Oral and Poster Abstracts

In the last year 2006, in the period between April and August the cattle
industry subject to severe outbreaks of three epidemics all over Egypt.
Foot and Mouth disease, Lumpy skin disease and Ephemeral fever were
prevalent in this period and caused severe illness associated with acute
clinical manifestations. Each disease expressed its own cardinal signs and
in a drastic form. Epidemologically FMD spreed from time to time over
the entire Egypt, which characterized by high morbidity and low mortality
with expection in buffaloe farms in between young calves, which is
considered as killing disease and characterized by sudden death without
apparent clinical signs. The morbidity rate in cattle farms was ranged from
25% to 60% and the mortality were ranged from 2.5% to 4%. Meanwhile
in buffaloe calves the motility rate reached 25%. Lumpy skin disease was
dramatically spreed in between the cattle either as herd population or
sporadic cases. The most losses from lumpy skin disease were raised from
the secondary complications; which caused severe losses. Ephemeral
fever also has been recorded as severe illness affected cattle and Buffaloes
and characterized by fever, lacremation, nasal discharge, off food and
marked drop in milk yield, in addition to general emphysema, rumination
is markedly decreased and associated with ruminal atony. Secondary
complications were in the form of mastitis, bronchopneumia and
recumbency. The overall stress and environmental factors which affected
the wide spreed of the diseases were, high climatic temperature and
humidity and increased population of insect vectors. Specific clinical
pictures of each disease were illustrated in this manuscript.
324 Bluetongue: Disease Awareness in Switzerland
A. Tschuor 1 , H. Ochs 2 , C. Maret 2 , M. Hässig 1
1
University of Zurich, Department for Farm Animals, Zurich,
Switzerland
2
Federal Veterinary Office, Animal Health Division, Berne,
Switzerland
As Bluetongue arrived in central Europe in summer 2006, veterinarians
and farmers were very concerned that the disease could be diagnosed
adequately when reaching Switzerland. Due to that, the Swiss federal
veterinary office started a novel and unique campaign to increase the
awareness for bluetongue in Swiss farmers in order to get them familiar
with the clinical signs of the disease. It was supposed that by raising the
awareness for the disease an eventual outbreak would be identified
faster and earlier so that further spreading in Switzerland could
hopefully be avoided. This campaign of the Swiss federal veterinary
office included different strategies. Beside continuous distribution of
news through the daily press an internet homepage
(www.bluetongue.ch) was installed. This site contains daily actualized
informations about the disease beside informations how to protect the
animals from the disease etc. in different languages. Furthermore,
different leaflets were distributed to the sheep and cattle farmers. The
probably most effective tool for the disease awareness was the
production of a DVD wherein the clinical symptoms were clearly
demonstrated in different languages. This DVD was offered to the
farmers for free and about 2500 copies have been distributed until
today even outside the Swiss borders. Furthermore, a campaign was
started wherein sheep farmers from all parts of Switzerland were
elected to observe their animals for the disease. They are obligated to
report in an interval all the diseases (and especially the symptoms)
occurring on their farm to the federal office. This is also thought to be
an effective early alarm system for bluetongue disease. All these
measures will be evaluated by scientific analyses. The oral presentation
of this Swiss disease awareness campaign at the WBC in Budapest
should motivate other countries to use the different multimedia
opportunities to inform farmers and the public about an upcoming
disease and to show them up the efficiency by means of the DVD and
the homepage. The different implications in producing such a DVD are
outlined in the presentation.
325 Serological Survey for Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis and
Bovine Viral Diarrhea Viruses in Venezuelan Bovine Herds
J. Alvarez 1 , A. Lozano 1 , R. Perez 2 , R. Paiva 2 , R. Guerrero 1 ,
J. Socorro 1 , A. Mazzei 3 , J. Rodriguez 1 , A. Colmenares 4
1
Pfizer Animal Health, Technical & Regulatory Dpt., Valencia,
Venezuela
2
Veterinary Diagnosis Laboratory R. Paiva & R. Perez,
Acarigua/Sta. Barbar, Venezuela
3
DiagVet, Valencia, Venezuela
4
CM Lab, Valencia, Venezuela
158 XXV. Jubilee World Buiatrics Congress 2008
The objectives of this survey were: 1- to get serological evidence of
Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) and Bovine Viral Diarrhea
(BVD) in Venezuelan cattle herds; 2- to understand the dynamics of IBR
and BVD in tropical cattle herds and, 3- identify when is the optimum
time to apply vaccination programs against IBR and BVD in bovine
herds. This serological survey was developed using commercial ELISA
kit (Trachitest ® Serum Biphasic Kit by Bommelli and BVD Sero ® II Kit
by Bommelli). From 2002 to 2006, 5,672 and 4,127 samples were
processed by ELISA for IBR and BVD respectively. Samples were taken
in non-vaccinated herds against IBR/BVD using a random schedule,
considering all groups of ages (bulls, cows, heifers and calves) with a
number of 40-100 samples by herd in 18 out of 23 geographical states of
Venezuela. Age of animals tested was more than 4 months in order to
avoid presence of maternal antibodies. All tests were performed by
private veterinary laboratories. Results of this survey confirm
previously reported data; IBR and BVD are highly present in
Venezuelan bovine herds. All geographical states tested had at least one
herd with at least one antibody-positive animal for IBR and BVD.
Overall antibody-positive samples were 68.71% and 53.57% for IBR
and BVD respectively. There were no differences between beef, dairy
and double purpose herds for IBR and BVD. Marked differences
between groups of ages were found; IBR and BVD are less prevalent in
calves and heifers than cows and bulls. Samples antibody-positive in
each age group for IBR were: calves 49.49%, heifers 73.45%, cows
88.89% and bulls 80.77%. Results for BVD were: calves 35.71%,
heifers 48.44%, cows 63.94% and bulls 37.84%. These findings suggest
that venereal transmission between bulls, cows and heifers is very
effective under natural breeding practices in the tropic, mainly for IBR;
additionally, these results suggest that an early vaccination program
against these viruses will help to build a strong immunological status in
Venezuelan bovine herds to support field challenge. Finally, increased
preventive actions should be taken in Venezuelan herds including
vaccination schedules using IBR/BVD vaccines in order to improve
reproductive performance and prevent shedding and dissemination of
these viruses. The authors wish to thanks to all members of Pfizer
Venezuela, as well as, all Venezuelan farmers, veterinarians and
technicians whom supported and participated in this survey.
326 Seroprevalence of Bovine Leukemia Virus Infection in Dairy
Farms in Western Thailand
T. Rukkwamsuk, S. Panneum
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Large Animal
and Wildlife Clinical Science, Nakhon-Pathom, Thailand
Seroprevalence of bovine leukemia virus infection was studied in 50
(26%) dairy farms from 192 farms belonging to Tha-muang Dairy Cooperatives
in western part of Thailand. In this Co-operatives, the number
of multiparous cows ranged from 4 to 64 (14 ± 10, ± s.d.) per farm, and
the number of replacement heifers ranged from 1 to 36 (8-9) per farm. The
ratio of cows and heifers was 0.65 to 1.00. In each selected farm, a
maximum of 5 blood samples were collected from each group of
multiparous cows or replacement heifers. Antibodies against bovine
leukemia virus infection were determined using indirect ELISA (IDEXX
HerdCheck Anti-BLV) in pooled sera from each group of animals.
Positive results of pooled sera (from either cows or heifers) were rechecked
for individual infection. Results revealed that herd
seroprevalence was 60.0% (30/50). From 417 blood samples (246 from
cows and 171 from heifers), seroprevalence was 41.1% (101/246) and
19.3% (33/171) in multiparous cows and replacement heifers,
respectively. These results indicated a high prevalence of bovine leukemia
virus infection in dairy herds in western Thailand, which was observed in
both cows and heifers. This epidemiological data is crucial for prevention
and control measures of bovine leukemia virus infection in the future.
Key words: bovine leukemia virus, dairy cow, prevalence
327 The Effect of Enzootic Bovine Leukosis on Health, Milk
Production and Fertility in a Dairy Herd: a Prospective Study
A. Shoham 1 , M. Van Straten 1,2
1
Hachaklait, Caesarea Ind. Park, Israel
2
Hebrew University, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Rehovot,
Israel
Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus that causes lymphosarcoma,
persistent lymphocytosis and sub-clinical infections in cattle. Economic
loss may be due to the clinical form of the disease, trade restrictions and