Epizootics of bovine ephemeral fever on dairy farms in Saudi Arabia.

In 1990 and 1996, field veterinarians suspected the clinical occurrence of bovine ephemeral fever among dairy and conventional cattle in different regions of Saudi Arabia. The disease has a seasonal occurrence; it begins in early summer (May) and ends in late autumn (November). The mortality rate is low: 0.

Preliminary seromonitoring of rinderpest among cattle raised under different husbandry systems in Saudi Arabia.

Using the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the seromonitoring of rinderpest in Saudi Arabia, antibodies were detected in 30% of the sera of 1,018 cattle slaughtered at Riyadh abattoir during June and July 1995. The correlation between the detection of antibodies and the origins of the slaughtered animals was analysed. All the culled dairy cows had detectable antibodies.

The impact of live animal importation on the epizootiology of foot-and-mouth disease in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia imports annually more than 6 millions live ruminants for slaughter. The majority of these animals are imported from countries where foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is enzootic. Serotypes of FMD virus not incorporated in the vaccine currently used in Saudi Arabia (e.

Epizootiology of foot and mouth disease in Saudi Arabia: II. Current status on dairy farms and control measures in operation.

Specifically-designed questionnaires were distributed to the managers and/or veterinarians of all dairy farms in Saudi Arabia in order to obtain data on the occurrence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) on these farms from 1971 to 1989, as well as data on current control measures. Of 39 farms, 27 responded to the questionnaire and 15 (56%) reported FMD outbreaks. Notification and collection of samples for diagnosis were not performed consistently.

Epizootiology of foot and mouth disease in Saudi Arabia: I. Analysis of data obtained through district field veterinarians.

Data on the epizootiological status of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in all districts of Saudi Arabia were obtained through responses to a specifically-designed questionnaire from field veterinarians working in different Directorates of Agriculture throughout the country. Suspected clinical occurrence of the disease was reported in seventeen of the twenty-three Directorates. The animal species affected were mainly cattle (in fifteen Directorates) and sheep (in eight Directorates).

Development of a live cell culture camelpox vaccine.

A Saudi isolate of camel orthopoxvirus was serially propagated on monolayers of camel kidney cell cultures. The attenuation of the 78th passage was tested in two susceptible camels. Two other susceptible camels were inoculated with vaccinia virus four times propagated in camel kidney cell cultures.

Preliminary studies on enzootic bovine leukosis in Saudi dairy farms.

The occurrence of sporadic cases of enzootic bovine leukosis in commercial dairy farms in Saudi Arabia was recently confirmed and found to be associated with importation of breeding heifers. Immunodiffusion test was applied to screen the prevalence of infection with bovine leukemia virus among local traditional and dairy cattle. All the 102 examined local cattle were negative, while out of the 1329 tested dairy animals (originating from 23 farms), 268 (from 16 farms) showed precipitating activity.