Bacterio-pathological investigation on 1751 dead chickens during one year period from January to December 2002 at the BRAC Poultry Disease Diagnostic Centre, Gazipur showed that 39.81% (n=697) cases with seven types of different bacteriological diseases of which salmonellosis (n=385), colibacillosis (n=147) and fowl cholera (n=114) were found significantly higher rate of prevalence then staphylococcosis (n=6),  gangrenous dermatitis (n=17), necrotic enteritis (n=24) and infectious coryza (n=4). Accordingly, avian salmonellosis, colibacillosis and pasteurellosis were selected for detailed investigation. Age wise prevalence of avian salmonellosis showed highest infection rate in adult layers (53.25%) in comparison to brooding (14.55%), growing (16.10%) and pullet (16.10%) chickens. The avian colibacillosis was found widely prevalent in all age groups of chickens (9.52 to 36.73%) with specially high prevalence rate in adult layer birds (36.73%). Fowl cholera was recorded in chickens more than two weeks of age with significantly (p < 0.01) highest occurrence in adult chickens. Seasonal influence showed significantly (p < 0.01) highest proportionate prevalence of salmonellosis during summer (48.05%) in comparison to rainy (28.31%) and winter (23.66%) seasons. Colibacillosis was recorded more or less uniformly in all the three seasons of the year with significantly (p < 0.01) higher rate during summer (40.82%) season. Similarly, the prevalence of fowl cholera was also found significantly (p < 0.01) highest during summer (49.12%) in comparison to rainy (26.32%) and winter (24.56%) seasons. The isolated causative agents of avian salmonellosis (Salmonella pullorum), avian colibacillosis (Escherichia coli) and avian pasteurellosis (Pasteurella multocida) were characterized by bacteriological methods which were also subjected to pathogenicity study in 52-day old broiler chickens. Pathogenicity study showed that the incubation period of these three bacterial diseases were recorded as 96 hours and clinical signs appeared on 4th day of inoculation and observed that S. pullorum, E. coli and P.  multocida resulted 100% morbidity in chickens. Key words: Characterization; pathogenicity; salmonellosis; colibacillosis; pasteurellosis; chickens doi: 10.3329/bjvm.v2i1.1926 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2004). 2(1) : 01-08

Diseases and infections shared between animals and humans are mainly called zoonotic diseases which may be categorized as emerging, reemerging and neglected. All types of these diseases occur t  hroughout the world including Bangladesh. The results on the prevalence and effects of zoonotic diseases in humans and animals of Bangladesh are analyzed from the published literatures and presented in this report. It appears from the literature that there are about 1415 human pathogens of which 61% are zoonotic and nearly half of all human pathogens can be classified as emerging, of which 75% of these are caused by zoonotic pathogens. The major zoonotic bacterial diseases recorded in Bangladesh are Anthrax, Tuberculosis, Brucellosis, Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis and Leptospirosis, of which only Anthrax has been reported as clinical outbreaks form in both the humans and cattle. During the period 2009 to 2012, anthrax caused death of hundreds of cattle and more than 650 cases of cutaneous anthrax in humans including fatalities in two humans associated with anthrax. The major reported viral zoonotic diseases in Bangladesh include Avian influenza, Rabies, Nipah virus infection, Japanese encephalitis, Rotavirus and Dengue fever. Avian influenza caused by highly pathogenic H5N1 in humans and poultry in Bangladesh and about six humans affected with H5N1 but all of them have recovered. Since 27 March 2007 when Avian influenza was reported to have occurred for the first time in Bangladesh, this virus spread in 51 out of 64 districts with more than 480 outbreaks, culled more than two million poultry birds and cost Tk. 55 billion (US $ 757.9 million) in Bangladesh. Rabies is considered as a priority zoonosis in Bangladesh and it is mainly transmitted to humans and food animals mainly through dog bite nearly 100,000 people and at least 2000 died of rabies in 2009 in Bangladesh. Nipah virus infection is an important emerging infectious disease has been recognized since 2001 in Bangladesh and up to February 2011, 173 humans cases have been identified, of which 110 (63.58%) died. Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a vector borne zoonotic disease, first recognized in Bangladesh since an outbreak in 1977 and 12.38% encephalitis patients had JE virus infection which was associated with mortality, physical disability and cognitive difficulties. Rotavirus is a worldwide distributed zoonotic disease affecting mammals and birds and it has been reported from Bangladesh in humans (23.75%), animals (12 to 43.78%) and broiler birds (13.15%) associated with diarrheic syndrome. Dengue fever was first reported in Bangladesh in 1964 and outbreak that began in 2000 predominantly caused by DENV-3 in which 5551 cases recovered and 93 Dengue related deaths were reported. The dermatomycosis has been reported in 9.3% cattle, 18.6% goats and 25.2% in contact humans. The major zoonotic parasites recorded in cats in Bangladesh include Paragonimus westermani (9.09%), Ancyclostoma tubaeforme (36.36%), Dirofilaria immitis (9.09%), Toxocara cati (45.45%) and Toxoplasma gondii (9.09%), in dogs include Diphyllobothrium latum (13.3%), Diphylidium caninum (16.69%), Echinococcus granulosus (9.17%), Ancylostomum caninum (9-100%), Gnathostoma spingerum (40.0%), Toxocara canis (23.3%), Trichuris vulpis (13.8%) and in pigs include Entaemebea histolytica (17.24%) and Balantidium coli (60.34%). The prevalence of zoonotic protozoan diseases recorded in humans in Bangladesh include amebiasis (E. histolytica 4.71% & E. dispar 12.6%), giardiasis (21% in children & 51% in malnourished children), cryptosporidiasis (1.4 to 3.5% in diarrheic patients) and visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) which was first reported in Jassore in 1824 but still sporadic outbreaks are occurring in the different districts in Bangladesh. Sero-surveillance studies showed 16 to 17% cattle, 17.65 to 53.6% sheep, 12.09 to 35.4% goats and 15.89% women had T. gondii antibodies in Bangladesh. It appears from these results that all types of emerging, reemerging and neglected zoonotic diseases are widely prevalent and pose a great threat to human health in Bangladesh. Neglected Veterinary medical profession and its extension services, poor people without any knowledge of zoonotic diseases who are in close contact with livestock and their products, and unhygienic processing, maintaining and marketing the livestock and livestock products have made the situation graver in Bangladesh.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjvm.v9i2.13451

A case control study was conducted to ascertain the prevalence of clinical diseases and/or clinical conditions of 3670 sick pet dogs presented to the Central Veterinary Hospital (CVH), Dhaka during the one year period from January to December 2009. A total of 57 types of diseases and conditions in 17 categories were recorded in these pet dogs and their variation in prevalence were analyzed on the basis of age, gender, season and breeds of dogs. The prevalent diseases and/or conditions from low to high rates included glaucoma (0.05%), babesiosis ( 0.08%), sinusitis (0.08%), tetanus (0.08%), spaying (0.14%), nail injury (0.19%), nephritis (0.19%), cataract (0.25%), metritis (0.25%), poisoning (0.33%), orchitis (0.35%), rabies (0.35%), pus in antrum (0.41%), purulent cough (0.46%), alopecia (0.52%), pharyngitis (0.52%), transmissible venereal tumor (0.54%), cystitis (0.52%) phimosis (0.52%), paraphimosis (0.60%), stomatitis (0.63%), pneumonia (0.63%), mastitis (0.71%), otitis (0.73%), taeniasis (0.74%), abscess (0.82%), anal gland disease (0.82%), dystocia (0.84%), conjunctivitis (0.90%), lice infestation (0.90%), lameness (0.95%), ottorrhea (1.06%), uterine prolapse (1.31%), posthitis (1.31%), dental disorders (1.34%), metabolic diseases (1.36%), protrusion of eye ball (1.44%), canine distemper (1.61%), liver disease (1.72%), nutritional deficiency diseases (1.77%), infertility (1.80%), coccidiosis (1.93%), toxocariasis (1.93%), urinary tract infection (2.10%), accidental wounds (2.32%), haematuria (2.34%), bronchitis (2.81%), arthritis (2.94%), dermatomycosis (3.30%), aspiration pneumonia (3.32%), mange (3.76%), echinococcosis (3.92%), dermatitis (4.99%), diarrhea (5.21%), ancylolostomiasis (6.20%), flea infestation (9.84%) and tick infestation (11.88%). Age-wise overall prevalence of clinical diseases revealed significantly (p <0.05) highest in age group above 36 months (48.12%) compared to that in 7 to 36 months (34.33%) and up to 6 months (17.55%) age groups of pet dogs. The significantly (p <0.05) highest prevalence of diseases and/or clinical conditions was recorded in local (33.35%) and German shepherd (22.53%) breeds of pet dogs in comparison to that in their counterpart breeds of Lhasa-Apso (7.57%), Greyhound (7.11%), Doberman (6.34%), Samoyed (6.23%), Dachshunds (5.20%), Spaniel (3.37%), Spitz (3.07%) and Poodle (3.18%). Results from season-wise analysis of overall prevalence of diseases and/or clinical conditions in pet dogs did not differ significantly (p >0.05) among spring (21.53%), summer (25.80%), autumn (22.83%) and winter (29.84%). The highest prevalence of arthropode infestation (22.62%), followed by intestinal parasitic diseases (14.80%) and diarrhea (5.20%) suggest a poor husbandry of these pets in Dhaka. Results of this study indicate that the risk of zoonotic infection by canine intestinal parasite may be high in Bangladesh.

The study was conducted on 51 uterine biopsy samples collected from 14 normal fertile and 37 repeat breeding cows for bacteriological examinations to find out the prevalence of bacterial flora and their role in repeat breeding syndrome. Presence of bacteria was detected in 23 samples (62.2%) repeat breeding cases in contrast to only 4 (28.6%) bacterial infections from normal fertile cows. About 60% of the microbial isolates were commonly recovered from repeat breeders as well as from normal fertile cows in varying proportions. Of the 37 suffered from repeat breeders, 23 samples (62.2%) yielded 54 bacterial isolates; where Staphylococcus was predominant 14 (37.8%), followed by Bacillus 13 (35.1%), E. coli 11 (29.7%), Pseudomonas 7 (18.9%) while Gram negative minute rod shaped bacteria was 9 (24.3%). The isolates of Pseudomonas and Gram negative minute rod shaped bacteria were obtained only from repeat breeder cows with mucopurulent uterine discharges. There was a positive correlation (r=0.94) between repeat breeders and bacterial infection of uterus. Antibiotic sensitivity in the present study showed that almost all types of bacterial isolates were found moderately and highly sensitive to amoxicillin, oxytetracycline and ciprofloxacin.

Helminthosporium leaf blight (HLB) is the most important disease constraint to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivation in the eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia. A Helminthosporium Monitoring Nursery (HMN) including potential adapted and exotic sources of HLB resistance was developed in Bangladesh, India and Nepal to assess the stability of genetic resistance across locations. The 8th, 9th and 10th HMN assessed the HLB resistance and agronomic traits of 17 wheat genotypes across 20 environments of Bangladesh, India and Nepal in the