Academic literature on the topic 'Cattle Communicable diseases in animals Veterinary epidemiology'

ABSTRACT: Dr. Jürgen Döbereiner was born in Germany, on the 1st of November 1923, and lived in Brazil for 68 years during which time he developed a range of scientific projects in veterinary pathology and related disciplines. His main interests were the identification of new poisonous plants and mineral deficiencies and the causes of “cara inchada” (“swollen face” a periodontal disease) and botulism in livestock. This research has resulted in the improved health and saving of hundreds of thousands of animals, mainly cattle, annually, and is consequently of enormous economic value to the country. This contribution remains largely under appreciated. He was also involved in organizing diagnostic methods for identifying infectious diseases such as African swine fever and glanders in horses. One of his other major achievements has been the foundation and editing of specialized scientific journals for the documentation of veterinary science research results. At the beginning of his career in the 1950s, he and colleagues from the Institute for Animal Biology (IBA) were struggling to find a national scientific journal where research results from veterinary medicine could be published with practical application to the Brazilian reality. In consequence, the team founded “Arquivos do Instituto de Biologia Animal” and published three volumes (1959-1961). He then founded and edited “Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira” (The Brazilian Journal of Agricultural Research”) that included a veterinary section. A series of veterinary volumes were published (1966-1976). Finally, in 1978 he helped create the Brazilian College of Veterinary Pathology (CBPA) that published “Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira” (The Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Research) from 1981. The main goal was to communicate the most relevant disease problems of Brazilian livestock, in particular pathology and related subjects such as epidemiology, clinical study series and laboratory diagnosis to field veterinarians and academics. Dr. Jürgen Döbereiner was president of CBPA (1978-2018) and chief editor of “Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira” (1981-2018). He passed away on the 16th of October, 2018, at the age of 94 at his home in Seropédica/RJ, Brazil.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and fasciolosis are important but neglected diseases that result in chronic infections in cattle. However, in Zambia, these diseases are mainly diagnosed at abattoirs during routine meat inspection. Albeit the coinfection status, these diseases have been reported as nothing more than normal separate findings without an explanatory phenomena. Forthwith, we formulated this study to assess the possible association of the two diseases in a known high prevalence area on the Kafue basin ecosystem. Of the 1,680 animals screened, 600 (35.7%; 95% CI 33.4%–38%) and 124 (7.4%; 95% CI 6.1%–8.6%) had fasciolosis and tuberculous lesions; respectively, whilst 72 had both fasciola and tuberculous lesions representing 12% (95% CI 9.4%–14.6%) and 58.1% (95% CI; 49.3%–66.7%) of the total positives for fasciola and tuberculosis, respectively. Jaundice was seen in 304 animals, 18.1% (95% CI; 16.3%–19.9%) and was significantly correlated to fasciolosis (r=0.59,P<0.0001). A significant association (χ2=76.2,df=1, andP<0.0001) was found between fasciolosis and tuberculous lesions. Simple logistic regression intimated fasciolosis as a strong predictor for tuberculous lesions with animals that had fasciola being five times more likely to have tuberculous lesions (odds ratio = 4.8, 95% CI: 3.3–7.0). This study indicates that transmission and spatial risk factors of communicable and noncommunicable diseases such as bTB and fasciolosis can be correlated in an ecosystem such as the Kafue flats.

The main direction of state policy regarding the guaranty safety and quality of animal products is the creation of conditions that are safe for human health during the production and sale of food raw materials. According to current legislation of Ukraine responsibility for the safety of food products placed on the manufacturer but government control plays an important role. This is especially true today, when almost 69.5% of meat is produced in private home farms. It is mainly sold in the agro-industrial markets. The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety should perform the conditions of modern European regulation and base its activities on the basis of risk assessment. One of the risks are parasitosis, as their negative effect affects the health of millions of people in the world. In this cjnnection the purpose of the study was to analyze the dynamics of the identification of invasive diseases at the stages of slaughter of animals and the sale of slaughter products. Research material was reporting on veterinary medicine (Form № 5-vet and Form № 6-vet) of a number of districts of Odessa region for 2014‒2017. It was founded that 75943 animals were slaughtered in 2014‒2017: 91.18% pigs, 8.14% cattle and 0.68% sheep. The analysis of the dynamics of slaughter, depending on its location, showed that from 41.85% to 99.81% of animals were slaughtered at courtyard. According to the results of veterinary-sanitary control and supervision during the slaughter for the studied years there were no cases of diseases. It was founded that 22617 animal’s carcasses came to the agrofood markets of the regions for the years 2014‒2017, among which 89.56% were pig carcasses, 10,11% cattle carcasses and only 0.33% sheep. According to results of veterinary-sanitary examination in the conditions of SLVSE in the markets, specialists established 351 cases of diseases. In the study of pig carcasses 246 cases of diseases were detected: among them of non-communicable (45.93%) and invasive (54.07%) etiology (echinococcosis). Luring the expertise of cattle carcases was founded 96 cases of diseases: – dicroceliosis (98.96%) and exinococcosis (1.04%); during the expertise of sheep’s carcases – 9 cases of diseases – dicroceliosis (66.67%) and exinococcosis (33.33%). Considering that during the reporting period, according to the results of veterinary-sanitary control and supervision during the slaughter of animals, no cases of diseases were detected, but at the same time the number of cases of detection of invasive diseases during veterinary-sanitary examination in SLVSE on markets constantly increases risk management at the stage of slaughter can be considered not sufficiently effective. Also, the results of our research indicate that the current system for managing the safety of slaughter products is still based primarily on the study of the final product. It does not take into account all possible risks at the previous stages of production. This system can’t fully guarantee to consumer safety of products.

SUMMARYWhen a pathogen infects a number of different hosts, the process of determining the relative importance of each host species to the persistence of the pathogen is often complex. Removal of a host species is a potential but rarely possible way of discovering the importance of that species to the dynamics of the disease. This study presents the results of a 12-year programme aimed at controlling brucellosis in cattle, sheep and goats and the cascading impacts on brucellosis in a sympatric population of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the Boumort National Game Reserve (BNGR; NE Spain). From February 1998 to December 2009, local veterinary agencies tested over 36 180 individual blood samples from cattle, 296 482 from sheep and goats and 1047 from red deer in the study area. All seropositive livestock were removed annually. From 2006 to 2009 brucellosis was not detected in cattle and in 2009 only one of 97 red deer tested was found to be positive. The surveillance and removal of positive domestic animals coincided with a significant decrease in the prevalence of brucellosis in red deer. Our results suggest that red deer may not be able to maintain brucellosis in this region independently of cattle, sheep or goats, and that continued efforts to control disease in livestock may lead to the eventual eradication of brucellosis in red deer in the area.

Vero cytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 (VTEC O157) infections are a threat to public health. VTEC O157 has been isolated from gulls but evidence of transmission to humans from birds has not been reported. We recount an incident of VTEC O157 infection affecting two sibling children who had no direct contact with farm animals. An outbreak control team was convened to investigate the source of infection, its likely mode of transmission, and to advise on control measures. Human and veterinary samples were examined and the human isolates were found to be identical to an isolate from a sample of bird (rook) faeces. Cattle, rabbit and environmental samples were negative. This report provides evidence that birds may act as intermediaries for human infection with VTEC O157.

Parasitic diseases are a major impediment to livestock production worldwide. However, knowledge about the epidemiology of gastrointestinal parasites in many low-income countries is still limited. An epidemiological survey on these parasites in traditionally reared cattle was performed in central Ethiopia (West Shewa Zone), from September 2019 to November 2021. Overall, 691 samples were analyzed qualitatively (flotation technique) and quantitatively (McMaster technique) to detect helminth eggs and Eimeria oocysts. Furthermore, coprocultures were conducted on pooled samples to identify the genera of gastrointestinal strongyles (GIS). The difference in prevalence according to agroecology, season, age, sex and body condition score (BCS) was investigated using univariable tests and through a multivariable logistic regression analysis, whereas abundance values were interpreted using a descriptive approach. The highest prevalence values were observed for GIS (50.2%) and Eimeria spp. (36.0%), whereas Moniezia spp. (16.3%), Strongyloides spp. (5.1%) and Schistosoma spp. (4.2%) showed lower values. Trichuris spp. and Toxocara vitulorum were sporadically found. A coproculture revealed that Haemonchus spp. (34.6%), Trichostrongylus spp. (25.9%) and Bunostomum spp. (19.1%) were the most frequent genera of GIS. A poor BCS was strongly associated with the occurrence of GIS, while seasonal variations were detected for Eimeria spp., GIS, Moniezia spp. and Schistosoma spp., with a higher prevalence and burden during the rainy season, and agroecology also strongly influenced different parasitic taxa. This present study increases the knowledge about the epidemiological features of gastrointestinal parasites in the context of a low-income country, suggesting a more tailored approach for their control. The use of a BCS as an indicator for the selective treatment of highly infested animals is supported by our findings, introducing a possible way to prevent anthelmintic resistance in areas where basic diagnostic services are rarely used by farmers.

Staphylococcus aureus causes mastitis in dairy cows, lambs, goats, and skin disorders in pigs and other animals. S. aureus causes localized purulent infections that affect soft tissues, bones, and other organs in humans. Using restriction patterns, the researchers want to isolate and identify methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains from cattle and humans. They also hope to assess their genetic relatedness by comparing the mecA1 and mecA2 gene sequence discrepancies. Animals (223 strains) and people have been used to acquire S. aureus strains for study (83). The E-test was used to assess whether or not the bacteria were resistant to methicillin. The mecA1 and mecA2 genes were identified by using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to analyze DNA restriction patterns. The results were shown. S. aureus strains from animals and men were resistant to methicillin in 32 (14.34 %) and 53 (63.8 %), respectively. PFGE was used to determine the differences between human and veterinary pathology strains. Two strains of bacteria collected from animals were discovered to be identical; nevertheless, microorganisms recovered from humans were found to be significantly similar to the bacteria recovered from animals. Both human and veterinary pathology were implicated in the development of methicillin resistance. The MRSA strains found in humans were much more significant than those found in animals. The strains recovered from animals exhibited a high degree of genetic heterogeneity. Still, the enormous number of indistinguishable bacteria in humans leads one to believe that a dominant clone is present. When it comes to the molecular characterization of MRSA isolates, PFGE might be regarded as the gold standard. Keywords. Animals, Human, MRSA, PFGE, Staphylococcus, mecA genes

The aim of the work was to characterize the epidemiological and epizootic situation on anthrax among population and animals in the Republic of Tatarstan over a period of 1920–2020.Materials and methods. The analysis of the epidemiological and epizootic situation is based on the archival data, epidemiological maps of anthrax patients, results of epizootiological-epidemiological survey of anthrax foci conducted by the Rospotrebnadzor Administration in the Republic of Tatarstan and Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Republic of Tatarstan, materials of the Main Directorate of Veterinary Medicine of the Republic of Tatarstan. Microbiological studies of samples from patients and environmental objects were performed in accordance with the requirements of MR 4.2.2413-08 “Laboratory diagnostics and detection of anthrax pathogen”, real-time PCR was set using the AmpliSense Bacillus anthracis-FRT test-system (Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Moscow). Statistical data processing was carried out using the quantile ranking method.Results and discussion. There are more than 1000 anthrax soil foci in the Republic of Tatarstan, which territorially belongs to the Volga Federal District. Analysis of the epizootic and epidemiological situation in the Republic of Tatarstan over the period of 1920–2020 has revealed that it has undergone significant changes, from mass diseases in animals and humans in early 20th century to sporadic cases of infection among population and animals at the beginning of the 21st century, primarily due to preventive veterinarysanitary measures, including veterinary and sanitary examination of animal products, mass specific immunization of animals against anthrax, arrangement of anthrax cattle burial grounds. In view of the improvement of epizootiological situation and implementation of preventive measures, there was a decrease in the incidence of anthrax among the population. The regions of the Republic have been ranked by the number of animal anthrax cases.

Fasciolosis is a zoonotic infection caused by the trematoda Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. Human fasciolosis is endemic in some parts of South America, Africa, Eastern Asia and Europe. High prevalence of human fasciolosis does not necessarily occur in areas where fasciolosis is a major veterinary problem. Infection with Fasciola hepatica has not been reported in humans in Serbia and former Yugoslavia, although a large variety of animals, such as sheep and cattle show infection rates that may reach significant proportions in some areas. Humans can become accidental hosts of this parasite by ingesting contaminated drinking water or plants in an endemic area. Infection with Fasciola hepatica has a variable clinical presentation depending on the stage of the disease. Typical symptoms that may be associated with fascioliasis can be divided by the phases of the disease including the acute or liver phase, the chronic or biliary phase, the obstructive phase, and ectopic or pharyngeal fascioliasis. The diagnosis of human fasciolosis may be problematical and delayed, especially in non-endemic areas, because physicians rarely encounter this disease and a long list of other diseases must be included in the differential diagnosis. The diagnosis of fasciolosis is complex and requires the application of direct an indirect methods of diagnostics: clinical diagnosis, haematological and biochemical findings, parasitological diagnosis, immuno-diagnosis, imaging procedures, liver biopsy. At the Clinic for Infectious and Tropical Diseases in 2005, we recorded the first case of human fasciolosis in a woman from Belgrade, a citizen of Serbia, who developed clinical symptoms of acute fasciolosis after several months of living in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This article reviews the epidemiology and diagnostics of human fasciolosis. .

AbstractBSE was first discovered in November 1986 and by July 1991 about 60 000 cases had been confirmed in Great Britain with a low incidence being reported in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland and France. The origin of the extended common source epidemic appears to have been food containing meat and bone meal which contained the causal agent. Recycling of infected cattle waste was significant in increasing exposure, at least from the time of the first unrecognized clinical appearance of the disease in 1985. Small numbers of five species of Bovidae in British zoos, domestic cats, a puma and a cheetah have also succumbed to a newly described spongiform encephalopathy. It is anticipated that as a result of the imposition of a ruminant food ban in countries affected by BSE new infections from food have ceased and the incidence of BSE will fall to zero provided there is no other source of infection. Effective controls are in place in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to protect animal and public health. These include disease notification, compulsory slaughter of suspect animals and incineration of the carcasses, a ban on the feeding of specified bovine offals from cattle over 6 months of age or protein derived from them to man, or any species of animal or bird, and a ban on the feeding of ruminant protein to ruminant animals. Genetic studies are still in progress but there is no epidemiological evidence supporting breed predisposition and bovine PrP gene polymorphisms have not been linked with disease occurrence. The lessons from BSE include: the need to retain an animal health surveillance system to detect new and emerging diseases; a strong veterinary research base in unconventional agent disease; and a powerful epidemiology discipline with access to computerized data recording systems, analytical and modelling expertise. Major changes to the composition or processing of animal food, particularly that derived from sources which are not natural for the consuming species, should be carefully monitored for safety before being permitted.

Doctor of Philosophy
All surveillance systems are based on an effective general surveillance system because this is the system that detects emerging diseases and the re-introduction of disease to a previously disease free area. General surveillance requires comprehensive coverage of the population through an extensive network of relationships between animal producers and observers and surveillance system officers. This system is under increasing threat in Australia (and many other countries) due to the increased biomass, animal movements, rate of disease emergence, and the decline in resource allocation for surveillance activities. The Australian surveillance system is state-based and has a complex management structure that includes State and Commonwealth government representatives, industry stakeholders (such as producer bodies) and private organisations. A developing problem is the decline in the effectiveness of the general surveillance system in the extensive (remote) cattle producing regions of northern Australia. The complex organisational structure of surveillance in Australia contributes to this, and is complicated by the incomplete capture of data (as demonstrated by slow uptake of electronic individual animal identification systems), poorly developed and integrated national animal health information systems, and declining funding streams for field and laboratory personnel and infrastructure. Of major concern is the reduction in contact between animal observers and surveillance personnel arising from the decline in resource allocation for surveillance. Fewer veterinarians are working in remote areas, fewer producers use veterinarians, and, as a result, fewer sick animals are being investigated by the general surveillance system. A syndrome is a collection of signs that occur in a sick individual. Syndromic surveillance is an emerging approach to monitoring populations for change in disease levels and is based on statistical monitoring of the distribution of signs, syndromes and associations between health variables in a population. Often, diseases will have syndromes that are characteristic and the monitoring of these syndromes may provide for early detection of outbreaks. Because the process uses general signs, this method may support the existing (struggling) general surveillance system for the extensive cattle producing regions of northern Australia. Syndromic surveillance systems offer many potential advantages. First, the signs that are monitored can be general and include any health-related variable. This generality provides potential as a detector of emerging diseases. Second, many of the data types used occur early in a disease process and therefore efficient syndromic surveillance systems can detect disease events in a timely manner. There are many hurdles to the successful deployment of a syndromic surveillance system and most relate to data. An effective system will ideally obtain data from multiple sources, all data will conform to a standard (therefore each data source can be validly combined), data coverage will be extensive (across the population) and data capture will be in real time (allowing early detection). This picture is one of a functional electronic data world and unfortunately this is not the norm for either human or animal heath. Less than optimal data, lack of data standards, incomplete coverage of the population and delayed data transmission result in a loss of sensitivity, specificity and timeliness of detection. In human syndromic surveillance, most focus has been placed on earlier detection of mass bioterrorism events and this has concentrated research on the problems of electronic data. Given the current state of animal health data, the development of efficient detection algorithms represents the least of the hurdles. However, the world is moving towards increased automation and therefore the problems with current data can be expected to be resolved in the next decade. Despite the lack of large scale deployment of these systems, the question is becoming when, not whether these system will contribute. The observations of a stock worker are always the start of the surveillance pathway in animal health. Traditionally this required the worker to contact a veterinarian who would investigate unusual cases with the pathway ending in laboratory samples and specific diagnostic tests. The process is inefficient as only a fraction of cases observed by stock workers end in diagnostic samples. These observations themselves are most likely to be amenable to capture and monitoring using syndromic surveillance techniques. A pilot study of stock workers in the extensive cattle producing Lower Gulf region of Queensland demonstrated that experienced non-veterinary observers of cattle can describe the signs that they see in sick cattle in an effective manner. Lay observers do not posses a veterinary vocabulary, but the provision of a system to facilitate effective description of signs resulted in effective and standardised description of disease. However, most producers did not see personal benefit from providing this information and worried that they might be exposing themselves to regulatory impost if they described suspicious signs. Therefore the pilot study encouraged the development of a syndromic surveillance system that provides a vocabulary (a template) for lay observers to describe disease and a reason for them to contribute their data. The most important disease related drivers for producers relate to what impact the disease may have in their herd. For this reason, the Bovine Syndromic Surveillance System (BOSSS) was developed incorporating the Bayesian cattle disease diagnostic program BOVID. This allowed the observer to receive immediate information from interpretation of their observation providing a differential list of diseases, a list of questions that may help further differentiate cause, access to information and other expertise, and opportunity to benchmark disease performance. BOSSS was developed as a web-based reporting system and used a novel graphical user interface that interlinked with an interrogation module to enable lay observers to accurately and fully describe disease. BOSSS used a hierarchical reporting system that linked individual users with other users along natural reporting pathways and this encouraged the seamless and rapid transmission of information between users while respecting confidentiality. The system was made available for testing at the state level in early 2006, and recruitment of producers is proceeding. There is a dearth of performance data from operational syndromic surveillance systems. This is due, in part, to the short period that these systems have been operational and the lack of major human health outbreaks in areas with operational systems. The likely performance of a syndromic surveillance system is difficult to theorise. Outbreaks vary in size and distribution, and quality of outbreak data capture is not constant. The combined effect of a lack of track record and the many permutations of outbreak and data characteristics make computer simulation the most suitable method to evaluate likely performance. A stochastic simulation model of disease spread and disease reporting by lay observers throughout a grid of farms was modelled. The reporting characteristics of lay observers were extrapolated from the pilot study and theoretical disease was modelled (as a representation of newly emergent disease). All diseases were described by their baseline prevalence and by conditional sign probabilities (obtained from BOVID and from a survey of veterinarians in Queensland). The theoretical disease conditional sign probabilities were defined by the user. Their spread through the grid of farms followed Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) principles (in herd) and by mass action between herds. Reporting of disease events and signs in events was modelled as a probabilistic event using sampling from distributions. A non-descript disease characterised by gastrointestinal signs and a visually spectacular disease characterised by neurological signs were modelled, each over three outbreak scenarios (least, moderately and most contagious). Reports were examined using two algorithms. These were the cumulative sum (CuSum) technique of adding excess of cases (above a maximum limit) for individual signs and the generic detector What’s Strange About Recent Events (WSARE) that identifies change to variable counts or variable combination counts between time periods. Both algorithms detected disease for all disease and outbreak characteristics combinations. WSARE was the most efficient algorithm, detecting disease on average earlier than CuSum. Both algorithms had high sensitivity and excellent specificity. The timeliness of detection was satisfactory for the insidious gastrointestinal disease (approximately 24 months after introduction), but not sufficient for the visually spectacular neurological disease (approximately 20 months) as the traditional surveillance system can be expected to detect visually spectacular diseases in reasonable time. Detection efficiency was not influenced greatly by the proportion of producers that report or by the proportion of cases or the number of signs per case that are reported. The modelling process demonstrated that a syndromic surveillance system in this remote region is likely to be a useful addition to the existing system. Improvements that are planned include development of a hand-held computer version and enhanced disease and syndrome mapping capability. The increased use of electronic recording systems, including livestock identification, will facilitate the deployment of BOSSS. Long term sustainability will require that producers receive sufficient reward from BOSSS to continue to provide reports over time. This question can only be answered by field deployment and this work is currently proceeding.

In September 2006 an outbreak of 'Bluetongue like' disease struck the cattle herds in Israel. Over 100 dairy and beef cattle herds were affected. Epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) (an Orbivirusclosely related to bluetongue virus (BTV)), was isolated from samples collected from several herds during the outbreaks. Following are the aims of the study and summary of the results: which up until now were published in 6 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Three more articles are still under preparation: 1. To identify the origin of the virus: The virus identified was fully sequenced and compared with the sequences available in the GenBank. It appeared that while gene segment L2 was clustered with EHDV-7 isolated in Australia, most of the other segments were clustered with EHDV-6 isolates from South-Africa and Bahrain. This may suggest that the strain which affected Israel on 2006 may have been related to similar outbreaks which occurred in north-Africa at the same year and could also be a result of reassortment with an Australian strain (Wilson et al. article in preparation). Analysis of the serological results from Israel demonstrated that cows and calves were similarly positive as opposed to BTV for which seropositivity in cows was significantly higher than in calves. This finding also supports the hypothesis that the 2006 EHD outbreak in Israel was an incursive event and the virus was not present in Israel before this outbreak (Kedmi et al. Veterinary Journal, 2011) 2. To identify the vectors of this virus: In the US, Culicoides sonorensis was found as an efficient vector of EHDV as the virus was transmitted by midges fed on infected white tailed deer (WTD; Odocoileusvirginianus) to susceptible WTD (Ruder et al. Parasites and Vectors, 2012). We also examined the effect of temperature on replication of EHDV-7 in C. sonorensis and demonstrated that the time to detection of potentially competent midges decreased with increasing temperature (Ruder et al. in preparation). Although multiple attempts were made, we failed to evaluate wild-caught Culicoidesinsignisas a potential vector for EHDV-7; however, our finding that C. sonorensis is a competent vector is far more significant because this species is widespread in the U.S. As for Israeli Culicoides spp. the main species caught near farms affected during the outbreaks were C. imicolaand C. oxystoma. The vector competence studies performed in Israel were in a smaller scale than in the US due to lack of a laboratory colony of these species and due to lack of facilities to infect animals with vector borne diseases. However, we found both species to be susceptible for infection by EHDV. For C. oxystoma, 1/3 of the Culicoidesinfected were positive 11 days post feeding. 3. To identify the host and environmental factors influencing the level of exposure to EHDV, its spread and its associated morbidity: Analysis of the cattle morbidity in Israel showed that the disease resulted in an average loss of over 200 kg milk per cow in herds affected during September 2006 and 1.42% excess mortality in heavily infected herds (Kedmi et al. Journal of Dairy Science, 2010). Outbreak investigation showed that winds played a significant role in virus spread during the 2006 outbreak (Kedmi et al. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2010). Further studies showed that both sheep (Kedmi et al. Veterinary Microbiology, 2011) and wild ruminants did not play a significant role in virus spread in Israel (Kedmi et al. article in preparation). Clinical studies in WTD showed that this species is highly susceptibile to EHDV-7 infection and disease (Ruder et al. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 2012). Experimental infection of Holstein cattle (cows and calves) yielded subclinical viremia (Ruder et al. in preparation). The findings of this study, which resulted in 6 articles, published in peer reviewed journals and 4 more articles which are in preparation, contributed to the dairy industry in Israel by defining the main factors associated with disease spread and assessment of disease impact. In the US, we demonstrated that sufficient conditions exist for potential virus establishment if EHDV-7 were introduced. The significant knowledge gained through this study will enable better decision making regarding prevention and control measures for EHDV and similar viruses, such as BTV.