Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella spp. are among the leading causes of food-borne illness in the United Sates and bacteria have been isolated from numerous ruminant animal sources. The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of E. coli O157 and Salmonella spp. in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and livestock simultaneously grazing the same rangeland. Escherichia coli O...

Gastrointestinal parasitic infections are a major constraint to small ruminant productivity in the tropics and subtropics, including Tanzania. This significantly reduces the economy and food supply to small farmers and their families. Earlier studies at the University of Nottingham (see for example Butter et al., 2000) have shown that feeding the extracted tannin from Quebracho (used in the lea...

Large-scale recombination events have led to the emergence of epidemic clones of several major bacterial pathogens. However, the functional impact of the recombination on clonal success is not understood. Here, we identified a novel widespread hybrid clone (ST71) of livestock-associated Staphylococcus aureus that evolved from an ancestor belonging to the major bovine lineage CC97, through multi...

Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is an emerging Orthobunyavirus, first described in 2011 in cattle in Germany and subsequently spread throughout Europe, affecting mainly ruminant livestock through the induction of foetal malformations. To gain a better understanding of the spectrum of susceptible species and to assess the value of current SBV serological assays, screening of serum samples from exotic ...

Moldy grain may adversely affect cattle production due to nutrition effects, mycoses or mycotoxicoses. Mycosis is a disease state caused by the fungi themselves, and mycotoxicosis is a disease state caused by secondary metabolites of the fungi. Thus, the mold itself may cause production losses separate and apart from any toxin effects. In fact, various molds have been associated with adverse he...

The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica parasitizes humans and ruminant livestock worldwide, and it is now being considered a reemerging zoonotic disease, especially in areas in which it is endemic, such as South America. This study investigates the immune response to excretory and secretory products produced by F. hepatica in a group of patients from the Peruvian Altiplano, where the disease is high...

Several livestock species have the ability to digest fiber via microbial fermentation and to obtain useful energy from this process. However, in ruminants, fermentation of fiber occurs prior to the small intestine (Figure 1). Thus, microbial protein that is produced, as fiber is being digested, is available for digestion to amino acids with subsequent absorption for use by the animal. Although ...

The global livestock industry is charged with providing sufficient animal source foods to supply the global population while improving the environmental sustainability of animal production. Improved productivity within dairy and beef systems has demonstrably reduced resource use and greenhouse gas emissions per unit of food over the past century through the dilution of maintenance effect. Furth...

Fascioliasis is a zoonotic trematodiasis of great public health importance affecting ruminant animals and man. The prevalence of bovine fascioliasis in Nigeria is high and affects the productivity of farmers. Fascioliasis is mainly detected in abattoirs during post mortem inspection as it affects the livers of these animals leading to partial or total condemnation of the liver. Since most cattl...

Little is known about the risk factors of human brucellosis in Jordan. A case-control study was conducted involving 56 Jordanians who had been treated for brucellosis and at least 3 matched controls for each case (n = 247). Matching was for sex, age, locality (the same village) and socioeconomic standard. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used. In all, 17 risk factor...