Can we use meat inspection data for animal health and welfare surveillance?

Ante- and post-mortem inspections at abattoir were originally introduced to provide assurance that animal carcasses were fit for human consumption. However, findings at meat inspection can also represent a valuable source of information for animal health and welfare surveillance. Yet, before making secondary use of meat inspection data, it is important to assess that the same post-mortem findings get registered in a consistent way among official meat inspectors across abattoirs, so that the results are as much independent as possible from the abattoir where the inspection is performed.

Dairy cow longevity: Impact of animal health and farmers' investment decisions.

A dairy farmer's decision to cull or keep dairy cows is likely a complex decision based on animal health and farm management practices. The present paper investigated the relationship between cow longevity and animal health, and between longevity and farm investments, while controlling for farm-specific characteristics and animal management practices, by using Swedish dairy farm and production data for the period 2009 to 2018. We used the ordinary least square and unconditional quantile regression model to perform mean-based and heterogeneous-based analysis, respectively.

Herd Routines and Veterinary Advice Related to Dry-Cow Therapy and Treatment with Internal Teat Sealants in Dairy Cows.

Dry-cow therapy with antibiotics (DCT) and treatment with internal teat sealants (ITS) are often used to control mastitis in dairy cows. However, the knowledge on farmer and veterinary compliance with recommendations for DCT and ITS is scarce. Thus, the main aim was to collect information on farmer routines and veterinary advice for such treatments.

MILK Symposium review: Microbiological quality and safety of milk from farm to milk collection centers in Rwanda.

The aim of this study was to generate knowledge on the most important milk quality and safety attributes, including somatic cell count (SCC), total bacterial count (TBC), Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Brucella spp. antibodies and antibiotic residues in milk in the chain from farm to milk collection center (MCC) in Rwanda. In addition, we investigated farm and management factors associated with high TBC, SCC, and Salmonella counts.

A cross sectional study of prevalence and risk factors associated with subclinical mastitis and intramammary infections, in dairy herds linked to milk collection centers in Rwanda.

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate prevalence, causative udder pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as well as cow and herd risk factors associated with subclinical mastitis (SCM = cows with at least one udder quarter with california mastitis test (CMT) score > 2) and intramammary infections (IMI) caused by Staphylococcus(S.) aureus or Non aureus staphylococci (NAS) in dairy cows linked to Milk Collection Centers (MCCs) in Rwanda. Screening for SCM with the CMT was done on 572 cows from 404 herds linked to two MCCs in each of four provinces.

Aetiology and prevalence of subclinical mastitis in dairy herds in peri-urban areas of Kigali in Rwanda.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the prevalence of subclinical mastitis (SCM) and associated risk factors in dairy cows in peri-urban areas of Kigali, Rwanda, and identify causative udder pathogens. A sample of 256 cows from 25 herds was screened with the California Mastitis Test (CMT), and udder quarters with CMT score ≥ 3 (scale 1-5) were milk sampled for culture and final bacteriological identification with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). All resultant staphylococci species were tested for beta-lactamase production with the clover leaf method.

Hock lesions in dairy cows in freestall herds: a cross-sectional study of prevalence and risk factors.

Background: Hock lesions (HL) in dairy cows are a common animal welfare problem in modern dairy production with freestall housing systems, but there are no large-scale studies addressing its epidemiology in Sweden. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to investigate the prevalence of HL of different severity in 100 Swedish freestall dairy herds, and to identify cow- and herd-related risk factors. Associations between HL and mastitis as well as culling were also investigated.

A retrospective cohort study estimating the individual Aleutian disease progress in female mink using a VP2 ELISA and its association to reproductive performance.

Aleutian Disease (AD) is an important disease in mink characterized by a persistent chronic infection typically causing a progressive disease with symptoms such as weight loss, polydipsia, polyuria, reduced reproductive performance and increased herd mortality. Due to lack of success in eradicating AD by stamping out, disease control programs based on estimating the disease progression have been implemented and used in the selection of future breeding animals. The aim of this project was to evaluate the association between the reproductive performance of female mink (expressed as being barren or not and litter size of non-barren females) and the individual AD status (defined as diseased or non-diseased based on the OD value in a dried blood spot samples (DBS) VP2 ELISA) while controlling for age and color type.

Sample pooling for real-time PCR detection and virulence determination of the footrot pathogen Dichelobacter nodosus.

Dichelobacter nodosus is the principal cause of ovine footrot and strain virulence is an important factor in disease severity. Therefore, detection and virulence determination of D. nodosus is important for proper diagnosis of the disease.

The distribution of pathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among canine surgical wound infections in Sweden in relation to different risk factors.

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is a common nosocomial infection in dogs and a growing concern in veterinary hospitals as an increase in multidrug-resistant pathogens is reported. Despite the need for rational and prudent antimicrobial use, few peer-reviewed and published veterinary studies have investigated the pathogenic growth including susceptibility patterns of the isolated pathogens in canine SSIs. The first objective of the present study was to estimate the distribution of bacterial pathogens in dogs with SSI and to investigate whether this was influenced by type of surgical procedure (clean, clean-contaminated, contaminated or dirty), duration of hospitalization, wound classification and depth of the infection, or antimicrobial treatment.

Characterisation of Dichelobacter nodosus and detection of Fusobacterium necrophorum and Treponema spp. in sheep with different clinical manifestations of footrot.

The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of Dichelobacter nodosus, Fusobacterium necrophorum and Treponema spp. in sheep with different clinical manifestations of footrot compared to healthy sheep both at flock and individual level. The second aim was to characterise D.

Udder health in beef cows and its association with calf growth.

Background: Studies outside the Nordic countries have indicated that subclinical mastitis (measured by milk somatic cell count or the California Mastitis Test), intramammary infections (IMI), or blind quarters in beef cows may have negative effects on beef calf growth. Knowledge on prevalence of such udder health problems in Swedish beef cows is scarce. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate subclinical mastitis, IMI and udder conformation in a number of beef cow herds.

Evaluation of the specificity of three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for detection of antibodies against Salmonella in bovine bulk milk.

Background: The Swedish Salmonella control program has been running for decades and has resulted in a low prevalence of Salmonella in Swedish food producing animals. Routine bacteriology is used to detect Salmonella, however, bacteriology is time consuming, costly and has a low sensitivity. Different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been developed for detection of antibodies against Salmonella Dublin and S.

Can pre-collected register data be used to identify dairy herds with good cattle welfare?

Background: Pre-recorded register data from dairy herds are available in almost all Nordic countries. These databases can be used for research purposes, and one of the research areas is animal welfare. The aim of this study was to investigate if pre-recorded register data could be used to identify herds with good welfare, and to investigate if a combination of register data sets could be used to be able to more correctly distinguish between herds with good welfare and herds with welfare deficiencies.

Etiology and antimicrobial susceptibility of udder pathogens from cases of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows in Sweden.

Background: A nationwide survey on the microbial etiology of cases of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows was carried out on dairy farms in Sweden. The aim was to investigate the microbial panorama and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance. Moreover, differences between newly infected cows and chronically infected cows were investigated.

Prevalence of footrot in Swedish slaughter lambs.

Background: Footrot is a world-wide contagious disease in sheep and goats. It is an infection of the epidermis of the interdigital skin, and the germinal layers of the horn tissue of the feet. The first case of footrot in Swedish sheep was diagnosed in 2004.

Factors associated with the success of rabies vaccination of dogs in Sweden.

Background: United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta and Sweden maintain their national provisions for a transitional period regarding rules concerning rabies vaccination and individual serological test for rabies neutralizing antibodies. The purpose of vaccinating dogs against rabies is to establish pre-exposure immunity and protect individual animals from contracting rabies.The aim of the study was to investigate factors associated with reaching the internationally accepted threshold antibody titre of 0.