1/43. Occurrence of dermatomycosis (ringworm) due to trichophyton verrucosum in dairy calves and its spread to animal attendants. Persistent dermatomycosis (ringworm) caused by trichophyton verrucosum affected 20 dairy calves aged between 3 months and 1 year and housed together. The infection also spread to 2 animal attendants working among the calves. The major clinical lesions observed on the affected calves were extensive alopecia and/or circumscribed thick hairless skin patches affecting the head, neck, flanks and limbs. The observed lesions persisted for more than 17 weeks and most of the calves did not respond to topical treatment with various anti-fungal drugs within the anticipated period of 9 weeks. Two animal attendants developed skin lesions that were circumscribed and itchy and there was good response to treatment following the application of anti-fungal skin ointment. Although ringworm in dairy animals in kenya has not previously been associated with spread to humans, the potential is evident from this report. ( info) |
2/43. Salmonella Give infection in 2 dairy herds. Salmonella Give infection was investigated in 2 adjacent dairy herds because of the impact of milk contamination on public health. Once the status of the infection in a herd was established by fecal analyses, consecutive fecal testings, in conjunction with preventive measures, appeared to be consistent and cost-effective tools for the monitoring and control of salmonellosis in dairy herds. ( info) |
3/43. Rabies surveillance in the united states during 2000. During 2000, 49 states, the district of columbia, and puerto rico reported 7,364 cases of rabies in nonhuman animals and 5 cases in human beings to the Centers for disease Control and Prevention, an increase of 4.3% from 7,067 cases in nonhuman animals reported in 1999. Ninety-three percent (6,855 cases) were in wild animals, whereas 6.9% (509 cases) were in domestic species (compared wth 91.5% in wild animals and 8.5% in domestic species in 1999). Compared with cases reported in 1999, the number of cases reported in 2000 increased among bats, dogs, foxes, skunks, and sheep/goats and decreased among cats, cattle, horses/mules, raccoons, and swine. The relative contributions of the major groups of animals were as follows: raccoons (37.7%; 2,778 cases), skunks (30.2%; 2,223), bats (16.8%; 1,240), foxes (6.2%; 453), cats (3.4%; 249), dogs (1.6%; 114), and cattle (1.1%; 83). Ten of the 19 states where the raccoon-associated variant of the rabies virus has been enzootic reported increases in the numbers of cases of rabies during 2000. Among those states that have engaged in extensive wildlife rabies control programs, no cases of rabies associated with the epizootic of rabies in raccoons (or in any other terrestrial species) were reported in ohio, compared with 6 cases reported in 1999. No rabies cases associated with the dog/coyote variant (compared with 10 cases in 1999, including 5 in dogs) were reported in texas, and cases associated with the gray fox variant of the virus decreased (58 cases in 2000, including 38 among foxes). Reports of rabid skunks exceeded those of rabid raccoons in massachusetts and rhode island, states with enzootic raccoon rabies, for the fourth consecutive year. Nationally, the number of rabies cases in skunks increased by 7.1% from that reported in 1999. The greatest numerical increase in rabid skunks (550 cases in 2000, compared with 192 in 1999) was reported in texas. The number of cases of rabies reported in bats (1,240) during 2000 increased 25.4% over the number reported during 1999 (989) and represented the greatest contribution (16.8% of the total number of rabid animals) ever recorded for this group of mammals. Cases of rabies reported in cattle (83) and cats (249) decreased by 38.5% and 10.4%, respectively, whereas cases in dogs (114) increased by 2.7% over those reported in 1999. Reported cases of rabies among horses and mules declined 20% from 65 cases in 1999 to 52 cases in 2000. Four indigenously acquired cases of rabies reported in human beings were caused by variants of the rabies virus associated with bats. One case of human rabies acquired outside the united states that resulted from a dog bite was caused by the canine variant of the rabies virus. ( info) |
4/43. Traditions, anthrax, and children. anthrax is sporadically seen in turkey, especially among people who live in rural areas and who come in contact with animals. Two siblings with cutaneous anthrax are described in this report. A week before their admission to the hospital, contaminated cow's blood was smeared on their foreheads as part of a traditional ritual. Both children were successfully treated with crystalline penicillin. In developing countries, traditions such as blood smearing may be an important factor in the transmission of anthrax to children. ( info) |
5/43. Evidence for a relationship between Ehlers-Danlos type VII C in humans and bovine dermatosparaxis. Ehlers-Danlos (ED) syndrome type VII is characterized by the accumulation of collagen precursors in connective tissues. ED VII A and B are caused by mutations in the genes of alpha 1 and alpha 2 collagen I which result in the disruption of the cleavage site of procollagen I N-proteinase. The existence of ED VII C in humans has been hypothesized on the basis of a disorder in cattle and sheep related to the absence of the enzyme. We now present evidence for the existence of this disease in humans, characterized by skin fragility, altered polymers seen as hieroglyphic pictures with electron microscopy, accumulation of p-N-alpha 1 and p-N-alpha 2 collagen type i in the dermis and absence of processing of the p-N-I polypeptides in fibroblast cultures. ( info) |
| A new case of human infection due to fasciola hepatica is reported in the Venezuelan parasitological literature. The patient is an 81-year-old female asymptomatic, with an eosinophilia of 21% and critrosedimentation rate of 26 mm/h and was found during a routine check up. These values were normal at the time of treatment (4 months later), as were several tests of hepatic function, blood chemistry and peripheral blood haematological values. The number of eggs of the parasite were between 90 and 130/g of facees. The patient was successfully treated with the human formulation of trielabendazole at 2 single doses of 10 mg/kg, each separated by 24 h. The same laboratory tests mentioned above did not show modifications, except for a slight increase in the cosinophil counts at 2 and 11 days and erythrosedimentation rate at 11 days post-treatment. Coproparasitological observations carried out at 12, 18, 60 and 120 days post-treatment were negative. No clinical symptoms were registered up to 2 months after treatment. The patient most probably acquired the infection at home through the ingestion of commercially available lettuce from an endemic area of bovine fascioliasis, very distant from home, and between 4 and 7 months previous to treatment. We stress the need to investigate F. hepatica infections which he been neglected, probably because of limited knowledge by health workers, lack of specific symptoms and absence of more sensitive diagnostic procedures. ( info) |
7/43. Familial outbreak of agricultural anthrax in an area of northern italy. Three cases of cutaneous anthrax are reported which occurred in a farming family in northern italy. Epidemiological studies revealed contact with an infected cow (delivery of a stillborn fetus and slaughter). The cow was slaughtered soon after the delivery; cultures of carcass specimens yielded growth of bacillus anthracis. The origin of the animal infection was not known. serum samples were obtained from all 11 members of the family group and randomly from 10 of the 75 cows on the farm, which appeared to be in good health. Tests for antibodies against protective antigen and lethal factor using EIA and Western blot techniques were positive in three subjects (in paired sera) with cutaneous anthrax and in one subject who neither had had direct contact with the infected cow nor showed any sign of anthrax. ( info) |
8/43. Animal-to-human transmission of salmonella typhimurium DT104A variant. salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium was isolated from a pig, a calf, and a child on a farm in the netherlands. The isolates were indistinguishable by phenotyping and genotyping methods, which suggests nonfoodborne animal-to-animal and animal-to-human transmission. persons in close contact with farm animals should be aware of this risk. ( info) |
9/43. Rabies surveillance in the united states during 1990. In 1990, the united states and its territories reported 4,881 cases of rabies in animals to the Centers for disease Control, a 1.5% increase from 1989. Of these, 553 were domestic animals, 4,327 were wild animals, and one was a human being. pennsylvania reported the highest number (611) of rabies cases in animals in 1990. For the first time since surveillance of rabies in wild animals was begun in the 1950s, the number of cases of rabies in raccoons exceeded that in skunks. Particularly large increases of cases of rabies in wild and domestic animals were reported in new jersey (469 cases in 1990 compared with 50 cases in 1989, an increase of 838% from 1989) and new york (242 cases in 1990 compared with 54 cases in 1989, an increase of 348%). The 1,821 cases of rabies in raccoons represented a 17.9% increase over those reported in 1989 and 24.5% over those in 1988. This increase was largely attributable to the larger number of rabid raccoons in new jersey and new york. Other states that reported an increased number of rabies cases in animals in 1990 included utah (77.8%), louisiana (64.7%), north dakota (60.3%), arizona (28.6%), oklahoma (27.5%), delaware (22.2%), and maryland (20.6%). Thirty states reported a decrease in the number of cases of rabies in animals. ( info) |
10/43. anthrax in Wabessa village in the Dessie Zuria district of ethiopia. In 2002 an investigation of sudden death in a goat in Wabessa village in the Dessie Zuria district of ethiopia was undertaken using fresh blood brought to the Kombolcha Regional Veterinary Laboratory. The sample was examined using standard bacteriological techniques and animal pathogenicity tests were also performed. The laboratory investigation revealed bacillus anthracis as the cause of sudden death. Information gathered from stockowners in the same village revealed other similar recent cases and deaths, both in animals and humans, with farmers clearly describing the clinical signs and necropsy findings of anthrax. The disease occurs annually in this area in May and June, and in the 2002 outbreak mortality rates of 7.7%, 32.7% and 47.1% were observed in cattle, goats and donkeys, respectively. This study indicates that the community of this particular village neither knows of, nor practises, any of the conventional methods for anthrax control. The cutaneous form of the disease in humans and the environmental contamination associated with the practise of opening cadavers are briefly described and the findings are discussed with reference to the epidemiology of anthrax in both ethiopia and elsewhere. Control strategies are also recommended. ( info) |