News

Singh, A.V., Singh, S.V., Singh, P.K., Sohal, J.S., Singh, M.K. (2011)

Journal of Infectious Diseases; Volume 15, Issue 10 , Pages e677-e683, October 2011

"Conclusions: The prevalence of MAP was higher in attendants suffering from gastrointestinal problems who worked with goat herds endemic for Johne's disease, than in humans with no history of contact with animals. The risk of developing gastrointestinal problems with clinical symptoms indistinguishable from inflammatory bowel disease was higher in humans who were in contact with goat herds endemic for Johne's disease as compared to healthy humans, and the risk was correlated with the duration of association with the endemic goat herds."

(C) 2011 International Society for Infectious Diseases.

See the full news article for interpretation.

T. Seuberlich et al. (including our member D. Heim) report about the finding of a novel prion protein in two BSE-affected cattle. In April and May 2011, two cows were found BSE-positive by Western Blotting. Their PrP^res phenotypes falls in none of the three previously described categories, C-BSE, H-BSE or L-BSE.

The significance of this finding is unclear.

The World Bank and the TAFS forum have joined forces and co-published a "World Livestock Disease Atlas". It contains a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of OIE and FAO data on global livestock populations and their losses due to reportable diseases. The atlas is available in hardcopy as well as downloadable from the TAFS forum website.