Management Practices of Bovine Mastitis and Milk Quality on Egyptian Dairies.

Milk production continues to be the main source of income for dairy producers, and mastitis continues to be the major health challenge for dairy cows worldwide. The objective of the current study was to describe the different management practices implemented in Egyptian dairies, which may influence mastitis and improve milk quality. An in-person survey was completed with herd managers and owners of 20 Egyptian dairies selected using a stratified random sample from four of Egypt's milk sheds. The questionnaire included 80 questions that inquired about herd demographics, mastitis status and control, milking practices, and management practices of the study dairies. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, multiple factor analysis (MFA), and hierarchical clustering to identify the important principal components and different dairy clusters. Of the surveyed herds, 69.50% had less than 500 lactating cows, with Holstein as the main cow breed. The reported average milk production on the study herds was 31.1 (SE ± 1.10) Kg/cow/day. Housing of lactating, dry, and close-up cows was in open lots. The majority of the dairies milked cows were three times per day (90.63%), the remaining milked cows four (5.00%) or a mix of four and three times per day. Furthermore, herringbone parlor design was the most common parlor design (66.79%) in the study dairies. The most common disinfectants used for both pre- and post-milking teat dip were iodine-based, 90.0% and 95.0%, respectively, while 52.16% of the dairies reported that their milkers wore gloves during milking. The reported mean annual percentage of mastitis was 52.3%, as a percent of the milking herd. The study dairies reported the inspection of udder health through either visual inspection (95.00%), udder hygiene score (86.88%), teat end score (71.88%), and/or using CMT (54.91%). Contagious mastitis pathogens were reported in 45.2% of the study herds. More than 50% of the study herds relied on importing pregnant cows or pregnant heifers as replacements. Multiple factor analysis identified 20 questions and represented 5 components of variability related to mastitis on dairies. The current survey of Egyptian dairies described the herd demographics and different management practices related to mastitis control and prevention. All the study dairies relied on the blanket intramammary antimicrobial drugs at dry off when current research elsewhere has identified selective dry cow therapy as an integral component of antimicrobial stewardship on dairies. Further research is required to identify the association between different management factors and the occurrence of mastitis.

Foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in Egypt during 2013-2014: Molecular characterization of serotypes A, O, and SAT2.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotypes A, O and South African Territories (SAT2) are endemic in Egypt; each is presented by a number of partially related topotypes and lineages, depending on their geographical origin. Continuous mutations and the emergence of new topotypes that lead to occasional vaccination failures were frequently recorded, so this study aimed to genetically characterize the circulating FMD virus strains in Egypt during 2013 and 2014 outbreaks, focusing on amino acids variations in VP1 region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 51 oral tissue samples were collected from cattle and buffaloes in 13 farms, and 38 individual cases showed clinical signs suspected to be FMD in six Egyptian Governorates (Cairo, Giza, Qaliubia, Fayoum, Sharquia, and Assiut). FMDV in collected samples was characterized by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of full VP1 region, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: Out of 51 samples, 44 (86.27%) were positive by RT-PCR using universal primers. Serotype O was predominant and detected in 31 samples (70.45%), serotype A was detected in 9 samples (20.45%), and then serotype SAT2 was identified in 4 samples (9.10%). Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of VP1 demonstrated clustering of serotype O, A, and SAT2 in EA-3 topotype, ASIA topotype, and topotype VII, respectively. Serotype O is closely related to O/SUD/8/2008 with 94.6% identity but showed 14.6% differences from vaccine strain (O/PanAsia-2) of ME-SA topotype. Furthermore, Serotype A and SAT2 were closely related to recent circulating Egyptian isolates and vaccine strains type A/EGY/1/2012 (Asia topotype, lineage Iran-05) with identity 96.4% and vaccine strain of SAT2/EGY/A/2012 (topotype VII, lineage SAT2/VII/ALX-12) with identity 95.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The present study recommended further studies of serotype O to determine the immunogenic relationship between the vaccine strain and the new strains to attain maximum protection against circulating viruses.

Seroprevalence of some Infectious transboundry diseases in cattle imported from Sudan to Egypt.

OBJECTIVE: Animal trade has an important role in the economy but in contrast, it causes the spread of infectious diseases overall the world, in particular, the trans-boundary animal diseases. Therefore, the aim of this study is to report the prevalence rate of some transboundary infectious diseases to assess the effectiveness of quarantine measure in the detection of exotic disease and clarify the role of live animal trade in infectious transboundary diseases spread. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was done on 176 serum samples obtained from cattle imported from Sudan in order to determine the prevalence of foot and mouth disease (FMD), Peste Des Petits Ruminants (PPR), and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR). Three serological tests were used; Serum neutralization test for FMD, Indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (i-ELISA) for PPR, and Competitive ELISA for IBR. RESULTS: The seroprevalence of FMD in tested sera was; 77.27% in the serotype A (A-Iran), 68.18% in the serotype A (A-Africa), 93.82% in the serotype O (O-Pan Asia), and 35.227% in the serotype South African Territories-2 (SAT-2) SAT-2. While the overall seroprevalence of PPR was 49.431% and the IBR was 93.75%. CONCLUSION: The result indicates the serious role of live animal trade as "hubs" for infectious diseases spread. Subsequently, the common control measures must be taken to avoid the spread of the diseases through the animal trade; which include screening, surveillance, precautions at borders, and vaccination.