Serosurvey for zoonotic viral and bacterial pathogens among slaughtered livestock in Egypt.

Introduction: Zoonotic diseases are an important cause of human morbidity and mortality. Animal populations at locations with high risk of transmission of zoonotic pathogens offer an opportunity to study viral and bacterial pathogens of veterinary and public health concern.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from domestic and imported livestock slaughtered at the Muneeb abattoir in central Egypt in 2009.

In vitro antibiotic susceptibility testing of Brucella isolates from Egypt between 1999 and 2007 and evidence of probable rifampin resistance.

Background: Brucellosis poses a significant public health problem in Mediterranean countries, including Egypt. Treatment of this disease is often empirical due to limited information on the antibiotic susceptibility profiles of Brucella spp. in this region of the world.

Evaluation of a newly developed ELISA against Widal, TUBEX-TF and Typhidot for typhoid fever surveillance.

Introduction: Typhoid fever is endemic in many parts of the world and represents a major cause of acute febrile illness (AFI). Rapid and accurate laboratory methods for diagnosis of this disease are needed for both patient care and surveillance situations.

Methodology: Serum samples were collected from AFI patients and used to evaluate the performance of a newly developed ELISA assay that uses a mixture of somatic and flagellar antigens to detect the total antibody response against Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhi (S.

Use of patient-specific Leptospira isolates in the diagnosis of leptospirosis employing microscopic agglutination testing (MAT).

Given the protean manifestations of leptospirosis, adequate laboratory support for diagnosis is necessary. Traditionally, the gold standard is the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) using a panel of Leptospira isolates representing a broad range of serogroups and serovars. It has been proposed that screening with serovars circulating in a region would enhance test performance.