RESUMEN
A retrospective study on the epidemiology of foot and- mouth disease (FMD) in Karnataka, India between the years 1977 and 2012-13 based on the data collected through passive and active surveillance was undertaken. A total of 11,159 outbreaks with 0.271 million cases of FMD were recorded from 30 different revenue districts of Karnataka. There was a significant difference between the years for the annual incidence of FMD (P = <0.001, F = 19.10) and also between the months (P = <0.001, F = 4.22). Cattle and buffaloes were the predominant species affected being involved in all of the outbreaks reported. A significant correlation was observed between livestock density and the number of outbreaks reported (r = 0.70, p < 0.02), and number of cases (r = 0.76, p < 0.01) for all the agro-climatic zones. The Central dry zone (n = 2257, 19.89 %) reported the highest number of outbreaks followed by the Northern dry zone (n = 1881, 16.58 %) and the Southern transition zone (n = 1761, 15.52 %), and attack rates were concentrated in the North/Northeastern/Central dry and transition zones. A large majority of the outbreaks were caused by serotype O (64.04 %), followed by Asia 1 (19.87 %) and A (12.27 %). Serotype C was not reported since 1993 in the state. In recent years, serotype O has dominated (82.59 %), with the rest of the outbreaks being almost equally caused by A (9.01 %) and Asia 1 (8.40 %). The study highlights the significance of the O serotype and cattle as the main indicator species in the epidemiology of FMD in Karnataka, India. The findings from this study can be used as baseline epidemiological data for further research to identify endemic and epidemic areas for the development of a sustainable programme for the progressive control of FMD in the state of Karnataka as well as other endemic settings.
RESUMEN
PURPOSE: To study the differences between pathogenic and saprophytic leptospires. METHOD: A total of 275 samples were collected from different sources out of which 107 were subjected to PCR and bacteriological culturing. Two sets of primers were used for detection of leptospiral DNA and differentiation of pathogenic and saprophytic leptospires. Differentiation was also carried out by conventional methods. RESULTS: Twenty seven samples were found positive by PCR ut of which 26 were pathogenic and one was saprophytic. Culturing in EMJH medium yielded four isolates, of which isolates from sera were found to be pathogenic and isolate from water was found to be saprophytic. CONCLUSION: From the present study, it was concluded that PCR is simple, specific and rapid method for detection as well as differentiation of leptospires when compared to conventional methods.
RESUMEN
DNA samples from 19 reference serovars belonging to 19 different serogroups of Leptospira interrogans and two serovars belonging to Leptospira biflexa were examined by bacterial restriction endonuclease analysis using EcoR I and Hae III enzymes. All the serovars gave unique restriction patterns that differed from each other. DNA from 10 local isolates digested with these enzymes produced patterns which on comparison with the standard patterns produced by reference strains could be identified to serovar level.
RESUMEN
Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting of 14 laboratory strains of leptospiral serovars (serovars australis, autumnalis, ballum, bataviae, canicola, grippotyphosa, hardjoprajitno, hebdomadis, icterohaemorrhagiae, javanica, pomona, pyrogenes, panama, and tarassovi) was carried out by using a pair of primers. Each serovar had a unique and distinct fingerprint pattern. DNAs of other bacterial species, including Escherichia coli, Pasteurella multocida, Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas spp., and Klebsiella spp., did not show any amplification. RAPD fingerprinting was found to be a rapid and sensitive method for serovar identification when it was compared to DNA restriction enzyme analysis, which produced a larger number of bands that made it more difficult to compare serovars.
