A Targeted Survey for Scrapie in Jos Plateau State, Nigeria.

Scrapie, a disease of sheep and goats with a progressive course and fatal outcome, has not been identified in Nigeria. Anecdotal scrapie reports by livestock workers abound. Livestock diseases like scrapie form huddles in livestock economics of countries. For 8 months we surveyed for scrapie targeting emergency/casualty slaughter sheep and goats in Jos, Nigeria. We clinically examined 510 sheep and 608 goats of local breeds, aged from 12 months to 5 years. In total 31 (5.10%) goats and no sheep were clinically suspicious for scrapie. Caudal brainstem tissues of suspect animals collected postmortem were analyzed for the disease specific form of the prion protein, PrP(Sc), using Bio-Rad's TeSeE ELISA rapid test kit. No sample was positive for scrapie. Fluorescent antibody test for rabies and H&E staining on samples were carried out for differential diagnosis. These showed no pathological lesions indicative for neurological disease. While our findings do not exclude the presence of scrapie in Jos, we demonstrate that targeted sampling of small ruminants for neuroinfectious disease is feasible in developing countries, pointing to the possibility of implementing such a monitoring scheme in Nigeria to prevent economic losses in small ruminant livestock as scrapie caveats from endemic countries have shown.

Survival and Multiplication of Vibrio cholerae Serotype Ogawa in Reconstituted Infant Milk.

In vitro studies were conducted to determine the effects of temperature, pH, and competitive growth of other microorganisms on the viability and multiplication of Vibrio cholerae serotype Ogawa in reconstituted infant milk (nonsterile). Following inoculation of milk sample (at a pH range of 6.0 to 6.4), the V. cholerae population detected on thiosulfate-citrate-bile sucrose (TCBS) agar increased from 9.5 × 103 per g to 7.4 × 104, 2.6 × 108, and 1.9 × 109 per g after 12 h at 4°C, 25°C (room temperature) and 37°C, respectively. At a pH of 5.5, an approximate 100-fold rise in V. cholerae was observed after 12 h at 25°C, while within a pH range of 6.5 to 8.5, a five logarithmic increase in numbers was detected. The presence of other microorganisms did not appear to have any adverse effect on V. cholerae survival and growth in milk. The study demonstrates that at ambient conditions V. cholerae contamination of infant milk formula by carriers or infected mothers could lead to multiplication of the organism and hence pose serious health risk to infants.