Epidemiologic Aspects of a Foot- and-Mouth Disease Epidemic in Cattle in Ecuador
A case-control study was conducted to identify herd-level risk factors associated with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Ecuador. Case herds were those with presence of cattle with clinical signs of FMD and that tested positive for FMD virus during the epidemic of 2002 (n = 39). Control farms (n = 78) were selected randomly from a list of farms without a history of FMD. All study farms were visited, and managers were interviewed to complete an epidemiologic questionnaire. Feedlot operations, purchase of livestock at markets, and close proximity to markets or slaughter facilities were identified as risk factors for FMD (P ≤ 0.01). In addition to systematic vaccination of the national herd, we recommend allocation of funds for ring-vaccination of cattle herds in close proximity to markets or slaughter facilities, and to enforce movement of vaccinated-cattle only to help control and prevent new epidemics of FMD.
Circulating Strains of Brucella abortus in Cattle in Santo Domingo De Los Tsáchilas Province – Ecuador
The Province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas in Ecuador represents the largest informal cattle market. Because of its strategic position, cattle movement is very high and therefore we selected this region, to determine the strain variation of Brucella sp. Part of the study aimed at the isolation, biotyping, and genotyping of Brucella species from milk and supra-mammary lymph nodes of sero-positive bovines, using selective Farrell medium, biochemical assays, and IS711-PCR, AMOS-PCR, and HOOF-Prints techniques. In total, 656 animals from 12 sero-positive dairy herds and from the provincial slaughterhouse were diagnosed by Rose Bengal and Wright’s Slow Agglutination test with EDTA. Amongst these animals, 50 animals were sero-positive for brucellosis. Twenty-five lymph nodes and 25 milk samples from each group of positive reactors were transferred to culture medium. Isolation was possible from 4 (16%) lymph nodes and 9 (36%) milk samples; out of these, 10 isolates were diagnosed as Brucella sp. All four isolates of lymphatic tissue corresponded to Brucella abortus biotype 1, confirmed as field strains by molecular analysis. Milk isolations, showed biochemically a more dispersed pattern in which B. abortus biotypes 1 and 4 were found; yet four samples gave a pattern similar to B. abortus biotype 2; however, only biotypes 1 and 4 were confirmed by molecular analysis. The concordance between biochemical and molecular diagnostic tests reached 76.9%.
Influence of Diluted Spent Wash of Sugar Industries Application on Yield of and Nutrient Uptake by Sugarcane and Changes in Soil Properties
A pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of irrigation with tube well water (S0) as well as with spent wash diluted for 25 (S25), 50 (S5O) and 100 (S100) times on yield of and nutrient uptake by sugarcane grown on Typic Chromustert. The results revealed that application of spent wash diluted at any level increased the sugarcane yield and nutrient uptake significantly over S0. Less diluted spent wash gave higher yield of biomass than the concentrated one. Though, there was tendency for slight increase in the soil salinity due to use of spent wash, yet the nutrient availability of P, K and S increased considerably. Further, there was indication of betterment in some physical conditions of soil.