1.
Seroprevalence Of Camel Brucellosis In Three Selected Districts Of Punjab, Pakistan
by Sana Fatima (2007-VA-455) | Dr. Iahtasham Khan | Dr. Amar Nasir | Prof. Dr. Muhammad Younus.
Material type: ; Literary form:
not fiction
Publisher: 2015Dissertation note: This is a representative study from Pakistan conducted in three districts of Punjab i.e.,
Jhang, Chiniot and Bhakkar which are rich in livestock population. There is a lot of research
work on livestock and dairy animals but camels are neglected and under-investigated animals.
Nomads mainly depend upon camels for milk, meat, milk byproducts and their earnings. Indeed,
it is a precious animal for them and therefore, to ensure the good health of their animals it is
essential that owners maintain healthy husbandry conditions. Brucellosis is one of the major and
unreported problems amongst the camels of our country. It results in losses to the economics of
the farmers/owners in terms of poor health, abortions, long calving interval, production of weak
offspring’s and poor quality of milk and meat. This disease is under-investigated and hence
people are ignorant of this insidious problem. Serological surveillance is a good and cheaper tool
to diagnose this problem. Determination of the seroprevalence is important to know the load of
disease and pockets of infections in the areas of central Punjab, Pakistan. There is also a need to
know which diagnostic antigen is more sensitive and specific from disease eradication and
control point of view.
A total of 200 camel serum samples were collected from three districts of the Punjab
province and tested by conventional screening test i.e., Rose Bengal Plate Agglutination Test
(RBPT) by using two antigens of different countries origin i.e. RBPT (IDEXX, Pourquier,
France) and RBPT (VRI, Pakistan) and then tested with confirmatory competitive Enzymelinked
Immunosorbent assay (cELISA). The data thus obtained regarding seroprevalence was
analyzed by using Chi-square and logistic regression IBM SPSS Statistics 20 (Apache software
license,USA).
Summary
44
Of the total 200 camels (50 male and 150 female), 5% (10 of 200), 4% (8 of 200) were
seropositive for anti-Brucella antibodies. Different risk factors were also included in study like
origin (nomadic and organized), area, age, gender, season, type of herd, abortion history and
orchitis in male. All of these risk factors were statistically analyzed to reveal the truth about
camel brucellosis. Of the various risk factors studied, the risk factors including camels (cows)
positive history of abortion (45.5%), orchitis (camel bulls) (33.3%), rearing with other ruminants
(9.4%), winter season (11.5%), nomadic production system (2.67-6.67%), and area Jhang (6-
12%) and Chiniot (2-8%) were statistically significant which could be potential source of threat
for humans and other animals. The testing was performed using conventional methods as well as
using cELISA. It is concluded that cELISA is more specific than conventional screening tests but
molecular diagnosis is highly suggestive for future studies. ELISA performed in Pakistan
(cELISA, Svanovir) and the ELISA (iELISA, ID VET Kit, France) performed in OIE reference
lab for brucellosis in Germany showed perfect agreement between them (both tested four camel
sera positive). The current study will help to minimize and eradicate the low prevalence of camel
brucellosis by creating awareness amongst the farmers and through vaccination and herd
immunization of all camel calves at age of 4-8 months. Adopting the policy of testing and culling
of positive reactors will be pivotal to achieve the objectives. Availability: Items available for loan: UVAS Library [Call number: 2361-T] (1).
2.
The Effect Of Freeze Dried Stabilizers On The Infectivity Of Newcastle Disease Virus
by Shahid Hussain (2008-VA-379) | Dr. Usman Waheed | Dr. Syed Ehtisham-ul-Haque | Dr. Amar Nasir.
Material type: ; Format:
print
; Literary form:
not fiction
Publisher: 2017Dissertation note: Pakistan’s economy depends on agriculture and livestock. Poultry industry of Pakistan is
playing an important role in livestock. One of the major problems due to viral disease is
Newcastle disease. Live vaccines are mostly available in lyophilized form to control the
Newcastle disease and can be produced on large scale at low cost, in which different types of
stabilizers are used but problem is that during the freeze drying process, storage and
transportation, the infectivity titre of the virus is lost, result reduced in efficacy of the vaccine.
The freeze dried stabilizers protects the virus from drying during lyophilization. They protect the
viruses from heat shock due to rise of temperature during vaccine transportation.
The freeze dried stabilizers in six combinations (Lactose-Skimmed Milk-Egg Albumin
LSE, Sucrose – Egg Yolk SE, Sucrose-Skimmed Milk- Egg Albumin SSE, Skimmed Milk SKM,
Wey-bridge Medium WBM and Sucrose-Skimmed Milk SSK) were used in ND Lasota vaccine.
Total 50 vials of each stabilizer were freeze dried and stored at 4-8 0C in dark. Three vials from
each set were proceeded for EID50 determination at day zero then every fortnight. The freeze
dried stabilizers LSE and SSE maintained the NDV stability with low reduction in mean
infectivity titre log 100.40 EID50 up-to 90 days. The mean infectivity titre of NDV vaccine for
both stabilizers was 106.93 then followed by SKM (10%Skimmed milk), SSK (5% Sucrose, 10%
Skimmed milk), WBM (2.5% Lactalbumin Hydrolysate, 5% Sucrose, 1% Monosodium
glutamate) and SE (5% sucrose, 30% Egg yolk). The freeze dried stabilizers SKM, WB and SSK
maintained the NDV stability with low reduction in mean infectivity titre log 100.34 EID50 up-to
60 days. The lowest stability was achieved by SE. Availability: Items available for loan: UVAS Library [Call number: 2821-T] (1).
