Veterinary Quarterly最新文献

Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) are responsible for significant economic losses in sheep and goat farming; however, effective vaccination strategies remain unavailable. This study evaluated the immunogenicity, safety, and protective efficacy of a recombinant Sendai virus vector (SeV) expressing SRLV gag-P25 (rSeV-GFP-P25) in lambs. Twenty-one SRLV-negative lambs were divided into three groups and inoculated intranasally thrice with culture medium (group 1); SeV-GFP (group 2) or rSeV-GFP-P25 (group 3). Lambs were challenged with homologous SRLV at 16 weeks post-first immunization. Clinical and hematological parameters, antibody responses, SRLV viral loads in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and target tissues, histopathological and histomorphometric analyses, assisted with artificial intelligence, of interstitial pneumonia were assessed. No clinicopathological alterations were observed, except for a transient temperature increase in group 3 post-first immunization. Group 2 showed mild SeV-neutralizing antibodies, while rSeV-GFP-P25 (group 3) induced negligible SRLV-specific antibody responses. Group 3 exhibited higher SRLV DNA copies in PBMCs but lower in most SRLV target tissues compared to control groups, with no SRLV DNA detected in spleen and bone marrow. Histomorphometry revealed reduced alveolar septal thickening in group 3, indicating partial protection against early SRLV-associated interstitial pneumonia. These results warrant further investigation into cellular immunity and long-term protection.

Vitamin A in cattle is essential due to its antioxidant properties and importance in vision, immune function, reproduction, and cellular differentiation. This study investigates the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment outcomes of hypovitaminosis A in 15 Piedmontese calves, referred to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Turin for vision impairment between 2016 and 2024. Neurological and ophthalmological evaluations revealed hypovision or blindness in 87% of cases, with additional epileptic seizures in 13%. Ophthalmological findings included papilledema, optic nerve atrophy, and retinal abnormalities, which were consistent predictors of poor prognosis for vision recovery. Serum vitamin A levels were below the reference range in all cases, confirming a primary dietary deficiency linked to the use of dry, preserved forages.Parenteral administration of vitamin A and dietary supplementation improved clinical outcomes in most cases, with 67% of affected calves achieving complete recovery. Histopathological analysis of one subject revealed ischemic degeneration presumably due to narrowed optic foramina caused by vitamin A deficiency. The findings emphasize the importance of early diagnosis through ocular and neurological assessments to prevent irreversible damage and economic loss in cattle herds. Prompt supplementation can mitigate health and productivity losses, emphasizing its critical role in herd management practices.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary isatidis root polysaccharide (IRP) on diarrhea, immunity, and intestinal health in weanling piglets. Forty healthy piglets were randomly assigned to five groups receiving varying dosages of IRP. The findings indicated that different concentrations of IRP significantly reduced diarrhea scores (p < 0.01). Notably, the serum levels of immunoglobulin A and immunoglobulin G increased linearly and quadratically (p < 0.01), while immunoglobulin M also showed a linear increase (p < 0.05) in IRP-fed piglets. The secretory immunoglobulin A levels in ileal contents were significantly higher compared to control piglets (p < 0.01). Key intestinal health parameters, including villus height, villus height-to-crypt depth ratio, and goblet cell numbers, showed linear and quadratic increases in both the jejunum and ileum (p < 0.05), while crypt depth decreased significantly (p < 0.01). Additionally, the expression of IL-10, ZO-1, occludin, and mucin2 was upregulated linearly and quadratically in IRP-fed piglets (p < 0.05). In cultured IPEC-J2 cells, ZO-1 and occludin expression levels significantly increased upon exposure to 400 μg/mL IRP (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the relative abundances of Escherichia coli, Ralstonia pickettii, and Desulfovibrio fairfieldensis decreased linearly with increasing dietary IRP concentration. In conclusion, IRP shows promise as an effective dietary supplement for mitigating diarrhea and enhancing intestinal health in early weaned piglets.

The performance of direct tests, such as bacteriological culture and qPCR, for the diagnosis of brucellosis has been evaluated in a limited number of studies, often based on small sample sizes. Moreover, the absence of a gold standard makes this assessment even more challenging. A potential alternative for evaluating the performance of direct tests is Bayesian latent class analysis (BLCA), which does not require prior knowledge of disease status or a gold standard. This study aimed to estimate the sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) of bacteriological culture for brucellosis diagnosis. In a brucellosis-endemic area, a large number of seronegative and seropositive buffaloes and cattle were tested using bacteriological culture and qPCR. BLCA was applied to estimate the performance of both tests. The median Se of bacteriological culture was estimated at 61.3%, compared to 70.9% of qPCR. The median Sp was 99.6% for bacteriological culture and 89.3% for qPCR. Bacteriological culture demonstrated a higher Positive Predictive Value (PPV) than qPCR in both buffaloes and cattle, whereas the Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of the two methods did not differ significantly. These results suggest that, in settings of low brucellosis prevalence, a positive bacteriological culture has a greater predictive value than qPCR .

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes significant global agricultural losses. Despite commercial inactivated and live attenuated vaccines, persistent outbreaks underscore the need for more effective solutions. Here, we isolated a novel Chinese PEDV variant, PEDV ShXXY2-2023, with amino acid substitutions in key neutralizing epitopes (N-terminal domain, receptor-binding domain, and CO-26K equivalent epitope) compared to vaccine strains. An inactivated ShXXY2-2023 vaccine induced higher neutralizing antibodies and superior cross-protection versus commercial vaccines. Vaccinated sows conferred enhanced protection to offspring, improving piglet survival post-challenge. Maternal serum neutralizing antibody titers correlated strongly with piglet survival; titers of 1:377-1:774 at one week prepartum yielded >80% protective efficacy. These findings emphasize neutralizing antibodies' critical role in PEDV prevention and position ShXXY2-2023 as a promising vaccine candidate, with broader implications for coronavirus vaccine development.

Wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and release is a global practice with a broad body of scientific literature; nonetheless, no studies have assessed and quantified the methodological rigour and reporting quality of this literature. In this PRISMA systematic review, we assessed and quantified the reporting of controls, randomisation, blinding, experimental animal data, and housing and husbandry data in 152 primary studies on wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and release published between 1980 and 2021. We then tested for associations between reporting and study characteristics. Of the 152 reviewed studies, one study reported a control, randomisation, and blinding; 17 studies reported species, age, sex, weight, and body condition; and 14 studies reported housing size, housing location, type of food, provision of water, and provision of enrichment. No study reported all 13 of these elements. Studies published in veterinary-focused journals reported lower methodological rigour and had lower reporting quality than studies published in other types of journals. Studies on mammals had higher reporting quality than studies on birds and on reptiles, and studies that included the word "welfare" had higher reporting quality than studies that did not. The overall low methodological rigour and reporting quality of the literature limits study replicability and applicability and impedes meta-analyses.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) remains a major threat to global livestock health, and current inactivated vaccines face limitations in biosafety and cross-protection. Virus-like particle (VLP) -based vaccines offer a safer alternative, however, their production is often hindered by the cytotoxicity of the viral 3C protease. In this study, we developed a modified 3C protease with reduced cytotoxicity, enabling efficient expression of FMDV VLPs via an internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-based system. To enhance immunogenicity, the swine IgG Fc fragment (sFc) was genetically fused to the VLP capsid protein by modifying the VP1-2A region, resulting in successful surface display of sFc on the VLPs. The modified VLPs were then incorporated into a replication-defective adenoviral vector (Ad5), allowing for efficient antigen delivery and presentation. Immunization of swine with the Ad5-FMDV VLP-sFc vaccine elicited robust FMDV-specific IgG and neutralizing antibody responses, along with a balanced Th1/Th2 cytokine profile. These findings suggest that the Ad5-FMDV VLP-sFc construct is a promising FMD vaccine candidate with enhanced safety and immunogenic potential.

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the epidemiology, clinical and pathological features, outcomes, and therapy for listeriosis in ruminants. PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched with no publication date limits. A random-effects meta-analysis model was used to calculate the pooled effect size using morbidity and case fatality rate data. 63 and 38 studies met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. 56 out of 63 studies were published before 2016 when cgMLST was developed. A comprehensive analysis of historical data shows that the association of silage as a source of contamination in ruminants should be re-evaluated. The most common clinical presentation was encephalitis (64.8% of the animals, 1839/2837), followed by abortion (21.3% of the animals, 604/2837). The mortality rate was high despite treatment. Overall, the mean morbidity, case fatality rate, and abortion rate were 12.6%, 50.6%, and 12.8%, respectively. Meta-analysis of the subgroups revealed a Hedges' g value of -4.60 for the abortive form, indicating greater morbidity than mortality in this form. In contrast, the encephalitic form was characterized by a higher case fatality rate than morbidity (Hedges' g 9.46). Literature gaps exist since most reported outbreaks are from the twentieth century and only from a few countries. There is a lack of information on the current prevalence, consequences, and effectiveness of antimicrobial treatment of listeriosis in domestic ruminants. There is also an incomplete picture of the prevalence of Listeria infection worldwide.

Vaccination against paratuberculosis, before or after infection with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map), could affect the progression of paratuberculosis, the development of lesions, the peripheral and local immune response, or the colonization of Map in tissues and its elimination through feces. An experimental study was conducted with thirty-five 1.5-month-old kids, which were separated into 6 experimental groups that include different intervention combinations (vaccinated, non-vaccinated, challenged and non-challenged) at different points and slaughtered at 120 and 330 days post-infection. The use of an inactivated vaccine against paratuberculosis could avoid clinical disease manifestation but does not prevent the tissue colonization, even when applied before Map exposure, achieving a reduction in the presence of viable bacteria in tissues and limiting the progression toward diffuse lesions. The therapeutic effect in vaccinated animals could not be confirmed. In this sense, vaccination not only modulates the immune response in terms of the production of IFN-γ and antibodies in peripheral blood and reduces tissue damage but also contributes to limiting the spread of infection through reduced bacterial shedding especially in goats vaccinated before Map infection.

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been studied as an indicator of stress and welfare in various species, including dairy calves, where significant changes in HRV were linked to cow-calf separation, isolation and disbudding. Wearable bands with smart textiles biotechnology offer a promising, low-stress alternative due to their comfort and ease of use without shaving or taping. The aim of this study was to examine if smart textiles biotechnology could be compared to a Standard base-apex ECG for measuring HRV in dairy calves. Twenty healthy Italian Holstein calves aged (20-60 days old) were recruited. Standard base-apex ECG and Smartex ECG were simultaneously acquired for 16 min in the standing, unsedated, unclipped calves. After extracting HRV parameters, comparisons were made using time, frequency, and nonlinear analyses. Agreement between devices was assessed using the Bland-Altman test and Spearman's 𝜚 correlations. Sperman's 𝜚 showed a very strong correlation for Mean RR, SDNN and LF (p value < .001), and a strong correlation for RMSSD, LF/HF and SampEn, indicating the most stable relationship between the two systems. Smart textiles biotechnology can be used for HRV measurement in calves, offering a valuable tool for animal welfare assessment.