Susceptibility of Mammals to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza: A Qualitative Risk Assessment From the Belgian Perspective.

Aims: The world experienced a huge number of outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in birds, which could represent one of the largest registered epidemics of infectious disease in food-producing animals. Therefore, mammals, including humans, are continuously exposed to HPAI viruses leading to sporadic and sometimes unusual mammal infections. The aim of this paper is to assess the risk of crossing the avian/mammalian species barrier by the currently circulating HPAI viruses, focusing on the epidemiological situation of Belgium, a representative country for Western Europe.

Food safety surveillance through a risk based control programme: approach employed by the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain.

The principal responsibility of the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) is to guarantee the safety along the food chain. In order to accomplish this responsibility, the FASFC has developed an integrated official control program to check compliance with various regulations. The original methodology developed and applied by FASFC is presented.

Comparison of three techniques for the serological diagnosis of Neospora caninum in the dog and their use for epidemiological studies.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed in our laboratory and used to determine the seroprevalence of Neospora caninum in three different dog populations in Belgium: healthy dogs from cattle farms and urban dogs with or without various neurological disorders. The test was validated and compared with two other tests: an indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and a commercially available competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (C-ELISA). The study showed a good correlation between the IFAT and the ELISA developed.

Immune response and antigen recognition in non-pregnant ewes experimentally infected with Neospora caninum tachyzoites.

The cellular and humoral responses as well as the antigen recognition during the acute stage of a Neospora caninum (NC) infection were investigated in non-pregnant ewes. The experimentally infected ewes developed specific lymphoproliferative and humoral responses within 2 weeks post-infection (PI). The magnitude of the cellular response showed large variations between animals.