WinEpi Tasas 2.0 is a new, globally accessible computer program, which has been developed as a research tool for the epidemiological study of the pathological processes which affect animal populations. This new version of the program, based on the experimental version, WinEpi Tasas 1.0, enables users to study the distribution and evolution of diseases in affected populations, over time. This information, combined with data on spatial distribution, is of fundamental importance for the establishment of appropriate control strategies and health policies. Such disease control measures are of particular significance in the current context of emerging and re-emerging diseases. The program can be run in either English or Spanish.
WinEpi Tasas 2.0 is a new, globally accessible computer program, which has been developed as a research tool for the epidemiological study of the pathological processes which affect animal populations. This new version of the program, based on the experimental version, WinEpi Tasas 1.0, enables users to study the distribution and evolution of diseases in affected populations, over time. This information, combined with data on spatial distribution, is of fundamental importance for the establishment of appropriate control strategies and health policies. Such disease control measures are of particular significance in the current context of emerging and re-emerging diseases. The program can be run in either English or Spanish.
The prevalence and risk factors associated with leptospirosis were studied in veterinary students in Zaragoza. Sera were collected at the beginning and end of the academic year 1994 to 1995 and were tested by ELISA against a pool of Leptospira interrogans serovars bratislava. canicola, grippotyphosa. hardjo, icterohaemorrhagiae and pomona antigens. At the beginning of the study the prevalence was 8.14 per cent and at the end it was 11.4 per cent. The incidence of the disease during the study was 0.0394. Risk factors associated with leptospirosis included: taking the course specialising in food inspection and technology, on-farm work, contact with pets in general, and particularly carnivores, and contact with animal traders. The symptoms associated with the disease were myalgia and fever, and the treatment of the symptoms provided some protection.
This study investigates the role of water quality parameters as possible risk or protection factors in Aeromonas spp-affected rainbow trout hatcheries in northeastern Spain. The results revealed an association between oxygen concentration, ammonia concentration and total dissolved solids (TDS) with the prevalence of Aeromonas spp cases on the affected fish farms. The oxygen and ammonia concentrations acted as risk factors when their values were lower than 7.06 mg/L or higher than 0.05 mg/L, respectively, generating odds ratio (OR) values of 2.0 and 2.3. TDS levels, however, acted as a protective factor (OR = 0.39), from an epidemiological point of view but not statistically, when the values were outside the normal range, 199-261 mg/L. On a multivariate level, fish farms exposed to all the associated factors at the same time, had a risk of being affected by Aeromonas spp that was 1.74 times higher than farms with normal quality parameters; the risk increased when TDS had a normal value and it decreased when oxygen and/or ammonia concentrations had normal values.
Samples of organs and serum were obtained from wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) found dead in the field, shot or captured by hunters, or introduced for repopulation in various provinces of Spain over a two-year period, for the purposes of an epidemiological study of viral haemorrhagic disease (VHD) of rabbits. The efficacy of the haemagglutination test and the direct immunofluorescence test for the diagnosis of VHD was also examined.
This paper describes a study of the risk factors associated with disease outbreaks in fish species of fish farms and rivers of north-east Spain. We focused our work on the isolation of fish pathogens (bacteria, virus), the water quality (physicochemical and microbiological quality) and management characteristics. We have observed 2 important viral diseases, infectious pancreatic necrosis and spring viraemia of carp, and 2 important bacterial ones, furunculosis (Aeromonas salmonicida) and bacterial kidney disease (BKD) (Renibacterium salmoninarum). Our preliminary results show that there are some potential risk factors associated with the main diseases of fish, such as fish age, fish species, production system, season and water temperature, but their role depends on the disease.
Fifteen ewes were inoculated subcutaneously with 2 x 10(6) cells of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis seven days before mating, during the embryonic stage of gestation and during the fetal stage of gestation. The clinical signs, antibody response and the consequences of the infection on reproduction were studied. None of the ewes showed any change in general condition during pregnancy. The effects of experimental infection during gestation were evident after incubation periods that ranged from 25 to 140 days after inoculation and were dependent on the time of the inoculation in relation to the period of gestation. Ewes inoculated before gestation can resolve infection. Ewes inoculated during the embryonic stage were severely affected and some aborted. In others lambs were stillborn or, if born alive, infected. Ewes inoculated during the fetal stage of gestation did not show reproductive disorders although some remained chronically infected.
