Publications by authors named "Damer Blake"

Objectives: Non-typhoidal (NTS) commonly causes a self-limiting illness but invasive disease (iNTS) can be life-threatening. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) increases the risk of mortality. This systematic review aimed to estimate the proportion of NTS isolated in those attending healthcare services, serovar burden, AMR, serovar-specific AMR, and case fatality rate (CFR) in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

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Eimeria tenella is among the protozoan parasites that cause the infectious disease coccidiosis in chickens, incurring huge economic losses to the global poultry industry. Surface antigens (EtSAGs) involved in host-parasite interaction are potential targets for control strategies. However, the occurrence of genetic diversity for EtSAGs in field populations is unknown, as is the risk of such diversity to the efficacy of EtSAG-based control approaches.

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Poultry manure is widely used as organic fertilizer in agriculture during the cultivation of crops, but the persistent high-level use of antibiotics in poultry production has raised concerns about the selection for reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). Previous studies have shown that the addition of poultry manure can increase the abundance of genes associated with resistance to tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, sulfonamides, bacitracin, chloramphenicol, and macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin in soil and plants. Understanding the microbial populations that harbor these ARGs is important to identify microorganisms that could enter the human food chain.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study emphasizes the significance of understanding how farm locations and sizes affect disease spread, especially as livestock production intensifies in certain regions, making accurate spatial data crucial for effective interventions.
  • Researchers created a Farm Distribution Model (FDM) that predicts poultry farm locations and sizes in data-scarce countries using advanced modeling techniques, including a Log-Gaussian Cox process and random forest model.
  • The FDM provides realistic farm distributions and highlights that spatial clustering increases epidemic vulnerability, demonstrating the model's importance in predicting disease spread in areas without extensive data.
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Coccidiosis, caused by parasites, significantly impacts poultry farm economics and animal welfare. Beyond its direct impact on health, infection disrupts enteric microbial populations leading to dysbiosis and increases vulnerability to secondary diseases such as necrotic enteritis, caused by . The impact of infection or anticoccidial vaccination on host gastrointestinal phenotypes and enteric microbiota remains understudied.

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We present a genome assembly from sporozoites from a clonal line of (the Coccidian parasite; Apicomplexa; Conoidasida; Eucoccidiorida; Eimeriidae). The genome sequence is 64.3 megabases in span.

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Outbreaks of suspected tick-borne disease (redwater fever) have been reported in captive deer of the Scottish Highlands. In this pilot study, polymerase chain reaction and amplicon sequencing were used to detect tick-borne pathogens in opportunistically collected blood and spleen samples from 63 (healthy, n = 44; diseased, n = 19) cervids, and 45 questing and feeding ticks () from the outbreak sites in 2021-2022. Potentially pathogenic species were detected in deer but not identified in ticks, was detected in both deer and ticks, and was detected in ticks but not in deer.

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Cell culture systems have long been recognised as great resources to mitigate the use of animals in research, offering effective solutions for replacement or reduction with benefits commonly including lower costs, shorter duration and improved reproducibility. The use of in vitro culture methods has been extensively explored for many apicomplexan parasites, supporting significant research advances, but studies with Eimeria are often limited since they still depend on the animal host. In this study we have used 2.

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Coccidiosis, caused by parasites of the genus , is a significant economic burden to the poultry industry. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis to evaluate the financial losses associated with infection in chickens in Algeria, relying on data provided by key stakeholders in the Algerian poultry industry to assess sub-clinical as well as clinical impact. We employed the updated 2020 version of a model established to estimate the cost of coccidiosis in chickens, taking into consideration specific cultural and technical aspects of poultry farming in Algeria.

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The rapid intensification of poultry production raises important concerns about the associated risks of zoonotic infections. Here, we introduce EPINEST (EPIdemic NEtwork Simulation in poultry Transportation systems): an agent-based modelling framework designed to simulate pathogen transmission within realistic poultry production and distribution networks. We provide example applications to broiler production in Bangladesh, but the modular structure of the model allows for easy parameterization to suit specific countries and system configurations.

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The global poultry industry has experienced dramatic growth in recent decades, increasing the significance of pathogens of chickens. Protozoan parasites of the genus Eimeria can cause the disease coccidiosis, compromising animal health and welfare, and incurring significant annual costs. Seven Eimeria species have long been recognised to infect chickens, supplemented by three new candidate species first reported from Australia in 2007/8.

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Eimeria, protozoan parasites that can cause the disease coccidiosis, pose a persistent challenge to poultry production and welfare. Control is commonly achieved using good husbandry supplemented with routine chemoprophylaxis and/or live parasite vaccination, although widespread drug resistance and challenges to vaccine supply or cost can prove limiting. Extensive effort has been applied to develop subunit anticoccidial vaccines as scalable, cost-effective alternatives, but translation to the field will require a robust understanding of parasite diversity.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Poultry farming in South and Southeast Asia is rapidly intensifying to meet the demand for protein, leading to increased use of antimicrobial drugs, which raises concerns about antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) spreading.
  • - A study showed that ARGs can transmit from chicken litter to soil and Sorghum bicolor plants, with specific genes and microorganisms identified as common in this transmission.
  • - The findings underscore the environmental risks of using poultry litter as fertilizer and highlight the need for strategies to prevent the spread of ARGs, which poses threats to human and environmental health.
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Avian coccidiosis is a common enzootic disease caused by infection of species parasites. It causes huge economic losses in the global poultry industry. Current control using anticoccidial drugs or vaccination is limited due to drug resistance and the relatively high cost of vaccines.

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Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum, Thymus vulgaris, and Salvia fructicosa are aromatic plants commonly found in Mediterranean countries and are traditionally used in Greece as a remedy for humans, since they are well known as potent antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory agents. Essential oils (EOs) derived from plants cultivated in the mountainous region of Epirus, Greece, were investigated for their inhibitory activity against key microorganisms with relevance to avian health, while also assessing their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.

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Irrational and inappropriate use of antibiotics in commercial chicken production can contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance. We aimed to assess antibiotic usage in commercial chicken production in Bangladesh, and identify factors associated with this practice. We conducted a large-scale cross-sectional study to collect information on antibiotic usage in commercial chickens from January to May 2021.

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A 1-year 11-month intact female Alaskan Malamute fed a raw food diet was referred to the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals for further investigation of hyporexia and increased hepatobiliary enzyme activities. Clinicopathological and imaging findings were consistent with cholangiohepatitis, with coccidial zoites identified on bile cytology. Polymerase chain reaction and amplicon sequencing from the bile identified Hammondia heydorni, a Sarcocytid coccidial protozoa with an obligate 2-host life cycle.

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Coccidiosis caused by spp. incurs significant morbidity and mortality in chickens, and is thus of great economic importance. intestinal lesion scoring remains one of the most common means of diagnosis; therefore alternative, non-invasive methods of diagnosis and monitoring would be highly desirable.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Physical causes such as trauma and predation were the most common deaths (39%), while SI was linked to only 9 deaths (3.1% of total cases).
  • * Merozoites were found in 36% of examined birds, indicating the presence of SI, but the overall infection was typically low in pathogenicity, suggesting that these parasites have probably coevolved with their avian hosts.
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Cheap, easy-to-produce oral vaccines are needed for control of coccidiosis in chickens to reduce the impact of this disease on welfare and economic performance. yeast expressing three antigens were developed and delivered as heat-killed, freeze-dried whole yeast oral vaccines to chickens in four separate studies. After vaccination, replication was reduced following low dose challenge (250 oocysts) in Hy-Line Brown layer chickens (p<0.

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We present a genome assembly from a clonal population of Houghton parasites (Apicomplexa; Conoidasida; Eucoccidiorida; Eimeriidae). The genome sequence is 53.25 megabases in span.

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Coccidiosis is a potentially severe enteritis caused by species of obligate intracellular parasites of the genus These parasites cause significant economic losses to the poultry industry, predominantly due to compromised efficiency of production as well as the cost of control. These losses were recently estimated to cost chicken producers approximately £10.4 billion worldwide annually.

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