Professor Alasdair Cook

OBJECTIVES: Social media are seldom explored in animal health despite the potential for insights into pet owners' perceptions. Owners often seek information and advice online before seeking veterinary care. The aim was to investigate owners' perceptions of feline allergic skin disease using Social Asset, a proof-of-concept social listening (SL) platform to create a dataset concerning information-seeking behaviours. METHODS: Fifty sources were searched for keywords related to feline pruritis. Bespoke topic filters were used to match content mentioning body areas, behaviours, symptoms, disease, solutions and treatment. Posts combining these terms were reviewed manually and marked as relevant if the post was: from an owner, identified an itchy cat, and not duplicated. RESULTS: 50604 cat posts published from 2017- 2022 were filtered, 1648 unique items were reviewed and 414 were marked relevant. Internet forums (1102/1648) and Twitter streams (450/1648) were the most likely sources of relevant posts: Reddit (164/414), Catsite (98/414), Twitter (90/414) and Quora (42/414). Relevant posts were most frequently from the United States (157/414), United Kingdom (11/414), Canada (7/414), Greece (6/414), Australia (3/414) and Italy (2/414). A single post came from each of 10 countries and 218/414 posts had no location. Text clustering analysis was conducted using Deeptalk.ai: "scratch" was the most frequent keyword (106/414). CONCLUSIONS: SL provides unique insights into owner perceptions on health and veterinary care. Results showed that in these data, "scratch" was the most efficient term to identify relevant posts. The dataset could be strengthened by increasing keyword specificity and reducing "noise" using machine learning. It could enable data-driven decisions such as assessing demand for veterinary services by location, investigating disease risk factors and impact on quality of life. These findings will be validated by comparison with a direct pet owner survey and potentially veterinary practice data.

One Health is a transdisciplinary approach used to address complex concerns related to human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health. One Health frameworks and operational tools are available to support countries and communities, particularly for the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance and the protection of food safety. However, One Health has yet to be implemented in a manner that fully considers the complexities and interconnectedness of the diverse influences that have impacts at a larger system level. This lack of consideration can undermine the sustainability of any positive outcomes. To ensure the One Health approach can function effectively within the new global context of converging and escalating health, social, economic, and ecological crises, it must evolve and expand in three overlapping dimensions: (1) Scope: the partners, knowledge, and knowledge systems included, (2) Approach: the techniques, methodologies, and scholarship considered, and (3) Worldview inclusivity: the interweaving of other worldviews together with the mainstream scientific worldview that currently predominates. Diverse partners and knowledge from outside the mainstream health and scientific sectors, including Indigenous peoples and representatives of local communities, and traditionally generated knowledge, must be included. These systems of knowledge can then be braided together with mainstream science to comprise a holistic framework for decision-making. Scholarship and methodologies being applied in other fields and contexts to solve complex challenges and manage uncertainty, such as collaborative governance, social-ecologic systems theory, and complexity science, must be recognized and incorporated. The spectrum of considered worldviews must also expand to authentically integrate the expanded scope and approach into action and sustainable impact. By increasing community and social engagement and by recognizing and entwining different worldviews, the plurality of disciplines, and traditional and scientific ways of knowing to address community concerns in the contexts in which they exist, we can ensure that One Health remains effective and true to its paradigm in our rapidly changing and complex world.

SUMMARY The aim of this study was to evaluate potential sampling strategies for detection of infected flocks that could be applied during an outbreak of low pathogenicity notifiable avian influenza (LPNAI) initiated in duck holdings, following initial detection. A simulation model of avian influenza virus transmission and spread within and between holdings, respectively, was used to predict the impact on the size and duration of an outbreak of (i) changing the tracing window within which premises that might be the source of infection or that may have been infected by the index premises were sampled and (ii) changing the number of birds sampled in the flock being tested. It has shown that there is potential benefit in increasing the tracing window in terms of reducing the likelihood of a large outbreak. It has also shown that there is comparatively little benefit from increasing the number of birds sampled per flock.

The aim of this study was to examine farm-to-farm pig movement connections, and the usage of hauliers and abattoirs, for farms in the United Kingdom (UK), to determine the interconnectivity of the pig farm network and the implications this may have for the transmission and control of Salmonella, which was chosen as an example of an important endemic disease. Data were collected from three Quality Assurance Schemes on the use of abattoirs and livestock hauliers by commercial pig farms, and the supply of pigs to and from farms. The observed dataset had considerable variability in the number of direct (farm-to-farm) and indirect (via hauliers or abattoirs) connections between each farm over a 12-month period. The use of multiple hauliers and abattoirs by many farms resulted in considerable interconnectivity between farms due to these indirect routes. The network displayed a higher level of clustering, and short network distances between farms, than that shown by equivalent randomly generated datasets, indicating that infectious diseases might transmit quickly amongst farms but within certain clusters of farms, thus limiting the total number of farms affected. This structure and the occurrence of multiple indirect routes between many pairs of farms (via pig movements to other interconnected farms or from hauliers used by both farms), may indicate that targeting surveillance and controls on those farms with high network centrality characteristics (degree, betweenness) alone would not prove effective. Encouraging all farms within the network to reduce the number of connections might be a useful way of reducing Salmonella prevalence as it would reduce the effect of high prevalence on other farms within the network. The analysis also highlighted differences in the connections between geographical regions that were used to discuss the comparatively low Salmonella prevalence in Scotland detected by previous studies. Farms identified as belonging to large companies, as categorised by our analysis, were shown to mostly have movement connections within that company. However, small company farms had connections to farms belonging to large companies or other small companies, demonstrating that they may play an important role in creating links between large companies. The majority of farms in both Scotland and North-East and Eastern England belonged to large companies, and this finding is discussed in relation to how this may help explain the lower Salmonella seroprevalence in these areas. The study provides a first description of the characteristics of the UK pig movement network and the analysis has indicated a number of findings that might have implications for disease transmission and targeting surveillance and control.

Early detection of disease by an animal owner may motivate them to seek early veterinary advice. Presentation before a more advanced clinical manifestation is evident could lead to more effective treatment and thus benefit the animal's health and welfare. Accelerometers are able to detect changes in specific activities or behaviours, thus indicating early signs of possible adverse health events. The objective of this validation study was to determine whether the detection of eight behavioural states: walk, trot, canter/gallop, sleep, static/inactive, eat, drink, and headshake, by an accelerometer device was sufficiently accurate to be useful in a clinical setting. This fully independent external validation estimated the accuracy of a specific triaxial, collar-mounted accelerometer on a second-by second basis in 51 healthy dogs of different breeds, aged between 6 months and 13 years, weighing >10 kg. The overall diagnostic effectiveness was estimated as:%record correctly classified of > 95% in walk, trot, canter/gallop, eat, drink and headshake and >90% in sleep and static/inactive. The positive predictive values ranged from 93±100%, while the negative predictive values ranged from 96±100%, with exception of static/inactive (86%).This was probably because dogs were placed in unfamiliar kennels where they did not exhibit their typical resting behaviour. The device is worn on a collar, making its use feasible for anyone wanting to monitor their dog's behaviour. The high accuracy in detecting various kinds of behaviour appears promising in assessing canine health and welfare states.

This study presents a method for evaluation of surveillance for avian influenza (AI) in wild birds and compares surveillance activities before and after changes in surveillance strategy in Great Britain (GB). In October 2008 the AI Wild Bird Surveillance (AIWBS) system in GB was modified to focus on passive surveillance (birds found dead), including those found during warden patrols of wetlands and wildlife reserves, with less emphasis on public reporting of birds found dead. The number of birds sampled by active surveillance (birds live-trapped or shot) was also reduced. In the present study the impact of these changes was investigated by comparing the 12 mo prior to October 2008 with the subsequent 12 mo. Four factors were considered for each surveillance system component: 1) the number of wild birds tested; 2) whether the tested wild birds were considered "higher risk species" (HRS) for being infected with AI; 3) the location of the birds tested with respect to counties designated as a priority for surveillance; and 4) the probability that the birds tested might yield a positive AI virus result based on surveillance results in wild birds across Europe. The number of birds tested by both surveillance types was greatly reduced after the strategy change. The proportion of birds sampled in priority counties also significantly decreased in the second year for both active and passive surveillance. However, the proportion of HRS sampled by active surveillance significantly increased, while a significant decrease in these species was seen for passive surveillance in the second year. The derived probability scores for detecting AI based on European surveillance results indicated a reduction in sensitivity for H5N1 highly pathogenic AI detection by passive surveillance. The methods developed to evaluate AIWBS in GB may be applicable to other European Union countries. The results also reflect the complex issues associated with evaluation of disease surveillance in wildlife populations in which the disease ecology is only partially understood.

This study used probabilistic elicitation and a Bayesian framework to quantitatively explore how logically practitioners’ update their clinical beliefs after exposure to new data. The clinical context was the efficacy of antibiotics versus teat sealants for preventing mammary infections during the dry period. While most practitioners updated their clinical expectations logically, the majority failed to draw sufficient strength from the new data so that their clinical confidence afterwards was lower than merited. This study provides quantitative insight into how practitioners’ update their beliefs. We discuss some of the psychological issues that may be faced by practitioners when interpreting new data. The results have important implications for evidence-based practice and clinical research in terms of the impact that new data may bring to the clinical community.

Disentangling the impact of the weather on transmission of infectious diseases is crucial for health protection, preparedness and prevention. Because weather factors are co-incidental and partly correlated, we have used geography to separate out the impact of individual weather parameters on other seasonal variables using campylobacteriosis as a case study. Campylobacter infections are found worldwide and are the most common bacterial food-borne disease in developed countries, where they exhibit consistent but country specific seasonality. We developed a novel conditional incidence method, based on classical stratification, exploiting the long term, high-resolution, linkage of approximately one-million campylobacteriosis cases over 20 years in England and Wales with local meteorological datasets from diagnostic laboratory locations. The predicted incidence of campylobacteriosis increased by 1 case per million people for every 5° (Celsius) increase in temperature within the range of 8° − 15°. Limited association was observed outside that range. There were strong associations with day-length. Cases tended to increase with relative humidity in the region of 75 − 80%, while the associations with rainfall and wind-speed were weaker. The approach is able to examine multiple factors and model how complex trends arise, e.g. the consistent steep increase in campylobacteriosis in England and Wales in May-June and its spatial variability. This transparent and straightforward approach leads to accurate predictions without relying on regression models and/or postulating specific parameterisations. A key output of the analysis is a thoroughly phenomenological description of the incidence of the disease conditional on specific local weather factors. The study can be crucially important to infer the elusive mechanism of transmission of campylobacteriosis; for instance, by simulating the conditional incidence for a postulated mechanism and compare it with the phenomenological patterns as benchmark. The findings challenge the assumption, commonly made in statistical models, that the transformed mean rate of infection for diseases like campylobacteriosis is a mere additive and combination of the environmental variables.

A cross-sectional survey for seropositivity to cysticercosis of pigs in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, was carried out in 1996 together with a standardized questionnaire on predetermined individual pig and household risk factors for porcine infection. Serum samples from 697 pigs were analysed by immunoblot for antibodies to Taenia solium cysticercosis and questionnaires from 227 households in 18 villages were collected. All the data were analysed using multivariate analytical techniques taking household clustering into account. The overall porcine seroprevalence in the area was found to be 29%. The most important risk factors for seropositivity in pigs were presence versus absence of a toilet (adjusted odds ratio [adj. OR] 2.37, P = 0.005), crowded households (adj. OR 1.75, P = 0.034) and both corralling (adj. OR 2.14, P = 0.017) and letting pigs loose (adj. OR 2.32, P = 0.035) versus tying them up. There was evidence of clustering at household level and that possible risk factors at municipal or village level may also interact with higher risk management practices such as allowing pigs to run loose.

Epidemiological findings are reported from pig breeding units that were visited repeatedly and sampled intensively for environmental Salmonella contamination. Eight pig breeding units previously associated with Salmonella Typhimurium were visited during up to seven years. Samples from voided faeces, surfaces, fomites and wildlife were cultured. Certain serovars were isolated repeatedly on certain units, whilst others were detected only once or intermittently. A few serovars were isolated consistently on some units but only intermittently on others. There was an association between Salmonella in pens and in their immediate environment. S. Typhimurium was significantly associated with growing pigs. Pens holding breeding stock for production herds were frequently Salmonella-positive. Herds under common ownership showed similar serovar combinations. Cleaning and disinfection was frequently ineffective. Wildlife serovars were typical of the associated premises. On one unit, a low level of Salmonella was attributed to a small herd size, good cleaning and disinfection and good rodent control. The study has shown that breeding herds are susceptible to endemic infections with multiple Salmonella serovars and that cleaning, disinfection and vector control may in many cases be inadequate. Finally, the prevalence of S. Typhimurium may be greater in youngstock, which has important implications for public health.

Each year, more than 167 million pigs in the European Union (EU) are tested for Trichinella spp. under the current meat hygiene regulations. This imposes large economic costs on countries, yet the vast majority of these pigs test negative and the public health risk in many countries is therefore considered very low. This work reviewed the current Trichinella status across the EU as well as the national level of monitoring and reporting. It also reviewed which animal species were affected by Trichinella and in which species it should be surveyed. This information was used to design a cost-effective surveillance programme that enables a standardised monitoring approach within the EU. The proposed surveillance programme relies on identifying sub-populations of animals with a distinct risk. Low-risk pigs are finisher pigs that originate from so-called controlled housing. All other pigs are considered high-risk pigs. Controlled housing is identified by the application of a specific list of management and husbandry practices. We suggest that member states (MS) be categorised into three classes based on the confidence that Trichinella can be considered absent, in the specified sub-population of pigs above a specified design prevalence which we set to 1 per million pigs. A simple and transparent method is proposed to estimate this confidence, based on the sensitivity of the surveillance system, taking into account the sensitivity of testing and the design prevalence. The probability of detecting a positive case, if present, must be high (>95 or >99%) to ensure that there is a low or negligible risk of transmission to humans through the food chain. In MS where the probability of a positive pig is demonstrated to be negligible, testing of fattening pigs from a sub-population consisting of pigs from controlled housing can be considered unnecessary. Furthermore, reduced testing of finishers from the sub-population consisting of pigs from non-controlled housing might even be considered, if conducted in conjunction with a proportionate sampling scheme and a risk-based wildlife surveillance programme where applicable. The proposed surveillance programme specifies the required number of samples to be taken and found negative, in a MS. A MS with no data or positive findings will initially be allocated to class 1, in which all pigs should be tested. When a MS is able to demonstrate a 95% or 99% confidence that Trichinella is absent, the MS will be allocated to class 2 or 3, in which the testing requirement is lower than in class 1.

An owner's ability to detect changes in the behavior of a dog afflicted with osteoarthritis (OA) may be a barrier to presentation, clinical diagnosis and initiation of treatment. Management of OA also relies upon an owner's ability to accurately monitor improvement following a trial period of pain relief. The changes in behavior that are associated with the onset and relief of pain from OA can be assessed to determine the dog's health-related quality of life (HRQOL). HRQOL assessments are widely used in human medicine and if developed correctly can be used in the monitoring of disease and in clinical trials. This study followed established guidelines to construct a conceptual framework of indicators of HRQOL in dogs with OA. This generated items that can be used to develop a HRQOL assessment tool specific to dogs with OA. A systematic review was conducted using Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus with search terms related to indicators of HRQOL in dogs with osteoarthritis. Eligibility and quality assessment criteria were applied. Data were extracted from eligible studies using a comprehensive data charting table. Resulting domains and items were assessed at a half-day workshop attended by experts in canine osteoarthritis and quality of life. Domains and their interactions were finalized and a visual representation of the conceptual framework was produced. A total of 1,264 unique articles were generated in the database searches and assessed for inclusion. Of these, 21 progressed to data extraction. After combining synonyms, 47 unique items were categorized across six domains. Review of the six domains by the expert panel resulted in their reduction to four: physical appearance, capability, behavior, and mood. All four categories were deemed to be influenced by pain from osteoarthritis. Capability, mood, and behavior were all hypothesized to impact on each other while physical appearance was impacted by, but did not impact upon, the other domains. The framework has potential application to inform the development of valid and reliable instruments to operationalize measurement of HRQOL in canine OA for use in general veterinary practice to guide OA management decisions and in clinical studies to evaluate treatment outcomes.

Industrial regulation to protect privacy, intellectual property and proprietary information often restricts data sharing ─ an important prerequisite for developing services in the digital economy. Social media data is publicly available for data mining but requires intensive cleaning and harmonisation before analysis. This paper reveals the process of semantic sensing to convert social network tweets into meaningful insights. Our research question is: how to realise semantic sensing for data innovation? We use design science research to develop an artefact-ontology that collects tweets by pet owners talking about their itchy pet into knowledge graphs, including symptoms, location, breed, timestamp and potential cause and converts them into a thematic map of the regional occurrence of symptoms and potential treatment needs, providing vital information for data innovation. The semantic engine can predict potential causes of itching from the tweet, so a Chatbot may contact the pet owner, inviting them to a veterinary screening. Animal health and pharma companies can use this information to position their services. Our theoretical contribution is a process of semantic sensing, which is a vital part of dynamic capability. Although limited to animal health, the results could be transferred to other contexts.

Salmonella infection in pig production is typically endemic and largely asymptomatic, and is a cause of substantial concern among food safety bodies, prompting voluntary and legislative responses aimed at monitoring and reducing the number of Salmonella-infected animals entering the human food chain. Elimination of the problem at an early stage of production is highly desirable, and to this end the present review examines published evidence on the carriage of Salmonella by piglets before and after weaning, plus evidence on the dynamics of Salmonella infection in the weaner and grower stages of pig production, the effects of maternal immunity, and risk factors for Salmonella excretion after weaning. Various interventions to reduce or eliminate Salmonella infection in young pigs have been tried, such as vaccination, competitive exclusion, feed and water treatments, antibiotic administration, disinfection of animals, and segregated weaning to clean accommodation. The evidence on the effectiveness of these is considered, and the last is examined in some detail as it appears presently to offer the best chance of eliminating Salmonella from growing stock.

Following the introduction of a national abattoir-based monitoring programme for Salmonella in pigs, advisory visits were made to pig farms in England and Wales with high Salmonella seroprevalence assessed by muscle tissue fluid (meat juice) ELISA. Samples (n = 15 790), including pooled pen floor faeces (n = 12 136), were collected for Salmonella culture from 296 farms, between October 2003 and February 2008. Salmonella was isolated from 4489 (28%) of all samples collected, including 3301 (27%) of pooled pen floor faecal samples, from 270 (91%) of farms visited. Salmonella Typhimurium and S. Derby were the most prevalent serovars, representing 64% and 16% of isolates serotyped, respectively. The main phage types of S. Typhimurium identified were U288 and DT193. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was seen in 92% of isolates tested, with the highest frequencies of resistance occurring to tetracyclines (T), sulphonamide compounds (SU), ampicillin (AM), sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim (SXT), streptomycin (S) and chloramphenicol (C). Fifty-nine AMR patterns were observed, the most frequent of these being T, AM, SXT, C, S, SU, seen in 35% of isolates tested. Multi-drug resistance was commonly found, with 67% of isolates submitted for AMR testing showing resistance to between four and nine antimicrobials.

BACKGROUND Social media are seldom explored in animal health despite the potential for insights into pet owners’ perceptions and information seeking behaviours before and after accessing veterinary care [1]. A study in Feline Pruritus was conducted using social listening to investigate owners’ perceptions of feline allergic skin disease using a thematic analysis technique. OBJECTIVES • To apply thematic analysis to social listening (SL) data and thereby create a unique dataset concerning pet owner perceptions of feline pruritus and online information-seeking behaviours. METHODS • Fifty dynamic (frequently updated) content sources applicable to cats and feline pruritus were chosen, keywords were defined by a veterinary expert panel and organised into topics. • Keywords were augmented by reference to academic literature, a baseline survey of 1000 cat owners in the United States, the addition of synonyms and further iterations using Google Trends analytics keywords and sources. • Six bespoke topic filters were developed: body areas, behaviours, symptoms, disease diagnosis, solutions and treatments. • Content from the selected sources was collected using a social intelligence solution developed by ATC, tagged using both keywords (with stemming) and topic filters. • The data was aggregated, duplicates removed, and sentiment calculated by algorithm. • Content matching topic(s) in the body areas, behaviours and symptoms filters were reviewed manually, relevancy criteria developed, and posts marked relevant if: posted by a pet owner, identifying an itchy cat and not duplicated e.g. previous versions of a post, similar posts or cross posting to different sources. • A sub-set of 493 posts (title and text only) marked relevant and published between 2009 and 2022 were used for reflexive thematic analysis in NVIVO (Burlington, MA) to extract the key themes. RESULTS Qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on 493 relevant posts collected up to 30th May 2022 producing five top level themes: allergy, pruritus, additional behaviours, unusual or undesirable behaviours, diagnosis and treatment. The analytical method used the most recent ‘reflexive thematic analysis’ approach developed by Braun and Clarke [2] and adapted from [3]. The newly developed reflexive thematic analysis approach is not bound to one specific theoretical framework but allows for the flexibility to return to a previous phase, as the analysis develops, guiding the research based on the researcher’s level of interpretation and design of the study. The data was published between 2009 and 2022, met the body areas, behaviours and symptoms topic filters, met the relevancy criteria, had been manually reviewed and marked relevant for feline pruritus. Internet forums and Twitter were the most likely sources of relevant posts: Reddit (198/493), Catsite (110/493), Twitter (97/493) and Quora (59/493). Relevant posts were most frequently from the United States (188/493), United Kingdom (12/493), Canada (9/493), Greece (7/493), Australia (3/493) and Italy (2/493). A single post came from each of 11 countries and 260/493 posts had no location. The total number of responses coded was 493; the total number of themes was 5, total codes was 47 and the total number of references coded was 880. CONCLUSIONS • SL provides unique insights into verbatim owner perceptions on health and veterinary care. • This study shows there is a need for an increased awareness by veterinarians to pet owner frustrations with treatment options to tackle feline pruritus. • The data analysis could be scaled up using machine learning for topic modelling. • The data could enable data-driven decisions such as assessing demand for veterinary services by location and impact on quality of life. • These findings will be validated by comparison with thematic analysis of a direct pet owner survey.

Abattoir data collected from three British pig health monitoring schemes were combined to investigate the associations between Salmonella infection and the presence of gross lesions detected in slaughtered pigs. Each set of results was linked back to the farm from which the pigs were submitted, and the Salmonella results and lesions reports were connected at farm level. Salmonella infection was determined through meat juice ELISA (MJE), and the health conditions were assessed by postmortem inspection. The final dataset contained 873 slapmarks, with an average of 215 samples tested by MJE, and 355 pigs that were assessed for health conditions, per slapmark. Each of the health assessment conditions was individually analysed by regression models to investigate associations with the MJE results, accounting for clustering at the slapmark level and also for seasonality. A multivariable model was also used to estimate the strength of association with MJE results when all the health conditions were entered into the model. The results showed positive associations between Salmonella and enzootic pneumonia-like lesions, milk spots, peritonitis and pericarditis.

Surveys have shown that about a quarter of UK pigs are carrying Salmonella at slaughter. In advance of the introduction of official controls, the British pig industry is working pro-actively on reducing Salmonella infection in pigs. A national meeting on Salmonella control in pigs was held to help share knowledge on this issue. The purpose of this meeting was to set the scene for forthcoming legislative requirements to control Salmonella in pigs, disseminate current knowledge and discuss potential interventions and the impacts and difficulties associated with these. The abattoir and processing interventions of minimising carcase contamination, reducing cross-contamination and application of carcase decontamination methods were considered to be the most readily applied interventions and among the most effective. Minimising carcase contamination during slaughter was considered likely to have the greatest impact on public health, followed by carcase decontamination and consumer education. This meeting provided an insight on the opinions of experts and stakeholders across the pig meat supply chain on the control of Salmonella in pigs. This information will aid understanding of the difficulties likely to be faced when applying remedial measures, and will guide the planning and implementation of a future National Control Plan for Salmonella in pigs.

We investigated the associations between Campylobacter colonisation and management practices and farm characteristics in 603 housed broiler batches originating from 137 farms in Great Britain. All study batches were the initial batch slaughtered from the selected house on enrolled farms. Between 1 and 15 batches were sampled from each farm throughout the study. A total of 34.2% of the batches was Campylobacter positive and multivariable multilevel logistic regression revealed that the risk of Campylobacter colonisation was highest in July (OR=3.4, CI95%:1.8; 6.4), August (OR=3.4, CI95%:1.9; 6.2) and September (OR=3.7, CI95%:1.9; 7.1). Cattle on or adjacent to the farm increased the risk (OR=1.7, CI95%:1.1; 2.7), whereas chlorinated drinking water reduced it (OR=0.5, CI95%:0.2; 0.9). If the first removed batch from the previous flock in the house had been Campylobacter positive, the first batch of the following flock was also more likely to be colonised (OR=3.2, CI95%:2.1; 4.9). This association was more likely due to a persistent risk practice or source of Campylobacter on the farm than a direct carry-over from previous flock.

Objective: To determine the odds ratio and population attributable fraction associated with food and environmental risk factors for acute toxoplasmosis in pregnancy. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Six large European cities. Participants: Pregnant women with acute infection (cases) detected by seroconversion or positive for anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM were compared with pregnant women seropositive for toxoplasma (controls). Main outcome measures: Odds ratio for acute infection adjusted for confounding variables; the population attributable fraction for risk factors. Results: Risk factors most strongly predictive of acute infection in pregnant women were eating undercooked lamb, beef or game, contact with soil, and travel outside Europe and the United States and Canada. Contact with cats was not a risk factor. Between 30% and 63% of infections in different centres were attributed to consumption of undercooked or cured meat products and 6% to 17% to soil contact. Conclusions: Inadequately cooked or cured meat is the main risk factor for infection with toxoplasma in all centres. Preventive strategies should aim to reduce prevalence of infection in meat, improve labelling of meat according to farming and processing methods, and improve the quality and consistency of health information given to pregnant women.

Abstract for ISPOR Europe 2022 poster presentation. Social media are seldom explored in animal health despite the potential for insights into pet owners’ perceptions. Owners often seek information and advice online before seeking veterinary care. The aim was to investigate owners’ perceptions of feline allergic skin disease using Social Asset, a proof-of-concept social listening (SL) platform to create a dataset concerning information-seeking behaviours.

One of the major transmission routes for the foodborne bacterial pathogen Campylobacter is undercooked poultry meat, contaminated from intestinal contents during processing. In broilers, Campylobacter can grow to very high densities in the caeca, and is often considered to be a commensal or an opportunistic pathogen in poultry. Reduction of caecal loads of Campylobacter may assist in lowering incidence rates of Campylobacter food poisoning. To achieve this, there needs to be a better understanding of the dynamics of Campylobacter colonisation in its natural niche, and the effect of the local microbiome on colonisation. Previous studies have shown that the microbiome differed between Campylobacter colonised and non–colonised chicken intestinal samples. To characterise the microbiome of Campylobacter-colonised broilers, caecal samples of 100 randomly selected birds from four farms were analysed using amplified 16S rRNA gene sequences. Bacterial taxonomic analysis indicated that inter-farm variation was greater than intra-farm variation. The two most common bacterial groups were Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes which were present in all samples and constituted 29.7 – 63.5% and 30.2 – 59.8% of the bacteria present, respectively. Campylobacter was cultured from all samples, ranging from 2 to 9 log10 CFU g-1. There was no clear link between Campylobacter counts and Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes or Tenericutes levels in the 16S rRNA Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU)-based analysis of the caecal microbiome, but samples with high Campylobacter counts (> 9 log CFU g-1) contained increased levels of Enterobacteriaceae. A decrease in Lactobacillus abundance in chicken caeca was also associated with high Campylobacter loads. The reported associations with Lactobacillus and Enterobacteriaceae match changes in the intestinal microbiome of chickens and mice previously reported for Campylobacter infection, and raises the question about temporality and causation; as to whether increases in Campylobacter loads create conditions adverse to Lactobacilli and/or beneficial to Enterobacteriaceae, or that changes in Lactobacilli and Enterobacteriaceae levels created conditions beneficial for Campylobacter colonisation. If these changes can be controlled, this may open opportunities for modulation of chicken microbiota to reduce Campylobacter levels for improved food safety.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the odds ratio and population attributable fraction associated with food and environmental risk factors for acute toxoplasmosis in pregnancy. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Six large European cities. PARTICIPANTS: Pregnant women with acute infection (cases) detected by seroconversion or positive for anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM were compared with pregnant women seronegative for toxoplasma (controls). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Odds ratios for acute infection adjusted for confounding variables; the population attributable fraction for risk factors. RESULTS: Risk factors most strongly predictive of acute infection in pregnant women were eating undercooked lamb, beef, or game, contact with soil, and travel outside Europe and the United States and Canada. Contact with cats was not a risk factor. Between 30% and 63% of infections in different centres were attributed to consumption of undercooked or cured meat products and 6% to 17% to soil contact. CONCLUSIONS: Inadequately cooked or cured meat is the main risk factor for infection with toxoplasma in all centres. Preventive strategies should aim to reduce prevalence of infection in meat, improve labelling of meat according to farming and processing methods, and improve the quality and consistency of health information given to pregnant women.

A total of 1235 tracheal aspirates taken from 724 thoroughbreds in race training, aged from two to 10 years, were examined cytologically and bacteriologically. An inflammation scoring system on a scale of 0 to 9 was devised to allow the severity of lower airway disease to be assessed from the cytological results. The inflammation scores were closely related to the isolation of bacteria (P

The open data market size is estimated at €184 billion and forecast to reach between €199.51 and €334.21 billion in 2025. In this paper, we conceptualise the semantic data innovation platform, which will be able to answer inter-disciplinary questions via semantic reasoning over open data. We use 750 open animal healthcare datasets to exemplify this work, covering mainly poultry, swine, ruminants, and other livestock, which are complemented by open data from complementary domains, such as geographic location, medicine and virology. We aggregate the domain knowledge (classes) and enable the logical links (properties) between these classes. The prototype encapsulates the complexity of animal healthcare knowledge into ontology, which can answer complex questions using semantic reasoning on the datasets (answer-as-a-service).

In Uganda, delivery of veterinary services is vital to animal health and productivity, and is heavily dependent on well-trained and skilled animal health professionals. The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize areas for refresher training and continuous professional development of animal health professionals (veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals), with the overarching aim of improving veterinary service delivery in Uganda. A survey was administered electronically to 311 animal health professionals during the period November 14–30, 2019. Data were collected on relevant parameters including demographics, knowledge on preventive medicine, diagnostics, disease control and treatment, epidemiology, and One Health, as well as participants’ opinions on training priorities, challenges faced, and constraints to veterinary service delivery. Most respondents were veterinarians 26–35 years old, were male, and worked in clinical practice. Lowest perceived knowledge was reported on subjects relating to laboratory diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and nutrition. Training topics considered to be of most benefit to respondents included laboratory diagnostics, treatment of common livestock diseases, AMR, and practical clinical skills in reproductive and preventive medicine. Participants preferred to receive training in the form of practical workshops, in-practice training, and external training. This study highlights the need to prioritize training in practical clinical skills, laboratory diagnostics, and AMR. Wet labs and hands-on practical clinical and laboratory skills should be incorporated to enhance training. Provision of targeted and successful trainings will be dependent on the allocation of adequate resources and support by relevant public and private stakeholders across the veterinary sector.

This study presents British farmers’ perception of, and barriers to, implementing Salmonella control on pig farms. Four farms that had implemented interventions and their 33 close contacts (known to the intervention farmers) took part in interviews before (phase 1) and after (phase 2) intervention trials to assess the difference in perception over time. Their results were compared against those from nine randomly selected control farms. The hypothesis was that farms implementing interventions whether or not successful, would influence their close contacts’ opinion over time. Based on a ‘pathway to disease control’ model, three intrinsic factors known to influence motivation—attitudes, social norms and self-efficacy—were evaluated.Farmers mentioned that successful interventions on a farm would attract their attention. The use of an appropriate communication strategy is therefore recommended to stimulate farmers’ intent to implement control measures. Both before and after the intervention trials, all farmers had a positive attitude towards Salmonella control and felt that their peers and authorities were supportive of controlling Salmonella on farms. In phase 2, however, farmers were more likely to want to share the burden of control with other stakeholders along the food chain and their belief in self-efficacy had weakened. Whilst social norms were not associated with an intention to take action on control, a positive attitude towards Salmonella control and a belief in self-efficacy were more likely to result in an intent to control. In phase 2, farmers with an intent to implement an intervention appeared to have a greater, but not significant positive belief in self-efficacy (p = 0.108). This study confirmed that farmers recognised their responsibility for controlling Salmonella in pork—even though their confidence in their ability to control Salmonella decreased over time—and believed that responsibility should be shared with the rest of the production chain. It showed that farmers trusted their veterinarian as a source of advice to guide them during the process of implementing change, though an increase in farms’ Salmonella seroprevalence score (Zoonosis National Control Programme (ZNCP) score) especially for those with a low ZNCP score was also likely to influence their behaviour. Getting concrete feedback from customers or a tangible benefit from their action was a strong incentive especially for farms with a ZNCP score higher than 50%. The study also revealed a need to validate which measures are effective as farmers did not perceive that the current advised interventions were worth the additional effort.

Gastrointestinal parasites are among the most economically important pathogens of small ruminants causing serious economic losses and animal welfare problems for the livestock industry worldwide. The emergence of anthelmintic resistant H. contortus in small ruminants is a serious problem because it undermines effective helminth control and results in reduced productivity. Little is known about resistance to benzimidazoles (BZ) in Haemonchus in goats and sheep in Uganda. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites and to identify the presence of benzimidazole resistance associated mutations in the β-tubulin isotype 1 gene of Haemonchus contortus in goats from selected districts of Uganda. A total of 200 goats from 10 districts of Uganda slaughtered at Kalerwe abattoir in Kampala were sampled for H. contortus adult worms. Faecal samples were also collected to detect other intestinal parasites. Faecal microscopy and analysis were performed using flotation and sedimentation techniques. DNA was extracted from adult worms and PCR and sequencing of the ITS- 2 region and β-tubulin isotype 1 gene performed to identify H. contortus species and to determine the presence of mutations associated with anthelmintic resistance respectively. Faecal microscopy showed that the most prevalent intestinal parasites were coccidia (98%), strongyles (97.5%), Strongyloides (82%), Paramphistomum (74.5%), Moniezia (46%), Fasciola (1.5%) and Trichuris (1%). Most goats had a high intestinal burden of coccidia (≥ 5000 oocyst per gram) and strongyles (≥ 1000 egg per gram), 65% and 67.5%, respectively. The prevalence of H. contortus adult worms was 63% (126/200). Sequencing of the partial β-tubulin isotype 1 gene of 54 Haemonchus contortus adult male isolates revealed the presence of mutations associated with anthelmintic resistance. The F200Y mutation was the most common mutation (13% of samples with good beta-tubulin sequences) followed by the E198A and E198K mutations, both found in 9% of sequenced samples. Mutation F167Y was not identified in any of the samples and there were no heterozygous individuals for any of the SNPS associated with BZ resistance that were identified in this study. These findings highlight the need for controlled use of anthelmintics especially benzimidazoles, to enable sustainable control of H. contortus in Uganda, and a need for further investigation to understand the resistance of other parasites identified in this study. •Coccidia and strongyles were the most common gastrointestinal parasites found in the study goat population.•Prevalence of Haemonchus contortus in goats in this study was 63%.•Point mutations F200Y, E198A and E198K were detected in the H. contortus β-tubulin isotype 1 gene.

A number of studies have used GnRH between 11 and 14 days after insemination to improve pregnancy rates in cows, however published results have not been consistent. We wished to investigate whether a consolidated estimate of the response could be quantified. Therefore we conducted a meta-analysis of the available data, 19 studies from 14 published papers, on the effect of GnRH analogs on pregnancy rate when given between Days 11 and 14 after first insemination. Odds ratios (the relative probability of pregnancy between treated and control cows) were compared for each study and found to vary significantly among studies, ranging from 0 to 22%. We showed by logistic regression analysis that response to GnRH treatment varied with cow type (beef or dairy), age (cow or heifer), estrus synchronization (synchronized or natural), pregnancy diagnosis (method and time) and effect of individual study. When all these variables were included only 6 of 14 publications could be analyzed, representing 2,541 instead of 10,945 cows. In this limited subgroup of data, a significant improvement in pregnancy rate was detected among treated cattle (odds ratio = 1.33; P