Optimizing surveillance for early disease detection: Expert guidance for Ostreid herpesvirus surveillance design and system sensitivity calculation.

To keep pace with rising opportunities for disease emergence and spread, surveillance in aquaculture must enable the early detection of both known and new pathogens. Conventional surveillance systems (designed to provide proof of disease freedom) may not support detection outside of periodic sampling windows, leaving substantial blind spots to pathogens that emerge in other times and places. To address this problem, we organized an expert panel to envision optimal systems for early disease detection, focusing on Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1), a pathogen of panzootic consequence to oyster industries.

Transboundary animal diseases as re-emerging threats - Impact on one health.

Transboundary animal diseases are those that can move through a population of animals and cause considerable economic and societal harm. Many have high mortality, and in low-income areas, can quickly destroy herds and flocks of agricultural animals. Although much of One Health, which sits at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health, focuses on the zoonotic diseases, in fact transboundary animal diseases can harm both humans and the environment through robbing communities of livelihoods and nutrition, and creating environmental contamination through extensive carcass disposal requirements.

The socioeconomic factors surrounding the initial emergence of peste des petits ruminants in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from 2006 through 2008.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a devastating disease of small ruminants that significantly hinders productivity in endemic areas. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania reported their first cases in each country between 2006 and 2008 despite the disease being present in the region (Ethiopia and Sudan) since the 1990s. The time leading up to the outbreaks involved refugee movements, drought, civil unrest, and resulted in increased animal mingling, movement and density in these regions.

Tagging of Weakly Expressed Toxoplasma gondii Calcium-Related Genes with High-Affinity Tags.

Calcium ions regulate a diversity of cellular functions in all eukaryotes. The cytosolic Ca concentration is tightly regulated at the physiological cytosolic concentration of 50-100 nm. The Toxoplasma gondii genome predicts the presence of several genes encoding potential Ca channels, pumps, and transporters.