Mongolia implemented a brucellosis livestock mass vaccination campaign from 2000 to 2009. However, the number of human cases did not decline since 2004 and the current epidemiological situation in Mongolia was uncertain. The objective of this study was to estimate the representative seroprevalences of humans and livestock in two provinces in view of their comparison with officially reported data. A representative cross-sectional study using cluster sampling proportional to size in humans, sheep, goats, cattle, yaks, horses, camels and dogs was undertaken to assess the apparent seroprevalence in humans and animals. A total of 8054 livestock and dog sera and 574 human sera were collected in Sukhbaatar and Zavkhan provinces. Human and animal sera were tested with the Rose Bengal and ELISA tests. The overall apparent seroprevalence of brucellosis was 27.3% in humans (95% CI 23.7–31.2%), 6.2% (95% CI 5.5–7.1%) in sheep, 5.2% (95% CI 4.4–5.9%) in goats, 16.0% (95% CI 13.7–18.7%) in cattle, 2.5% (95% CI 0.8–7.6%) in camels, 8.3 (95% CI 6.0–11.6%) in horses and 36.4% (95% CI 26.3–48.0%) in dogs. More women than men were seropositive (OR = 1.7; P < 0.0014). Human seroprevalence was not associated with small ruminant and cattle seroprevalence at the nomadic camp (hot ail) level. Annual incidence of clinical brucellosis, inferred from the seroprevalence using a catalytic model, was by a factor of 4.6 (1307/280) in Sukhbaatar and by a factor of 59 (1188/20) in Zavkhan. This represents a 15-fold underreporting of human brucellosis in Mongolia. The lack of access to brucellosis diagnostic testing at the village level hinders rural people from receiving appropriate treatment. In conclusion, this study confirms the high seroprevalence of human and livestock brucellosis in Mongolia. Stringent monitoring and quality control of operational management of a nationwide mass vaccination of small and large ruminants is warranted to assure its effectiveness. More research is needed to understand the complex animal–human interface of brucellosis transmission at different scales from farm to provincial level.
ABSTRACT. In the present study, we determined the levels of cytokines produced by camel (Camelus bactrianus) peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in response to live attenuated Brucella abortus (B. abortus) S19 vaccine. Seven camels were vaccinated with commercial B. abortus S19 vaccine, and their cytokine responses were determined using a real-time PCR assay. Cytokine responses to B. abortus S19 were examined at 6 hr, 48 hr and 1, 2 and 3 weeks post-vaccination. Serological tests were performed to further confirm these immune responses. The results revealed that IFN-γ and IL-6 were upregulated during the first week post-vaccination. Low level expressions of IL-1α, IL-1β, TNFα and IL-10 and no expression of IL-2 and IL-4 were observed compared with the control camels. The findings showed that B. abortus stimulates cell-mediated immunity by directly activating camel Th1 cells to secrete IFN-γ. This quantification of cytokine expression in camels is essential for understanding of Camelidae disease development and protective immune responses. This is the first report of in vivo camel cytokine quantification after vaccination. KEY WORDS: Brucella abortus S19, camel, cytokine.
Over the past 15 years, and despite many difficulties, significant progress has been made to advance child and adolescent tuberculosis (TB) care. Despite increasing availability of safe and effective treatment and prevention options, TB remains a global health priority as a major cause of child and adolescent morbidity and mortality—over one and a half million children and adolescents develop TB each year. A history of the global public health perspective on child and adolescent TB is followed by 12 narratives detailing challenges and progress in 19 TB endemic low and middle-income countries. Overarching challenges include: under-detection and under-reporting of child and adolescent TB; poor implementation and reporting of contact investigation and TB preventive treatment services; the need for health systems strengthening to deliver effective, decentralized services; and lack of integration between TB programs and child health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on case detection and treatment outcomes. Child and adolescent TB working groups can address country-specific challenges to close the policy–practice gaps by developing and supporting decentral ized models of care, strengthening clinical and laboratory diagnosis, including of multidrug-resistant TB, providing recommended options for treatment of disease and infection, and forging strong collaborations across relevant health sectors.
ABSTRACT. An abnormal isoform of prion protein (PrP Sc ) was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues from sheep and analyzed by western blotting. PrP Sc immunoreactivity against anti-PrP monoclonal antibody T2, which recognizes discontinuous PrP sequences, differed amongst individual scrapie sheep cases. This may reflect structural differences in PrP Sc that have been formalin-fixed prior to their extraction. This study indicates that western blotting by using FFPE tissues is useful for the retrospective analysis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in which only formalin-fixed samples are available and in conducting transmissible spongiform encephalopathies surveillance where freezing system is insufficient. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans are examples of disorders included in this category [15]. Abnormal isoforms of prion proteins (PrP Sc ) are major components of pathogenesis [15], and the detection of PrP Sc is the key for TSE diagnosis. Western blotting (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) are routinely used as confirmatory tests. Although WB is a convenient biochemical technique for the detection of PrP Sc , it is not always used because it requires frozen or fresh tissue samples.Scrapie is caused by many different prion strains, which are characterized by their incubation periods and neuropathology in inbred mice [5]. Strain-specific properties are attributed to the different conformations of PrP Sc [1,2,13,18]. The molecular profiles of PrP Sc in WB, including the glycoprofiles and molecular weights of proteinase-K (PK)-digested PrP Sc (PrPcore), are used for the classification of prion strains [3]. As such, it is known that the PrP Sc of BSE and that of scrapie in sheep can be distinguished using WB [14].In Mongolia, sheep and goats are the major livestock, with hide, skin, cashmere, and meat exports increasing every year. Because there have been no outbreaks of scrapie in Mongolia to date, it is of crucial importance that Mongolian sheep and goats are confirmed negligible of scrapie infection through consistent surveillance. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to collect and transport frozen brain tissues to laboratories for surveillance, which is also an issue experienced by BSE-affected countries. This is primarily because of geography, with Mongolia being a vast extent of land that includes both deserts to mountainous regions that can be subject to harsh climatic conditions. Nonetheless, pathological examinations are routinely used for the diagnosis of contagious diseases, including rabies and listeriosis.It has been reported that PrP Sc extracted from formalinfixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues can be detected by WB [12]. Because this technique could enable better TSE surveillance, we tested its usefulness on tissues from sheep scrapie cases for which frozen tissues wer...
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