Authors Rene Kaden, Sevinc  Ferrari,  Tomas Jinnerot,  Martina Lindberg,  Tara Wahab,  Moa Lavander

Sali M, De Maio F, Tarantino M, Garofolo G, Tittarelli M, Sacchini L, et al.   [Relayed from journals.plos.one] Brucellosis is essentially a disease of domesticated livestock; however, humans can also be infected via the consumption of contaminated meat or dairy products, underlying the need for rapid and accurate identification methods. Procedures for microbiological identification and typing of Brucella spp. are expensive, time-consuming, and must be conducted in biohazard containment facilities to minimize operator risk. The development of a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS)-based assay has reduced the processing time while maintaining performance standards. In this study, to improve the identification accuracy and suitability of the MALDI-TOF-based assay for routine diagnosis, we developed a new protein extraction protocol and generated a custom reference database containing Brucella strains representative of the most widespread species. The reference library was then challenged with blind-coded field samples isolated from infected animals. The results indicated that the database could be used to correctly identify 99.5% and 97% of Brucella strains at the genus and species level, respectively, indicating that the performance of the assay was not affected by the different culture conditions used for microbial isolation. Moreover, the inactivated samples were stored and shipped to reference laboratories with no ill effect on protein stability, thus confirming the reliability of our method for routine diagnosis. Finally, we evaluated the epidemiological value of the protocol by comparing the clustering analysis results of Brucella melitensis strains obtained via multiple locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis or MALDI-TOF MS. The results showed that the MALDI-TOF assay could not decipher the true phylogenetic tree, suggesting that the protein profile did not correspond with the genetic evolution of Brucella.

A leaflet presenting the European Foulbrood disease caused by the bacterium Melissococcus plutonius has been produced by the EURL in collaboration with the NRLs from Sweden and Switzerland. This leaflet is intended for the beekeepers and is available in free access here. We thank all the persons who participated to the writing of this leaflet. Reminder: in this page you will also find the leaflets on the Small Hive Beetle, Tropilaelaps spp., the American foulbrood and Vespa velutina in various languages.

Abstract Wildlife reservoirs of infectious diseases raise major management issues. In Europe, brucellosis has been eradicated in domestic ruminants from most countries and wild ruminants have not been considered important reservoirs so far. However, a high prevalence of Brucella melitensis infection has been recently identified in a French population of Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), after the emergence of brucellosis was confirmed in a dairy cattle farm and two human cases. This situation raised the need to identify the factors driving the persistence of Brucella infection at high prevalence levels in this ibex population. In the present paper, we studied the shedding pattern of B. melitensis in ibex from Bargy Massif, French Alps. Bacteriological examinations (1–15 tissues/samples per individual) were performed on 88 seropositive, supposedly infected and euthanized individuals. Among them, 51 (58%) showed at least one positive culture, including 45 ibex with at least one Brucella isolation from a urogenital sample or a lymph node in the pelvic area (active infection in organs in the pelvic area). Among these 45 ibex, 26 (30% of the total number of necropsied animals) showed at least one positive culture for a urogenital organ and were considered as being at risk of shedding the bacteria at the time of capture. We observed significant heterogeneity between sex-and-age classes: seropositive females were most at risk to excrete Brucella before the age of 5 years, possibly corresponding to abortion during the first pregnancy following infection such as reported in the domestic ruminants. The high shedding potential observed in young females may have contributed to the self-sustained maintenance of infection in this population, whereas males are supposed to play a role of transmission between spatial units through venereal transmission during mating. This heterogeneity in the shedding potential of seropositive individuals should be considered in the future to better evaluate management scenarios in this system as well as in others.

The 86th OIE General Session was the occasion to give OIE Member Countries, an overview of the global animal health situation, as well as to analyse trends in the evolution of priority terrestrial and aquatic animal diseases. In addition, new disease status were officially recognised for 10 countries (source OIE). Follow the discussions of the 86th OIE General Session on social media :#86SG

♦ 25 May 2018 ♦ Next workshop for rabies is now approaching and will be held in less than one month in Belgium. Although this meeting is exclusively for member of the EURL for rabies network, more than 52 scientists and international institutions registered and will gather in Brussels on 13 and 14 June. The EURL for rabies thank all of them for their trust in its activities. The agenda will cover four sessions over the 2 half-days: International institutions, Round table of rabies epidemiology (EUMS), Round table of rabies epidemiology (Third countries) and Techniques relative to rabies diagnosis. See you in Brussels!  

♦ 24 April 2018 ♦ The Rabies Laboratory of Sciensano (Brussels, former Scientific Institute of Public Health WIV-ISP) is officially recognized as the Belgian National Reference Centre for Human Rabies (NRC Rabies: financed by the National Institute for health and Invalidity Insurance, RIZIV-INAMI) and the National Reference Laboratory for Animal Rabies (NRL Rabies: recognized by the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, FAVV-AFSCA). The lab is also recognized by the European Commission to perform rabies serology in pets in the frame of travel. The rabies laboratory is embedded within the Service of Viral Diseases that performs diagnosis and surveillance of emerging viruses, influenza and other respiratory viruses and vaccine-preventable viral diseases of humans. [Read more…]  

♦ 20 April 2018 ♦ [Relayed from the WHO website] Since the launch of the Global framework to eliminate human rabies transmitted by dogs by 2030 in 2015, WHO has worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control and other stakeholders and partners to prepare a global strategic plan. This includes a country-centric approach to support, empower and catalyse national entities to control and eliminate rabies. In this context, WHO convened its network of collaborating centres on rabies, specialized institutions, members of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Rabies, rabies experts and partners to review strategic and technical guidance on rabies to support implementation of country and regional programmes.  [Read more…]  

♦ 20 April 2018 ♦ [Relayed from the WHO website] In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of vaccines against diseases that have an international public health impact. They summarize essential background information on diseases and vaccines and conclude with the current WHO position on the use of vaccines worldwide. The papers are reviewed by external experts and WHO staff, and reviewed and endorsed by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization. The GRADE methodology is used to systematically assess the quality of the available evidence. The SAGE decision-making process is reflected in the evidence-to-recommendation tables. [Read more…]