culture is the most accurate test for identifying Mptb shedders, but this technique is expensive and takes up to 16 weeks for results to be available. Serologic tests are inexpensive, rapid, and easy to perform. Of serologic tests, the complement fixation test (CFT) and absorbed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are the serologic tests used most frequently; the CFT is considered less accurate than the ELISA with respect to sensitivity and specificity. The commonly accepted absorbed ELISA is from the Australian Central Serum Laboratory. However, a European supplier has marketed a second ELISA that is supposed to be more sensitive in detecting Mptb shedders. These 2 absorbed ELISAs, designated ELISA-A and ELISA-B, and an in-house CFT were compared with data from 2 serum panels. The Mptb shedding panel consisted of sera from 198 culture-positive cows from 53 infected herds. The method used for culture of fecal samples was a modified Jorgensen method on individual samples. The Mptb shedder detection rate by the 3 serologic tests ranged from 29.8% to 39.4%. Detection rate for ELISA-A was lower than that for ELISA-B and CFT For all 3 tests, detection rate was dependent on the level of Mptb shedding and the age of the animals. Detection rates increased as cattle age increased to 4 years. The specificity panel was initially composed of sera from 811 cows randomly selected from 41 herds without clinical paratuberculosis that were negative for Mptb based on whole-herd fecal culture. The modified Jorgensen method for Culture was used on pooled fecal samples. Serologic test specificity ranged from 93.4%, to 99.8%. The specificity of ELISA-A was higher than that of ELISA-B and CFT Specificity of ELISA-B between herds was 75-100%. Specificity of CFT between herds was 62-100%. The low specificity of ELISA-B and CFT could not be explained by a higher sensitivity for Mptb-infected cows before onset of shedding, because in the 19 herds with 8 more subsequent negative whole-herd fecal cultures in the 4 years after sampling, specificity was not improved. The insufficient specificity of ELISA-B was not corrected sufficiently by heightening the cutoff value because Mptb shedder detection rate was lowered to 28.9%, equal to that of ELISA-A, and specificity only rose to 97%, much lower than that of ELISA-A. Taking into account the different test characteristics, serologic tests are a cost-effective alternative to fecal culture in high-prevalence herds. For certification programs, only ELISA-A is recommended because in a large number of nonsuspect herds specificity remained almost 100%.

Bij paarden vormen aandoeningen van de luchtwegen na kreupelheden het belangrijkste probleem op het gebied van de gezondheid.