Spatial distribution of bluetongue in cattle in southern Croatia in the last quarter of 2002.

The domestic ruminant population of southern Croatia was affected by bluetongue (BT) in late 2001. A sentinel cattle scheme was developed to detect the presence of bluetongue virus (BTV) activity in the domestic cattle population in the protection zone (based on the distribution of BT in 2001: Dubrovacko-Neretvanska County and the southern area of the Splitsko-Dalmatinska County) as well as in the surveillance zone (the northern area of the Splitsko-Dalmatinska County). Twenty-five villages were selected to serve as sentinel locations during the observation period which lasted from 15 September to 15 December 2002. Seroconversion was not detected in cattle in sentinel locations in the surveillance zone. However, in the protection zone, serum antibodies to BTV serotype 9 were detected in eight cattle in five of the ten sentinel locations. Although no clinical case of BT disease was detected in sheep on mainland Croatia in late 2002, BTV activity was present in sentinel cattle in the protection zone. When compared with 2001, spatial distribution of the locations in which cattle seroconverted to BTV-9 in the last quarter of the 2002 suggests a northward trend to the spread of BTV in the cattle of southern Croatia.

Prevalence of antibodies to classical swine fever, Aujeszky's disease, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, and bovine viral diarrhoea viruses in wild boars in Croatia.

During the hunting season in February 1999, a total of 44 blood samples were collected from wild boars shot in the area of Moslavacka gora. These blood samples were examined by enzyme immunoassay for the presence of antibodies to classical swine fever (CSFV), Aujeszky's disease (ADV), bovine viral diarrhoea (BVDV), and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRSV) viruses. Out of 44 serum samples examined, 17 (38.63%) were positive for CSFV, 24 (54.54%) were positive for ADV and two (4.54%) were positive for BVDV. All sera were negative for PRRSV. The results, recorded for the first time in Croatia, supported the hypothesis that wild boar act as a potential reservoir of CSFV, ADV and BVDV, and thus have a role in the epidemiology of these diseases.

Professor Dr. Ljudevit Jurak (1881-1945).

Many physicians have given their lives performing their duties at work; many have fallen victims to laboratory accidents or have contracted the disease they were studying. Great numbers of them have also died in civil or military hospitals during the bombardment, or in the field. We shall keep in our memory not only them but also those who were killed in prisons only because they had not conformed to the regime they lived under. Some have been lucky enough to escape and live today some place far away from home. As scientists they have contributed greatly to their new home countries far from the inconvenient conditions they used to live in before.

Qualitative analyses of cellular immune functions in equine infectious anemia show homology with AIDS.

Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is a disease caused by a lymphocytotropic lentivirus which belongs to the same subfamily as HIV. Because of the very close relationship of their predicted gag and pol gene products and similarities in clinical manifestations of the disease, EIA served as a model to study immunological events involved in the host defence against lymphocytotropic viral infections. The existence of antibody dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity against autologous EIA virus infected lymphoblasts was demonstrated in vitro at the beginning of an acute attack of the disease. Cytotoxic activity was not found or was very low during chronic infection. Reactivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes to Protein A and allogeneic cells in vitro was significantly suppressed in the presence of an acute serum, while the reactivity to PHA was at the normal level. These results suggest that cellular immune mechanism(s) are also involved in removal of EIA virus infected cells as has been reported recently in HIV-1 infected individuals and that EIAV and HIV immunopathogenesis show similarities in affecting the immune response of the host.

T and B lymphocytes in horses persistently infected with equine infectious anaemia virus.

The percentage of T and B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of horses chronically infected with equine infectious anaemia (EIA) virus was determined and the results were compared with the percentage of these cells in healthy uninfected horses. Cells with membrane receptors for sheep erythrocytes (T and active T lymphocytes) were determined by E and A rosette techniques, while cells with receptors for the C3b component of complement and those with receptors for mouse erythrocytes (B lymphocytes), were determined by the EAC rosette method. The percentage of Fe positive cells was assayed by the EA rosette test. The majority of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from both uninfected and EIA-infected horses formed rosettes of each kind with only three erythrocytes indicating a low density of the corresponding receptors on the cell membrane under the condition of the assays used. The percentage of T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of diseased horses (52.4 +/- 1.6%), as detected by E rosettes, was significantly (p less than 0.01) higher than in control animals (42.4 +/- 3.5%). In clinically healthy horses 8.9 +/- 1.1% of PBL were identified by A rosettes as active T cells, whereas animals with a chronic form of EIA had a much lower (p less than 0.001) percentage of these cells (4.7 +/- 0.7%). In the B lymphocyte subpopulations the percentages of cells bearing Fc and C3b receptors were markedly elevated (p less than 0.001) in EIA-infected horses (24.7 +/- 0.8% and 42.8 +/- 2.2% respectively) as compared to uninfected animals (15.1 +/- 1.4% and 29.6 +/- 1.2% respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)