Universidad de la Salle

Las siguientes son publicaciones realizadas por los investigadores de la Universidad de La Salle en Salud y Bienestar Animal.

Implications of urban and rural agricultural practices on the transmission of leptospirosis

Changes in agricultural and livestock practices and climate and geographic conditions in the tropics, associated to great biological diversity, favor the propagation of diseases, the appearance of new pathogens, or the reappearance of some that have already been controlled. Therefore, leptospirosis is an emerging zoonosis associated to flooding in urban and rural zones, affecting at least 160 animal species, and because water is an important transmission vehicle, it is necessary to perform inter-disciplinary work to minimize its occurrence and its impact on human and animal health, and especially on the ecosystem (One Health). Therefore, the objective of this essay was to analyze the implications of urban and rural agricultural and livestock practices on the transmission of leptospirosis. For this purpose a thematic review was carried out with databases from 2000 to 2015, which allowed analyzing the health restrictions in tropical agriculture, and contextualizing the implications of agricultural and livestock practices, urban and rural, on leptospirosis. The analyses performed showed the need for interdisciplinary studies to address the epidemiology of this zoonosis in an integral manner, with the participation of sciences such as microbiology, molecular biology, veterinary medicine, and bioeconomy, among other areas.

Ver la publicación

Zika Virus: What Have We Learnt Since the Start of the Recent Epidemic?

Zika is a viral disease transmitted mainly by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes. In recent years, it has expanded geographically, changing from an endemic mosquito-borne disease across equatorial Asia and Africa, to an epidemic disease causing large outbreaks in several areas of the world. With the recent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks in the Americas, the disease has become a focus of attention of public health agencies and of the international research community, especially due to an association with neurological disorders in adults and to the severe neurological and ophthalmological abnormalities found in fetuses and newborns of mothers exposed to ZIKV during pregnancy. A large number of studies have been published in the last 3 years, revealing the structure of the virus, how it is transmitted and how it affects human cells. Many different animal models have been developed, which recapitulate several features of ZIKV disease and its neurological consequences. Moreover, several vaccine candidates are now in active preclinical development, and three of them have already entered phase I clinical trials. Likewise, many different compounds targeting viral and cellular components are being tested in in vitro and in experimental animal models. This review aims to discuss the current state of this rapidly growing literature from a multidisciplinary perspective, as well as to present an overview of the public health response to Zika and of the perspectives for the prevention and treatment of this disease.

Ver la publicación 

Effect of the use of fluazuron for control of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus in cattle

Objective. To demonstrate the effect on the tick population of the use of fluazuron in grazing cattle. Materials and methods. Case study performed in Fusagasuga (Cundinamarca, Colombia); three groups of 25 heifers each were formed, G1= two applications of Fluazuron separated 60 days, G2= fluazuron applied only on study day 0 and G3= treated with a spray of chlorpyriphos. Periodically tick count was done in five animals of each group and the degree of contamination of pastures with tick larvae was determined by dragging. Results. Infestation levels between the groups were not homogeneous, and the paddocks also showed different levels of larval infestation. The compound was useful for protecting animals from tick infestation for more than eight weeks. Given the soil temperature in the region, the adult larva period is fulfilled between 50 and 65 days. Conclusion. The effect of treatment of cattle with fluazuron on larval contamination of pastures will only be reflected almost two months after treatment. Strategic design schemes must consider this component, of the soil temperature.

Ver la publicación 

Relationship between pre-partum body condition score changes, acute phase proteins and energy metabolism markers during the peripartum period in dairy cows

This study evaluated the relationship of pre-partum BCS variations on the acute phase response around parturition and milk production of dairy cows. The animals were divided into two groups: cows that gained BCS from the third to the first week pre-partum (GBC=n 11) and those that lost BCS (LBC=n 9) in the same period. Blood samples were collected pre and post-partum to determine serum concentrations of glucose (GLU), non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), insulin (INS), albumin (ALB), paraoxonase (PON), haptoglobin (HP) and blood cell counts. The GBC group showed higher PON concentration in the postpartum (p < .05) and higher ALB concentration both pre and postpartum periods (p < .05), whereas the LBC animals showed a higher HP concentration in both periods (p < .05). Milk yield increased 3kg/cow/day in the group that increased their BCS (p < .03). The LBC cows showed increased monocyte counts (p < .03), in addition to having a greater number of animals with the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio higher than 1 (p < .03). The remaining parameters did not differ between groups. In conclusion, animals that lost BCS during the pre-partum period demonstrated to have a higher inflammatory status around parturition and lower milk production.

Ver la publicación 

Association between seropositivity to bvd virus, leptospira interrogans and neospora caninum and abortions in small holder farms in the dairy belt of Boyaca, Colombia

The aim of this study was to determine, through a case-control study, the association between sero-positivity to some infectious agents and the report of reproductive alterations in animals and farms in Boyaca, Colombia. ''Case'' farms (n=5) were considered those with a frequency of abortions higher than 10% and as ''control'' farms (n=10) those with abortion frequencies lower than 3%. In each farm, blood samples were collected from 10 heifers, 10 cows from 1st and 2nd calving and 10 cows from >2 calvings. It was used the seroneutralization test for the detection of antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (DVB), the microagglutination test for seven serovars of Leptospira interrogans and the indirect immunofluorescence test for Neospora caninum. The highest seropositivity were for DVB (76.4%, 15/15 farms), serovar Hardjo (23.1%, 14/15 farms) and N. caninum (10.7%, 12/15 farms) and without significant differences between case farms and control farms. The serological result of each animal as a risk factor against the abortion condition was evaluated, finding an Odds Ratio (OR) of 10.11 for DVD and 3.88 for Hardjo. No association was found as a risk factor for abortions for other pathogens.

Ver la publicación