Serological evidence of USUTU virus occurrence in north-eastern Italy.

In the recent years, USUTU virus (USUV), a flavivirus of the Japanese encephalitis virus complex, has been reported in Central Europe. As part of a systematic surveillance programme to monitor possible entrance and/or circulation of vector-borne viruses, since 2001, sentinel-chicken flocks were placed throughout the Italian territory nearby areas considered at risk of virus introduction. They have been periodically checked for the presence of antibodies against flaviviruses by indirect ELISA, plaque reduction neutralization test for USUTU, West Nile and tick-borne encephalitis viruses. In July 2007, a sentinel chicken in a flock of 20 animals located within the Ravenna province seroconverted to USUV reaching neutralizing titres up to 1:5120. A second chicken seroconverted to the same virus 2 months later. Although no virus was rescued from these animals and from wild or farm birds sampled in the area, these results still provided evidence of the circulation of USUV in north-eastern Italy.

Clinical, humoral and IFNgamma responses of cattle to infection with Mycoplasma mycoides var. mycoides small colony and attempts to condition the pathogenesis of the infection.

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), caused by Mycoplasma mycoides var. mycoides small colony (MmmSC), is one of the most important diseases of cattle in Africa. The role of innate or acquired cell mediated and humoral immunity in conferring protection against MmmSC infection has not yet been elucidated. On the other hand, the pathological lesions caused by the aetiological agent have been considered indicative of an immunopathological process. In this study ten naïve cattle were exposed to in-contact infection with animals infected by intubation with a strain of MmmSC. Clinical signs, antibody response, IFNgamma release and pathological changes at necropsy were analysed and compared with the events following in-contact infection of an equal number of animals kept under daily treatment with cyclosporine for the entire observation period of 84 days. Cyclosporine is a suppressor of the immune response related to the T-cell system. Under the conditions of the experiment, cyclosporine appeared to condition the pathogenesis of CBPP by delaying the events that follow infection, bringing further support to the possibility that the immune response may have an impact on the disease outcome.

Implementation of a new contingency plan for bluetongue disease in Italy.

Since the first appearance of bluetongue (BT) in Italy in late August 2000, the ecology of vectors and the environmental conditions affecting their distribution and survival proved to be the most difficult factors to monitor, and represented a serious challenge to the effectiveness of the National Contingency Plan promulgated in 1991. Moreover, the Italian Ministry of Health considered the national management plan of BT inadequate to prevent further spread of the disease. The authors describe the implementation of a new BT contingency plan, integrating an operations manual and an ad hoc information system, which operated also as a decision-support system both at local and central levels. The plan describes the national capacity for dealing with BT outbreaks, the composition and duties of the National Disease Control Centre and Local Disease Control Centres, the chain of command and the strategies adopted.