Diagnosis, Epidemiology and Vaccine Development of Infectious Diseases in Small Ruminants

A special issue of Veterinary Sciences (ISSN 2306-7381). This special issue belongs to the section "Veterinary Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2024 | Viewed by 6711

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory for Veterinary Bio-Product Engineering, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing 210014, China
Interests: ruminant; infectious diseases; emerging virus; diagnosis; epidemiology; pathogenesis; innate immunity; viral-host interaction; vaccine; bacteria; virus; mycoplasma
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory for Veterinary Bio-Product Engineering, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing 210014, China
Interests: small ruminant; infectious diseases; emerging virus; diagnosis; epidemiology; pathogenesis; vaccine; bacteria; virus; mycoplasma; parasite

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Animal Science, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Interests: ruminant; infectious diseases; diagnosis; epidemiology; pathogenesis; vaccine; virus; bacteria; mycoplasma

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The small ruminant industry is important position for national economies in Australia, the UK and many countries in Africa and Asia, which have many indigenous breeds. With the rapid development of intensive sheep/goat raising, frequent allocation and transportation, and poor disease control strategies in farms, infectious diseases are becoming a challenge to the health of domesticated and wild small ruminants. Traditional infectious diseases, such as colibacillosis, pasteurellosis, clostridium disease, contagious caprine pleurop-neumonia, sheep/goat pox, and contagious ecthyma, cause large economic losses annually. Several emerging or re-emerging pathogens, including peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), bluetongue virus (BTV), border disease virus (BDV) and parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV3), continue to spread, reaching regions previously not infected or reported. To better prevent and control these diseases, it is necessary to elucidate their epidemic characteristics and develop novel diagnostic methods and vaccines.

In this Special Issue, we will focus on the most recent progress in the “Diagnosis, Epidemiology and Vaccine Development of Infectious Diseases in Small Ruminants”. The pathogen species to be discussed include, but are not limited to bacteria, viruses and mycoplasma. We invite you to submit your most recent research findings and/or insights (original research articles and reviews) to this topic.

Prof. Dr. Wenliang Li
Dr. Li Mao
Prof. Dr. Zhentao Cheng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Veterinary Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bacteria
  • virus
  • mycoplasma
  • emerging pathogens
  • epidemiology
  • aetiology
  • diagnosis
  • serological
  • evolutionary characteristics
  • “next-generation” sequencing technology
  • prophylaxis and prevention
  • vaccines
  • subunit vaccine
  • virus-like particle vaccine
  • mRNA vaccine

Published Papers (5 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Other

11 pages, 1781 KiB  
Article
Genomic Sequencing and Analysis of Enzootic Nasal Tumor Virus Type 2 Provides Evidence for Recombination within the Prevalent Chinese Strains
by Yixuan Li, Jingyi Niu, Yiyu Liu, Yu Dai, Hongbo Ni, Jinliang Wang, Rendong Fang and Chao Ye
Vet. Sci. 2024, 11(6), 248; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11060248 - 2 Jun 2024
Viewed by 532
Abstract
In recent years, the clinical cases of ENTV-2 infection have increased and become prevalent in several provinces of China. In this study, we reported the occurrence of ENTV-2 in one goat farm in Chongqing, southwest China. The complete genome of an emerged ENTV-2 [...] Read more.
In recent years, the clinical cases of ENTV-2 infection have increased and become prevalent in several provinces of China. In this study, we reported the occurrence of ENTV-2 in one goat farm in Chongqing, southwest China. The complete genome of an emerged ENTV-2 isolate (designated as CQ2) was sequenced with 7468 bp in length. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ENTV-2 consisted of two main lineages. Lineage 1 was composed of Chinese strains and could be subdivided into five sublineages. CQ2 and the other six recent isolates from China were clustered in sublineage 1.5; however, CQ2 was significantly different from the other six isolates. Furthermore, recombination analysis suggested that CQ2 might be a recombinant variant derived from sublineage 1.5 and sublineage 1.2 strains, with the recombination region in areas of pro and pol genes. In conclusion, we sequenced and analyzed the complete genome of a potential ENTV-2 recombinant, which may contribute to our understanding of the genetic variation and evolution of ENTV-2 in China. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 777 KiB  
Article
First Specific Detection of Mammalian Orthoreovirus from Goats Using TaqMan Real-Time RT-PCR Technology
by Li Mao, Xia Li, Xuhang Cai, Wenliang Li, Jizong Li, Shanshan Yang, Junjun Zhai, Sizhu Suolang and Bin Li
Vet. Sci. 2024, 11(4), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11040141 - 22 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1299
Abstract
Mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV) infections are ubiquitous in multiple mammalian species including humans, and mainly causes gastroenteritis and respiratory disease. In this study, we developed a rapid and sensitive TaqMan qRT-PCR method for MRV detection based on the primers and probe designed within the [...] Read more.
Mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV) infections are ubiquitous in multiple mammalian species including humans, and mainly causes gastroenteritis and respiratory disease. In this study, we developed a rapid and sensitive TaqMan qRT-PCR method for MRV detection based on the primers and probe designed within the conserved L1 gene. The qRT-PCR assay was evaluated for its sensitivity, specificity, efficiency and reproducibility. It was found that the detection sensitivity was equivalent to 10 DNA copies/μL, and the standard curves had a linear correlation of R2 = 0.998 with an amplification efficiency of 99.6%. The inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation (CV%) were in the range of 0.29% to 2.16% and 1.60% to 3.60%, respectively. The primer sets specifically amplified their respective MRV segments and had the highest detection sensitivities of 100.25 TCID50/mL with amplification efficiencies of 99.5% (R2 = 0.999). qRT-PCR was used for MRV detection from samples of sheep, goats, and calves from four regions in China, and the overall MRV prevalence was 8.2% (35/429), whereas 17/429 (4.0%) were detected by RT-PCR and 14/429 (3.3%) by virus isolation. The qRT-PCR assay showed significantly higher sensitivity than RT-PCR and virus isolation. Results from an epidemiological survey indicated that the positive rate of MRV in rectal swabs from sheep and goats tested in Shaanxi, Jiangsu, and Xinjiang were 9/80 (11.3%), 12/93 (12.9%) and 14/128 (10.9%), respectively. In goats and sheep, MRV prevalence was obviously associated with season and age, with a high positive rate of more than 8% during September to April and approximately 13% in small ruminant animals under two months of age. This is the first instance of MRV infection in sheep and goats in China, thus broadening our knowledge of MRV hosts. Consequently, primer optimization for qRT-PCR should not only prioritize amplification efficiency and specificity, but also sensitivity. This assay will contribute to more accurate and rapid MRV monitoring by epidemiological investigation, viral load, and vaccination efficacy. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2360 KiB  
Article
Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus Using TaqMan-based qPCR in Eastern China
by Yutong Tian, Hailong Zhang, Yan Zhang, Xinya Zhang, Zhilei Guan, Junjie Zhang, Yafeng Qiu, Beibei Li, Ke Liu, Zongjie Li, Donghua Shao, Peng Li, Zhiyong Ma and Jianchao Wei
Vet. Sci. 2024, 11(3), 138; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11030138 - 21 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1407
Abstract
Caprine arthritis encephalitis is an infectious disease caused by the caprine arthritis encephalitis virus that infects goats, sheep, and other small ruminants. An outbreak of CAEV could be extremely harmful to the goat farming industry and could cause severe economic losses. We designed [...] Read more.
Caprine arthritis encephalitis is an infectious disease caused by the caprine arthritis encephalitis virus that infects goats, sheep, and other small ruminants. An outbreak of CAEV could be extremely harmful to the goat farming industry and could cause severe economic losses. We designed specific primers and probes for the gag gene and established a TaqMan real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay. This method’s correlation coefficient (R2) was >0.999, and the sensitivity of the assay to the plasmid-carried partial gag gene was approximately 10 copies/µL, 1000 times higher than that of conventional PCR. No specific fluorescence was detected for other sheep viruses. Using this method, we tested 776 asymptomatic sheep blood samples and 4 neurodegenerative sheep brain samples from six farms in eastern China, and the positivity rate was 0.77% (6/780). The gag gene was partially sequenced in the three positive samples and compared with the sequences from other representative strains in GenBank. The results revealed that all three strains belonged to the B1 subtype and were most closely related to the strains from Shanxi and Gansu, previously isolated in China, with their homology ranging from 97.7% to 98.9%. These results suggest that the designed RT-qPCR assay can be used to detect subclinical CAEV in sheep and that the virus is still present in eastern China. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2703 KiB  
Article
Molecular Epidemiology of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Viruses in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
by Yassir M. Eltahir, Hassan Zackaria Ali Ishag, Jemma Wadsworth, Hayley M. Hicks, Nick J. Knowles, Valérie Mioulet, Donald P. King, Meera Saeed Mohamed, Oum Keltoum Bensalah, Mohd Farouk Yusof, Esmat Faisal Malik Gasim, Zulaikha Mohamed Al Hammadi, Asma Abdi Mohamed Shah, Yasir Ali Abdelmagid, Moustafa Abdel meguid El Gahlan, Mohanned Fawzi Kassim, Kaltham Kayaf, Ahmed Zahran and Mervat Mari Al Nuaimat
Vet. Sci. 2024, 11(1), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11010032 - 15 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2058
Abstract
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an endemic disease in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in both wild and domestic animals. Despite this, no systematic FMD outbreak investigation accompanied by molecular characterisation of FMD viruses (FMDVs) in small ruminants or cattle has been performed, and [...] Read more.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an endemic disease in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in both wild and domestic animals. Despite this, no systematic FMD outbreak investigation accompanied by molecular characterisation of FMD viruses (FMDVs) in small ruminants or cattle has been performed, and only a single report that describes sequences for FMDVs in wildlife from the Emirate has been published. In this study, FMD outbreaks that occurred in 2021 in five animal farms and one animal market in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi were investigated. Cases involved sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx). Twelve samples were positive for FMDV via RT-qPCR, and four samples (Arabian oryx n = 1, goat n = 2, and sheep n = 1) were successfully genotyped using VP1 nucleotide sequencing. These sequences shared 88~98% identity and were classified within the serotype O, Middle East–South Asia topotype (O/ME-SA). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Arabian oryx isolate (UAE/2/2021) belonged to the PanAsia-2 lineage, the ANT-10 sublineage, and was closely related to the FMDVs recently detected in neighbouring countries. The FMDV isolates from goats (UAE/10/2021 and UAE/11/2021) and from sheep (UAE/14/2021) formed a monophyletic cluster within the SA-2018 lineage that contained viruses from Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka. This is the first study describing the circulation of the FMDV O/ME-SA/SA-2018 sublineage in the UAE. These data shed light on the epidemiology of FMD in the UAE and motivate further systematic epidemiological studies and genomic sequencing to enhance the ongoing national animal health FMD control plan. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research

7 pages, 855 KiB  
Case Report
Polymicrobial Septic Peritonitis Caused by Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus casseliflavus following Uterine Rupture in a Goat
by Gabriel S. dos Santos, Giovanna S. Francischetti, Natália F. Garritano, Stefano C. F. Hagen, Artur F. Cagnim, José Luiz Catão-Dias, José S. Ferreira Neto, Maria Claudia A. Sucupira and Marcos B. Heinemann
Vet. Sci. 2024, 11(6), 268; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11060268 - 12 Jun 2024
Viewed by 794
Abstract
A one-year-old female miniature goat was presented to an emergency service after calving a dead goatling. Physical and ultrasonographic examination revealed the presence of a viable fetus; therefore, the goat was submitted to an emergency cesarean section. In the postoperative period, the animal [...] Read more.
A one-year-old female miniature goat was presented to an emergency service after calving a dead goatling. Physical and ultrasonographic examination revealed the presence of a viable fetus; therefore, the goat was submitted to an emergency cesarean section. In the postoperative period, the animal had septic peritonitis caused by Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus casseliflavus. Both bacterial strains showed contrasting antimicrobial resistance profiles. Laparohysterectomy and abdominal cavity lavage were performed, but, once the animal had adhesions and necrotic lesions in abdominal organs, euthanasia was executed. A post-mortem examination revealed fibrino-necrotic septic peritonitis secondary to uterine rupture. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first detailed report of polymicrobial septic peritonitis in a miniature goat and the first report of septic peritonitis caused by E. faecium and E. casseliflavus. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop