In vitro antiviral effect of ethanolic extracts from Azadirachta indica and Melia azedarach against goat lentivirus in colostrum and milk.

This study aimed to evaluate, in vitro, the use of leaf extracts of Azadirachta indica (A. indica) and Melia azedarach (M. azedarach) as antivirals against caprine lentivirus (CLV) in colostrum and milk of goat nannies. These were collected from eight individuals and infected with the standard strain of CLV. Samples were then subdivided into aliquots and treated with 150 µg/mL of crude extract, and with ethyl acetate and methanol fractions for 30, 60, and 90 min. Next, somatic cells from colostrum and milk were co-cultured with cells from the ovine third eyelid. After this step, viral titers of the supernatants collected from treatments with greater efficacy in co-culture were assessed. The organic ethyl acetate fractions of both plants at 90 min possibly inhibited the viral activity of CLV by up to a thousandfold in colostrum. In milk, this inhibition was up to 800 times for the respective Meliaceae. In conclusion, the ethanolic fraction of ethyl acetate from both plants demonstrated efficacy against CLV in samples from colostrum and milk when subjected to treatment, which was more effective in colostrum.

Cross-sectional survey for sheep leptospirosis in the northeast region of Brazil.

Sheep farming has shown expressive growth, even in the Northeast region of Brazil, with rainfall below expectations in the last decade. This growth has been observed not only in the number of herds, but also in the number of properties involved in sheep farming. Although expressive, the production of small ruminants still presents low levels of performance, mainly due to the occurrence of diseases, which constitute an obstacle to this activity. The aim of this study was to determine the factors associated with the seroprevalence of leptospirosis in sheep in Northeastern Brazil. Blood samples were collected from 3438 sheep in 190 herds from 48 municipalities, belonging to the states of Ceará, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe. Serological diagnosis was performed using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). In 76.3 % (95 % CI = 69.79-81.81) of the herds there was at least one animal seropositive for at least one of the Leptospira spp. serogroups and 14.94 % (95 %CI = 13.8-16.18) of the animals were seropositive. The state of Paraíba had the highest herd (95.7 %) and animal (26.6 %) prevalences, followed by Ceará (93.9 % and 23.7 %, respectively). The most frequent serogroups were Autumnalis (18.68 %), Australis (17.9 %) and Pyrogenes (15.18 %). There was no association between the studied variables and the herd-level prevalence of leptospirosis. High herd and animal-level seroprevalences was found for sheep leptospirosis in the semiarid region of Northeastern Brazil, and there is a need to implement control and prevention measures, such as quarantine, serology, vaccination and adequate treatment, in addition to the introduction of proven healthy animals, mainly in the states of Paraíba and Ceará, aiming to reduce the prevalence of disease.