Rinderpest experience.

Rinderpest, the most dreaded disease of cattle, originated as far back as the domestication of cattle, occurring in Asia more than 10,000 years ago. It has been the main preoccupation of Veterinary Service activities for many centuries and was the major motivation for establishing the first veterinary school in Lyon, France, in 1761. Gaining control of the disease was the impetus for the founding of many regional and international organisations (including the World Organisation for Animal Health). Outbreaks of rinderpest have led to food shortages and starvation, economic losses and poverty, social unrest, and disrupted transport networks in regions where agriculture was dependent on draught cattle. The rinderpest virus, causative agent of the disease, has also been used as a biological weapon in the past. Many regional rinderpest eradication campaigns have been implemented, including Joint Project 15; the Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign (PARC); the South Asia Rinderpest Eradication Campaign; the West Asia Rinderpest Eradication Campaign; and the Pan African Programme for the Control of Epizootics. All of these campaigns were supported by regional and international organisations, and the disease was finally eradicated in 2011. The benefit of PARC in terms of the value of avoided losses in cattle products due to the decrease in the disease's occurrence was estimated to be between 581,000 and 35,433,000 European currency units. Currently, the world is prepared to prevent the deliberate or accidental release of the remaining infectious rinderpest virus material which exists in research and diagnostic facilities across the world.

La peste bovine, la plus redoutable des maladies bovines, existe depuis l'époque reculée de la domestication des bovins, puisqu'elle est apparue en Asie il y a plus de dix mille ans. Au fil des siècles, cette maladie a été une préoccupation centrale des services en charge de la santé animale et a été le motif principal de la création de la première école vétérinaire, à Lyon (France) en 1761. L'ambition de maîtriser la peste bovine a participé de l'élan qui a vu naître nombre d'organisations régionales et internationales (dont l'Organisation mondiale de la santé animale). Les épidémies de peste bovine ont entraîné des pénuries alimentaires et des famines, des pertes économiques et une pauvreté accrue, une instabilité sociale et l'effondrement des réseaux de transport dans les régions où l'agriculture dépendait des bovidés de trait. Le virus responsable de la peste bovine a également été utilisé en tant qu'arme biologique dans le passé. De nombreuses campagnes d'éradication de la peste bovine ont été mises en œuvre à l'échelle régionale, parmi lesquelles le Projet conjoint 15, la Campagne panafricaine de lutte contre la peste bovine (PARC), la Campagne d'éradication de la peste bovine en Asie du Sud, la Campagne d'éradication de la peste bovine en Asie occidentale et le Programme panafricain de contrôle des épizooties. Ces campagnes ont toutes reçu le soutien d'organisations régionales et internationales et la maladie a finalement été éradiquée en 2011. Les bénéfices du programme PARC en termes de pertes de production évitées dans le secteur bovin grâce au déclin de l'incidence de la maladie ont été estimés entre 581 000 et 35 433 000 ECU (unité de compte européenne). Aujourd'hui, le monde est prêt à prévenir toute libération délibérée ou accidentelle des stocks restants de produits contenant le virus de la peste bovine détenus dans différents établissements de recherche et de diagnostic répartis dans le monde.

Los orígenes de la peste bovina, que es la más temida de las enfermedades del ganado vacuno, se remontan a la domesticación de los bovinos, que se dio en Asia hace más de 10 000 años. Durante muchos siglos ha sido una de las grandes preocupaciones que han guiado el trabajo de los Servicios Veterinarios, y fue uno de los principales factores que motivaron la fundación de la primera escuela de veterinaria en Lyon (Francia) en 1761. El objetivo de llegar a controlar la enfermedad fue el acicate que llevó a la creación de numerosas organizaciones de ámbito regional e internacional (entre ellas la Organización Mundial de Sanidad Animal). Los brotes de peste bovina han causado episodios de escasez de alimentos y hambruna, pérdidas económicas, pobreza y disturbios sociales, sin olvidar la desorganización de las redes de transporte en regiones donde la agricultura dependía del ganado de tiro. En el pasado el virus de la peste bovina, agente causal de la enfermedad, también ha sido utilizado como arma biológica. Numerosas campañas regionales de erradicación de la peste bovina han visto la luz, entre ellas el llamado Proyecto Conjunto 15, la Campaña panafricana contra la peste bovina (PARC), la Campaña de Erradicación de la Peste Bovina en Asia Meridional, la Campaña de Erradicación de la Peste Bovina en Asia Occidental y el Programa Panafricano de Control de Epizootias. Gracias a todas estas iniciativas, respaldadas por organizaciones regionales e internacionales, en 2011 la enfermedad quedó por fin erradicada. Según las estimaciones, basadas en el valor económico de las pérdidas de productos ganaderos evitadas gracias a la reducción de los casos de enfermedad, la PARC deparó entre 581 000 y 35 433 000 Ecus (unidades de cuenta europeas) de beneficios. En la actualidad el mundo está preparado para evitar toda liberación accidental o deliberada de las muestras infecciosas de virus de la peste bovina que aún se conservan en centros de investigación y diagnóstico de todo el planeta.

International reference standards: antibody standards for the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Reference standards are used to calibrate similar assay systems against an international reference protocol and to provide a template for the preparation of secondary and/or working standards. Three reference standards are recommended for the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: a strong positive standard, a weak positive standard and a negative serum standard. The negative standard should be derived from a single serum or from a serum pool which exhibits typical background activity in the reference protocol. The strong and weak positive standards should be derived from a single serum or from a serum pool which typifies the humoral response (antibody) to natural infection. Suitable candidates for the positive reference standards should exhibit dose/response curves in the mid-range of antibody activity. The strong and weak positive standards should each be prepared from a one-time dilution in the negative standard, to yield antibody activities which are defined by specific points on the linear portion of the dose/response curve. The strong positive standard should represent an antibody activity (absorbance value) midway between the upper and central points and the weak positive standard should represent an antibody activity midway between the central and lower points of the linear portion of the curve. Owing to inherent differences among assay systems, antibody activities should be expressed in relative rather than in absolute terms. It is recommended that the antibody activity of the strong positive standard should denote 100% positivity. The activities of the weak positive and negative standards should then be expressed as relative percentages. Every set of international reference standards should be accompanied by an information sheet which includes, among other things, a plot of the dose/response curve and an indication of the dilutions used to prepare the standards.

[Epidemiology of rinderpest and cattle plague in Mali: serological surveys]. / Epidémiologie de la peste des petits ruminants (PPR) et de la peste bovine au Mali: enquêtes sérologiques.

Within the epidemiological surveillance of rinderpest in Mali a serological survey has been carried out on 58 herds of small ruminants. Out of 567 tested sera for the detection of antibodies against rinderpest 2 were positive. These sera were collected from two animals over 6 years old, probably infected during the last outbreak of rinderpest in Mali in 1986. Therefore, it can be assumed that the rinderpest virus has not circulated in Mali since that year. However, the infection rate among goats and sheep due to the PPR virus seemed to be high: 74% of herds had already been infected. The prevalence of individual infection is 32%. A similar serological survey was conducted on 450 cattleheads, without antibodies against the rinderpest virus and showed that 1.78% of these animals had been in contact with the PPR virus. With such a low infection rate in cattle, the PPR virus probably has no incidence in the epidemiology of rinderpest in Mali.

[Epidemiology of bovine brucellosis in Mali: serologic investigation and initial isolation of strains of Brucella abortus]. / Epidémiologie de la brucellose bovine au Mali: enquête sérologique et isolement des premières souches de Brucella abortus.

The authors report the results of an epidemiological survey of bovine brucellosis in Mali, based on a relatively representative sample of 1,000 serum samples from 236 herds. The prevalence of infection in the herds, established by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was 53% +/- 6.4. The proportion of animals infected was 23.3% +/- 2.5, falling to 22% when compared with the basic serum pool of 9,466 samples. This rate was relatively high in stationary herds in the semi-arid, sub-humid and arid zones. Four strains of Brucella abortus were isolated from cattle bearing hygromas.