Newcastle Disease Virus Induces Profound Lymphoid Depletion with Different Patterns of Necroptosis, Necrosis, and Oxidative DNA Damage in Bursa, Spleen, and Other Lymphoid Tissues.

This study delves into the pathogenesis of virulent genotype VII strains of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV), focusing on experimentally infected birds. Predominant and consistent lesions observed include bursal atrophy and extensive depletion of all lymphoid tissues. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis, targeting apoptosis (Caspase-3), necroptosis (MLKL), and NDV markers, indicates that bursal atrophy is linked to a non-apoptotic programmed cell death pathway known as "necroptosis".

Asymmetric growth-limiting development of the female conceptus.

Introduction: Sex differences in prenatal growth may contribute to sex-dependent programming effects on postnatal phenotype.

Methods: We integrated for the first time phenotypic, histomorphological, clinico-chemical, endocrine and gene expression analyses in a single species, the bovine conceptus at mid-gestation.

Results: We demonstrate that by mid-gestation, before the onset of accelerated growth, the female conceptus displays asymmetric lower growth compared to males.

Performance comparison of homologous and heterologous Newcastle disease virus in vaccines and antibody tests.

Antigenic differences between commercial Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) vaccine and circulating field virus reduce vaccine efficacy. Fifty-layer chickens were divided into five groups: three vaccinated chicken groups using killed LaSota (Genotype II/GII), Mega, or VD (Genotype VII/GVII) viral strains, negative, and positive control groups. On day 28, Hemagglutination Inhibition (HI) serology of vaccinated chickens was performed using whole virus antigens of RIVS, LaSota, Mega, and VD strains.

Experimental Infection in Pregnant Cattle: Different Outcomes Between Inoculation With Tachyzoites and Oocysts.

is a globally distributed abortifacient protozoan of cattle. Experimental infections with in cattle have provided valuable information on host-parasite interaction and immunopathogenesis. Experimental infection of pregnant cows has been reported in about 20 articles, with most studies using cultured parasite tachyzoites as the inoculum.

A GRA2 minimal promoter improves the efficiency of TATi / Tet-Off conditional regulation of gene expression in Toxoplasma gondii.

A tetracycline-responsive transcription system (Tet-Off) adapted for use in Toxoplasma gondii (nicknamed TATi) is useful for molecular biological studies of this organism. Previous studies using TATi incorporated minimal promoters derived from the gene promoters for TgSAG1 or TgSAG4. The present study achieves improved activation and suppression of an integrated reporter gene in the absence and presence of anhydrotetracycline, respectively (p < 0.

Fractional seroprevalence rates in common prey species can cause more than half of feral cats to be exposed to Toxoplasma gondii annually.

Rodents comprise a major component of cat (Felis catus) diets in many ecosystems, and life cycle diagrams of Toxoplasma gondii typically depict small rodents as quintessential intermediate hosts. Counter-intuitively, small rodents often experience a lower T. gondii seroprevalence than do larger sympatric mammals.

Genome Sequences of Newcastle Disease Virus Strains from Two Outbreaks in Indonesia.

The genomes of two newly emerged Newcastle disease virus strains, chicken/Indonesia/Mega/001WJ/2013 and chicken/Indonesia/Cimanglid/002WJ/2015, from disease outbreaks in chickens in Indonesia are reported. Phylogenetic analysis of different genotypes of Newcastle disease virus using the F gene coding sequences suggests that these two strains belong to genotype VII.2, in class II of avian paramyxoviruses.

Genome Sequences of Newly Emerged Newcastle Disease Virus Strains Isolated from Disease Outbreaks in Indonesia.

Here, we report two genomes of newly emerged strains of (NDV), Chicken/Indonesia/Tangerang/004WJ/14 and Chicken/Indonesia/VD/003WJ/11, from disease outbreaks in chickens in Indonesia. Phylogenetic study results of the fusion (F) protein's gene-coding sequences of different genotypes of NDV revealed that these two strains belong to genotype VII.1 in the class II cluster of avian paramyxoviruses.

Spatial Analysis of a Cat-Borne Disease Reveals That Soil pH and Clay Content Are Risk Factors for Sarcocystosis in Sheep.

Cat-borne parasites and their associated diseases have substantial impacts on human, livestock, and wildlife health worldwide. Despite this, large and detailed datasets that allow researchers to study broad-scale trends in the ecology of cat-borne diseases are either difficult to obtain or non-existent. One condition that is easily detected at slaughter is macroscopic sarcocystosis, a cat-borne parasitosis of sheep ().

An atypical cause of sporotrichosis in a cat.

A nine-year-old domestic cat from Melbourne, Australia, presented with a non-ulcerated nodule on its nasal bridge. A fungal infection of the subcutis was diagnosed based on histopathology and culture of a white mould, which was identified as complex by ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 and β-tubulin gene sequencing.

Differential Gamma Interferon- and Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha-Driven Cytokine Response Distinguishes Acute Infection of a Metatherian Host with Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum.

and (both Apicomplexa) are closely related cyst-forming coccidian parasites that differ significantly in their host ranges and ability to cause disease. Unlike eutherian mammals, Australian marsupials (metatherian mammals) have long been thought to be highly susceptible to toxoplasmosis and neosporosis because of their historical isolation from the parasites. In this study, the carnivorous fat-tailed dunnart () was used as a disease model to investigate the immune response and susceptibility to infection of an Australian marsupial to and The disease outcome was more severe in -infected dunnarts than in -infected dunnarts, as shown by the severity of clinical and histopathological features of disease and higher tissue parasite burdens in the tissues evaluated.

Diagnosis and Control of Bovine Neosporosis.

Neosporosis is one of the most common and widespread causes of bovine abortion. The causative parasite is transmitted in at least two ways, horizontally from canids, and by endogenous transmission within maternal lines of infected cattle. The prevalence of neosporosis is higher in the dairy industry than in the beef industry because of risk factors associated with intensive feeding.

A review of Neospora caninum in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).

A number of countries in the world have reported infections with Neospora caninum in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), from Africa to Asia, Europe and South America and recently Australia. In general, clinical manifestations (such as abortion) seem rare, which has raised the prospect that buffalo may be inherently resistant to clinical effects of N. caninum infection.

Control options for Neospora caninum--is there anything new or are we going backwards?

Recent work has highlighted and enumerated the economic annual losses due to Neospora caninum abortions worldwide, which should provide strong motivation for the control of bovine neosporosis. However, with the recent withdrawal from sale of the only commercially available vaccine, control options for N. caninum have become more restricted.

Successful vaccines for naturally occurring protozoal diseases of animals should guide human vaccine research. A review of protozoal vaccines and their designs.

Effective vaccines are available for many protozoal diseases of animals, including vaccines for zoonotic pathogens and for several species of vector-transmitted apicomplexan haemoparasites. In comparison with human diseases, vaccine development for animals has practical advantages such as the ability to perform experiments in the natural host, the option to manufacture some vaccines in vivo, and lower safety requirements. Although it is proper for human vaccines to be held to higher standards, the enduring lack of vaccines for human protozoal diseases is difficult to reconcile with the comparatively immense amount of research funding.

Prevalence of antibody to Toxoplasma gondii in terrestrial wildlife in a natural area.

We conducted a cross-sectional study from 2008 to 2009 to evaluate the occurrence of feral and wild cats and the risk of Toxoplasma gondii infection in terrestrial wildlife in a natural area in Illinois, USA. Felids are definitive hosts for T. gondii and cats are a key component of rural and urban transmission of T.

A critical role for CD8 T cells in a nonhuman primate model of tuberculosis.

The role of CD8 T cells in anti-tuberculosis immunity in humans remains unknown, and studies of CD8 T cell-mediated protection against tuberculosis in mice have yielded controversial results. Unlike mice, humans and nonhuman primates share a number of important features of the immune system that relate directly to the specificity and functions of CD8 T cells, such as the expression of group 1 CD1 proteins that are capable of presenting Mycobacterium tuberculosis lipids antigens and the cytotoxic/bactericidal protein granulysin. Employing a more relevant nonhuman primate model of human tuberculosis, we examined the contribution of BCG- or M.

Canine and bovine Neospora caninum control sera examined for cross-reactivity using Neospora caninum and Neospora hughesi indirect fluorescent antibody tests.

Neospora caninum is a well known protozoan parasite of domestic and wild animals. Neospora hughesi is a closely related protozoan with an unknown life cycle, host range, and infection prevalence. Many serologic surveys of N.

The resistance of BALB/cJ mice to Yersinia pestis maps to the major histocompatibility complex of chromosome 17.

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, has been well studied at the molecular and genetic levels, but little is known about the role that host genes play in combating this highly lethal pathogen. We challenged several inbred strains of mice with Y. pestis and found that BALB/cJ mice are highly resistant compared to susceptible strains such as C57BL/6J.

Loss of infectivity of Neospora caninum oocysts maintained for a prolonged time.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether sporulated Neospora caninum oocysts, which had been stored for 46 mo in a 2% sulfuric acid solution at 4 degrees C, remain morphologically viable and infective to gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus). Six gerbils were orally inoculated with doses of 400 or 1,200 oocysts. Two mo after inoculation, the animals did not show any clinical signs, had no histological lesions, and were seronegative for N.

Plasmodium gallinaceum: clinical progression, recovery, and resistance to disease in chickens infected via mosquito bite.

Historically, in vivo experiments of Plasmodium gallinaceum in chickens have caused high mortality. Perhaps because of this high mortality, it remains to be demonstrated whether recovered birds will resist a second episode of illness when re-exposed to infected mosquitoes. In the current study, groups of 10 chicks were infected with P.

A decade of discoveries in veterinary protozoology changes our concept of "subclinical" toxoplasmosis.

One of the most compelling topics to emerge from the last decade of veterinary protozoology is disease caused by a zoonotic pathogen, Toxoplasma gondii, in otherwise healthy people. These findings may catch the health professions by surprise, because veterinary and medical courses and textbooks typically emphasize that T. gondii infections are subclinical, unless acquired in utero or the patient has a serious immunosuppressive condition.

Naturally occurring Sarcocystis neurona-like infection in a dog with myositis.

Tissue stages similar to those of Sarcocystis neurona, the causative agent of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis, were identified in skeletal muscles of a dog. The dog, a 6-year-old Labrador retriever, was seropositive for Toxoplasma gondii infection and euthanized due to a history of polymyositis and progressive muscular atrophy. Histologically, 30, variably sized, microscopic, intracellular sarcocysts were observed in 60 sections of skeletal muscles taken from the neck, fore limbs and hind limbs.

Variation of the internal transcribed spacer 1 sequence within individual strains and among different strains of Neospora caninum.

Small differences have been reported in the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region among strains of Neospora caninum. We compared ITS1 sequences among 6 N. caninum strains analyzed in our laboratory, including 2 strains that have not been examined previously (NC-Illinois and NC-Bahia).