Isolation and polymerase chain reaction-based identification of Riemerella anatipestifer from ducks in Kerala, India

Isolation and polymerase chain reaction-based identification of Riemerella anatipestifer from ducks in Kerala, India - Manju Soman, Sreeja R. Nair, M. Mini, Binu K. Mani and Siju Joseph

Veterinary World, 7(10): 765-769

   doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2014.765-769

Manju Soman: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India;manjuso1993@gmail.com

Sreeja R. Nair: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India;drsreejarnair@gmail.com

M. Mini: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India; drmmini@yahoo.co.in

Binu K. Mani: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India;binukmani@yahoo.com

Siju Joseph: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India; siju96@gmail.com

Received: 29-06-2014, Revised: 27-08-2014, Accepted: 01-09-2014, Published online: 05-10-2014

Corresponding author: Manju Soman, e-mail: manjuso1993@gmail.com

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Abstract

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Aim: The aim was to isolate and characterize Riemerella anatipestifer organisms from disease outbreaks in ducks in Kerala.

Materials and Methods: Ducklings, suspected of Riemerella infection, were sacrificed and subjected to post-mortem examination. Heart blood smears and impression smears from liver and spleen were examined for the presence of pathogenic organisms. Heart blood, lung, liver, and spleen collected aseptically from the birds were subjected to isolation trials in brain heart infusion agar and 10% bovine blood agar. The isolates were characterized based on morphology, cultural characteristics and biochemical tests, and their identity were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the PCR amplified DNA was sequenced. The antibiotic sensitivity testing of the isolates were carried out using six antibiotics viz ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, amoxycillin, cotrimoxazole, and gentamicin.

Results: Colonies suggestive of Riemerella organisms could be isolated on blood agar. Biochemical characterization and PCR confirmed the identity of isolates as R. anatipestifer. The nucleotide sequence of the PCR product showed 99% homology to the R. anatipestifer sequences in the NCBI. The antibiogram revealed that the organisms were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, and gentamicin.

Conclusion: The present study suggests that the PCR assay can facilitate fast and proper identification of R. anatipestifer infection in ducks. The assay can also differentiate between R. anatipestifer and Pasteurella multocida and can replace the traditional methods of differentiation which are cumbersome and time-consuming.

Keywords: antibiogram, ducks, isolation, polymerase chain reaction, Riemerella anatipestifer.

Epidemiological study on human and canine leptospirosis in Central and North Kerala

Epidemiological study on human and canine leptospirosis in Central and North Kerala - Manju Soman, V. Jayaprakasan and M. Mini

Veterinary World, 7(10): 759-764

   doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2014.759-764

Manju Soman: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India;manjuso1993@gmail.com

V. Jayaprakasan: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India;jayaprakasanv@yahoo.com

M. Mini; Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India; drmmini@yahoo.co.in

Received: 23-06-2014, Revised: 29-08-2014, Accepted: 01-09-2014, Published online: 05-10-2014

Corresponding author: Manju Soman, e-mail: manjuso1993@gmail.com

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Abstract

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Aim: The aim was to study the epidemiology of human and animal leptospirosis in Central and Northern Kerala, by isolation techniques and serology.

Materials and Methods: Kidney tissues from 35 rodents (11 bandicoots and 24 rats), autopsy specimens from two canines, blood from 15 canines and 30 human beings were subjected to isolation trials for Leptospira. Sera from these animals and human beings were screened for leptospiral antibodies by microscopic agglutination test (MAT).

Results: Leptospira could be isolated from human blood as well as from rodent kidney tissues. The MAT could detect the presence of leptospiral antibodies in 54.54% of human sera, 36.36% of dog sera and 21.42% of rodent sera. Pomona and Australis were the most predominant serovars detected in man, dog, and rodents. Tentative serotyping of the isolates by MAT revealed its identity as Leptospira interrogans serovar Pomona.

Conclusion: Detection of common serovars of Leptospira in man and animals by serology as well as isolation reiterates the major role played by animals in the epidemiology of human leptospirosis.

Keywords: canine, epidemiology, human, isolation, leptospirosis, microscopic agglutination test, rodent.

Impact of applying hygienic practices at farm on bacteriological quality of raw milk

24. Impact of applying hygienic practices at farm on bacteriological quality of raw milk - N. Pandey, A. Kumari, A. K. Varma, S. Sahu and M. A. Akbar

Veterinary World, 7(9): 754-758

   doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2014.754-758

N. Pandey: Department of Livestock Production Management, Buffalo Research Centre, College of Veterinary Science, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Hisar - 125 004, Haryana, India; siya97singh@gmail.com

A. Kumari: Department of Livestock Production Management, Buffalo Research Centre, College of Veterinary Science, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Hisar - 125 004, Haryana, India; anujsrkumari@gmail.com

A. K. Varma: Department of Livestock Production Management, Buffalo Research Centre, College of Veterinary Science, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Hisar - 125 004, Haryana, India; akvarma1954@gmail.com

S. Sahu: Department of Livestock Production Management, Buffalo Research Centre, College of Veterinary Science, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Hisar - 125 004, Haryana, India; subhasishsahu72@gmail.com

M. A. Akbar: Department of Livestock Production Management, Buffalo Research Centre, College of Veterinary Science, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Hisar - 125 004, Haryana, India; drma.akbar@gmail.com

Received: 11-06-2014, Revised: 13-08-2014, Accepted: 22-08-2014, Published Online: 30-09-2014

Corresponding author: S. Sahu, e-mail: subhasishsahu72@gmail.com

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Abstract

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Aim: The present study was carried out to explore the potential source of contamination and the efficacy of different washing practices towards quality milk production.

Materials and Methods: Probable sources of contamination viz. stored water, potable water, milker’s hands, milking pail, udder of individual buffalo and milk cans were subjected to different types of bacterial counts before the actual experiment to start. Twenty milch buffaloes thereafter were divided randomly into four treatment groups where washing was performed in each step viz. milker hands, udder of individual buffalo, milking pail and milk cans before milking either with water (T0: stored water, T1: potable water) or sanitizers (T2: 200 ppm chlorine solution, T3: 50 ppm iodophore solution) for 60 days. Bacterial counts again were performed for last 5 alternate days for all the sources involved along with the microbial load of raw milk. Data obtained were subjected to standard statistical analysis.

Results: It was found that for all bacterial count stored water contributed significantly higher as compared to the potable water. Among the other potential sources of contamination (log/6 cm2), standard plate count (SPC) and coliform count were significantly highest for milking pail (6.73±0.02) and udder of milch buffaloes (3.77±0.12), respectively, while for Staphylococci count both milking pail (3.24±0.02) and milking can (3.22±0.04) were contributed maximally (p<0.05) than others. Washing with stored water contributed significantly (p<0.05) more microbial load from all possible sources of contamination and too reflected on milk quality (SPC: 7.87±0.04, coliform: 4.06±0.46 andStaphylococci: 3.41±0.01) than the other washing treatments, which are followed by washing with potable water. Both the sanitizers were significantly better than the washing with the water but remained statistically similar (p>0.05) for most of the parameters, even for the raw milk quality.

Conclusion: Study revealed that milker hands, milking pails, udder of animals, milk cans and stored water used for washing of equipment are the potential source of contamination in raw milk. These were counted as critical point which needs attention for the production of high-quality milk. Potable water was found to be better than stored water. The use of either chlorine 200 ppm and iodophor 50 ppm is highly effective in reducing the bacterial population for quality milk production.

Keywords: milk, sanitizer, source of contamination, washing, water.

23. Reflection of serum immunoglobulin isotypes in the egg yolk of laying hens immunized with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli -Nagendra Nath Barman, Anjan Jyoti Nath and Niranjan Kalita

Veterinary World, 7(9): 749-753

   doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2014.749-753

Nagendra Nath Barman: Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary Science, Khanapara, Guwahati, Assam, India; nnbarman@gmail.com

Anjan Jyoti Nath: Pasteur Institute of India, Coonoor, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India; drnath76@gmail.com

Niranjan Kalita: Department of Poultry Science, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara, Guwahati, Assam, India;niranjankalita@gmail.com

Received: 27-05-2014, Revised: 10-08-2014, Accepted: 19-08-2014, Published online: 30-09-2014

Corresponding author: Nagendra Nath Barman, e-mail: nnbarman@gmail.com

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Abstract

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Aim: The aim was to study the seroconversion and development of egg yolk immunoglobulins in adult laying White Leghorn hens immunized against an isolate of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) bearing K91 and K88ac antigens, obtained from diarrheic piglet.

Materials and Methods: Adult laying White Leghorn hens were immunized with inactivated enterotoxic E. coli strain isolated originally from a case of piglet diarrhea following recommended schedule. The development of whole antibodies and isotype-specific antibodies in serum and egg yolk were measured using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Piglets suffering from diarrhea with fecal samples positive for ETEC were fed with egg yolk and compared with diarrheic control group.

Results: The serum and egg yolk ELISA antibody titer against E. coli strain used in the present study was as high as 2666.66±307.92 and 933.33±203.67 respectively on 50 day-post-vaccination (DPV). The immunoglobulin Y (IgY) was the predominant isotype in serum and egg yolk, which reached the peak titer of 2200±519.61 in serum on 40 DPV and 800±244.94 in egg yolk on 50 DPV. IgM titer in serum and egg yolk was found to be meager, and no IgA could be detected. Diarrheic piglets fed with the egg yolk suspension from immunized hens showed a promising result in controlling diarrhea.

Conclusion: Egg yolk antibodies are considered a suitable immunotherapeutic alternative to conventional antibiotic therapy. High titer of egg yolk antibodies raised in the immunized hen against an isolate of ETEC holds the potential to be used for passive protection of diarrheic piglets during their most susceptible period of infection.

Keywords: egg yolk antibodies, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, immunization.

Sensitivity, specificity, predictive value and accuracy of ultrasonography in pregnancy rate prediction in Sahelian goats after progesterone impregnated sponge synchronization

22. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive value and accuracy of ultrasonography in pregnancy rate prediction in Sahelian goats after progesterone impregnated sponge synchronization - Justin Kouamo, Adama Sow, Miguiri Kalandi and Germain Jerome Sawadogo

Veterinary World, 7(9): 744-748

   doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2014.744-748

Justin Kouamo: Department of Surgery and Medical Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Sciences, The University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon; justinkouamo@yahoo.fr

Adama Sow: Laboratory of Endocrinology and Radio-immunology, Service of Biological and Medical Physics and Chemistry, EISMV, Dakar, Senegal;wosamada@yahoo.fr

Miguiri Kalandi: Laboratory of Endocrinology and Radio-immunology, Service of Biological and Medical Physics and Chemistry, EISMV, Dakar, Senegal;migson77@yahoo.fr

Germain Jerome Sawadogo: Laboratory of Endocrinology and Radio-immunology, Service of Biological and Medical Physics and Chemistry, EISMV, Dakar, Senegal; sawadogo@refer.sn

Received: 02-05-2014, Revised: 01-08-2014, Accepted: 12-08-2014, Published online: 30-09-2014

Corresponding author: Justin Kouamo, e-mail: justinkouamo@yahoo.fr

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Abstract

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Aim: This study was aimed to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, predictive value and accuracy of ultrasonography in pregnancy rate (PR) prediction in Sahelian goats after progesterone impregnated sponge synchronization within the framework of caprine artificial insemination (AI) program in Fatick (Senegal).

Materials and Methods: Of 193 candidate goats in AI program, 167 were selected (day 50) in six villages. Estrus was synchronized by progesterone impregnated sponges installed for 11 days. Two days before the time of sponge removal (day 4), each goat was treated with 500 IU of equine chorionic gonadotropin and 50 μg of dcloprostenol. All goats were inseminated (day 0) with alpine goat semen from France at 45±3 h after sponge removal (day 2). Real-time B-mode ultrasonography was performed at day 50, day 13, day 0, day 40 and day 60 post-AI.

Results: Selection rate, estrus response rate, AI rate, PR at days 40 and days 60 were 86.53%; 71.85%; 83.34%; 51% and 68% (p<0.05) respectively. Value of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, accuracy, total conformity, conformity of correct positive, conformity of correct negative and discordance of pregnancy diagnosis by trans-abdominal ultrasonography (TU) were 98.03%; 63.26%; 73.52%; 3.12%; 81%; 81%; 50%; 31% and 19%, respectively.

Conclusion: These results indicate that the TU can be performed in goats under traditional condition and emphasized the importance of re-examination of goats with negative or doubtful TU diagnoses performed at day 40 post-AI.

Keywords: accuracy, artificial insemination, estrus, pregnancy, Sahelian goats, ultrasonography.

Open access journals

Open-access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the reader "without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself."^[1] Some are subsidized, and some require payment on behalf of the author.

Some open-access journals are subsidized and are financed by an academic institution, learned society or a government information center. Others are financed by payment ofarticle processing charges by submitting authors, money typically made available to researchers by their institution or funding agency.^[2]

There have also been several modifications of open-access journals that have considerably different natures: hybrid open-access journals and delayed open-access journals. Open-access journals (sometimes called "the gold road to open access") are one of the two general methods for providing open access. The other one (sometimes called the "green road") is self-archiving in a repository. The publisher of an open-access journal is known as an "open-access publisher", and the process, open-access publishing".

In successively looser senses, open-access journals may be considered as:

• Journals entirely open access
• Journals with research articles open access (hybrid open access journals)
• Journals with some research articles open access (hybrid open access journals)
• Journals with some articles open access and the other delayed access
• Journals with delayed open access (delayed open access journals)
• Journals permitting self-archiving of articles

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1 History
• 2 Financing open-access journals
  • 2.1 Fee-based open-access journals
  • 2.2 No-fee open-access journals
• 3 Debate
• 4 Current problems and projects
  • 4.1 Identifying open-access journals and the articles in them
  • 4.2 Major projects to provide open-access journals
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 Further reading
• 8 External links

History[edit]

Many journals have been subsidized ever since the beginnings of scientific journals.^{[citation needed]} It is common for those countries with developing higher educational and research facilities to subsidize the publication of the nation's scientific and academic researchers, and even to provide for others to publish in such journals, to build up the prestige of these journals and their visibility.^{[citation needed]} Such subsidies have sometimes been partial, to reduce the subscription price, or total, for those readers in the respective countries, but are now often universal.^{[citation needed]}

The first digital-only, free journals (eventually to be called "open-access journals") were published on the Internet in the late 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Among them were Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Postmodern Culture, Psycoloquy, and The Public-Access Computer Systems Review.

One of the very first^[3] online journals, GeoLogic, Terra NOVA,^[4] was published by Paul Browning and started in 1989. It was not a discrete journal but an electronic section ofTerraNova. The journal ceased to be open access in 1997 due to a change in the policy of the editors (EUG) and publishing house (Blackwell).^{[citation needed]}

Full-blown scientific journals followed. In 1998, one of the first open-access journals in medicine was created, the Journal of Medical Internet Research,^[5] publishing its first issue in 1999. One of the more unusual models is utilized by the Journal of Surgical Radiology, which uses the net profits from external revenue to provide compensation to the editors for their continuing efforts.^[6]

In the biological and geological sciences, paleontology came into the forefront in 1998 with Palaeontologia Electronica,^[7] which quickly became the most-read paleontological journal in any format.^{[citation needed]} One challenge to digital-only biological journals was the lack of protection afforded by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature to scientific names published in formats other than paper, but this was overcome by revisions to the Code in 1999 (effective January 1, 2000).^{[citation needed]}

Financing open-access journals[edit]

Open-access journals divide into those that charge publication fees and those that do not.

Fee-based open-access journals[edit]

See also: Publication fees

Fee-based open-access journals require payment on behalf of the author. The money might come from the author but more often comes from the author's research grant or employer. In cases of economic hardship, many journals will waive all or part of the fee. (This generally includes instances where the authors come from a less developed economy). Journals charging publication fees normally take various steps to ensure that editors conducting peer review do not know whether authors have requested, or been granted, fee waivers, or to ensure that every paper is approved by an independent editor with no financial stake in the journal. While the payments are normally incurred per article published (e.g.BMC journals or PLOS ONE), there are some journals that apply them per manuscript submitted (e.g. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics) or per author (PeerJ).

No-fee open-access journals[edit]

No-fee open-access journals use a variety of business models. As summarized by Peter Suber:^[8] "Some no-fee OA journals have direct or indirect subsidies from institutions like universities, laboratories, research centers, libraries, hospitals, museums, learned societies, foundations, or government agencies. Some have revenue from a separate line of non-OA publications. Some have revenue from advertising, auxiliary services, membership dues, endowments, reprints, or a print or premium edition. Some rely, more than other journals, on volunteerism. Some undoubtedly use a combination of these means".

Debate[edit]

Advantages and disadvantages of open-access journals are the subjects of much discussion amongst scholars and publishers. Reactions of existing publishers to open-access journal publishing have ranged from moving with enthusiasm to a new open-access business model, to experiments with providing as much free or open access as possible, to active lobbying against open-access proposals.^[9] There are many publishers that started up as open-access publishers, such as BioMed Central and Public Library of Science.

A few obvious advantages of open-access journals include the free access to scientific papers regardless of affiliation with a subscribing library, lower costs for research in academia and industry, in addition to improved access for the general public and higher citation rates for the author.^[10] However, a recent study concluded that overall citation rates for a time period of 2 years (2010/11) were 30% higher for subscription journals. After controlling for discipline, age of the journal and the location of the publisher, the differences largely disappeared in most subcategories except for journals that had been launched prior to 1996.^[11]

The main argument against open-access journals is the possible damage to the peer review system, diminishing the overall quality of scientific journal publishing. For example in 2009, a hoax paper generated by a computer program was accepted for publication by a major publisher under the author-pays-for-publication model.^[12] In a similar incidence, a staff writer for Science magazine and popular science publications targeted the open-access system in 2013 by submitting to a number of such journals a deeply flawed paper on the purported effect of a lichen constituent. About 60% of those journals, including the Journal of Natural Pharmaceuticals, accepted the faked medical paper, although PLOS ONE, the most established one, did reject it.^[13] As a result, this experiment was criticised for being not peer-reviewed itself and for having a flawed methodology and lack of a control group.^[14][15] Many newer open-access journals also lack the reputation of their subscription counterparts, which have been in business for decades. This effect has been diminishing though since 2001, reflecting the emergence of high quality professional open-access publishers such as PLOS and BioMedCentral.^[16]

Opponents of the open-access model continue to assert that the pay-for-access model is necessary to ensure that the publishers are adequately compensated for their work. Scholarly journal publishers that support pay-for-access claim that the "gatekeeper" role they play, maintaining a scholarly reputation, arranging for peer review, and editing and indexing articles, require economic resources that are not supplied under an open-access model. Opponents claim that open access is not necessary to ensure fair access for developing nations; differential pricing, or financial aid from developed countries or institutions can make access to proprietary journals affordable. Some critics also point out the lack of funding for author fees.^[17]

Current problems and projects[edit]

Identifying open-access journals and the articles in them[edit]

There are several major directories of open-access journals, most notably Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Each has its own special standards for what journals are included.

Articles in the major open-access journals are included in the standard bibliographic databases for their subject, such as PubMed. Those established long enough to have an impact factor, and otherwise qualified, are in Web of Science and Scopus. DOAJ includes indexing for the individual articles in some but not all of the many journals it includes.

Major projects to provide open-access journals[edit]

Pioneers in open-access publishing in the biomedical domain were journals like the BMJ, Journal of Medical Internet Research, and Medscape, who were created or made their content freely accessible in the late 90s.^[18] BioMed Central, a for-profit publisher with now dozens of open-access journals, published its first article in the year 2000.^[19] The Public Library of Science launched its first open-access journal, PLOS Biology in 2003, with PLOS Medicine following in 2004, and PLOS ONE in 2006.^[19]

International Journal of One Health - Call for papers

International Journal of One Health (www.onehealthjournal.org)

Topic includes agro-bio terrorism, animal science, antimicrobial resistance, bacteriology, biosecurity, bioterrorism, climate change, comparative medicine, disaster management, ecology, entomology, environmental health, epidemiology, food science, food security, global trade and commerce, health communication, human health, immunology, infectious disease, nutrition, occupational health, parasitology, pathology, physiology, public health and public policy, toxicology, veterinary science, virology, wildlife protection, zoonoses etc.

 Please send pre-submission queries to

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Submit your manuscript online at http://my.ejmanager.com/ijoh/