Community engagement strengthens pig disease knowledge and passive surveillance in Timor-Leste.

Smallholder pig production in Timor-Leste is culturally and economically important for most households. However, regular and ongoing disease surveillance and pig husbandry training for farmers are limited. This article describes collaborative social and diagnostic research followed by a pilot community engagement program to improve farmer and technician knowledge, skills, and working relationships.

The Matrix Effect in the RT-PCR Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Using Saliva without RNA Extraction.

The present work focuses on the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva, contributing to understanding the inhibition effect of the matrix and its influence on the results. Detection of viral genes ORF1ab, N, and E was performed by RT-PCR using saliva directly in the reaction without RNA extraction. Different amounts of saliva were spiked with increasing amounts of viral RNA from COVID-19 patients and subjected to RT-PCR detection.

Impact of Thermal Pretreatment of Saliva on the RT-PCR Detection of SARS-CoV-2.

The use of saliva directly as a specimen to detect viral RNA by RT-PCR has been tested for a long time as its advantages are relevant in terms of convenience and costs. However, as other body fluids, its proven inhibition effect on the amplification reaction can be troublesome and compromise its use in the detection of viral particles. The aim of the present work is to demonstrate that saliva pretreatment may influence the RT-PCR amplification of three gene targets of SARS-CoV-2 significantly.

Investigating the Socio-Economic and Livelihoods Impacts of African Swine Fever in Timor-Leste: An Application of Spatial Group Model Building.

Small-scale pig farming is highly important to the economic and social status of households in Timor-Leste. The presence of an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in Timor-Leste was confirmed in 2019, a major concern given that around 70% of agricultural households practice pig farming. This research used a virtual spatial group model building process to construct a concept model to better understand the main feedback loops that determine the socio-economic and livelihood impacts of the ASF outbreak.