Suchergebnisse

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The pig sector represents one of the most economically important farming sectors in the European Union. Farmers and their veterinarians are responsible for ensuring animal health as well as sending healthy animals for slaughter. At slaughter, official veterinarians conduct meat inspections to ensure that only meat fit for human consumption enters the food processing chain. The data collected during meat inspections can provide valuable information about herd health for the farmers, the attending veterinarians and veterinary authorities. The aim of this study was to describe the data and analyse whether these data are suitable to be used as a feedback system for farmers to enable them to improve their herd management. Data used comprised all meat inspection findings in 2016 from 4.6 million pigs originating from 9172 agricultural holdings (farms) and slaughtered in 66 slaughterhouses in Austria. Analysis showed that diseases of the lung (pneumonia, 21.9%) and of the liver (milk spots, 19.9%) were most frequently detected. The agricultural holdings, the slaughterhouses and the time periods (quarter) had an influence on the observed occurrence and composition of the prevalence of post-mortem findings. Furthermore, within the slaughterhouses, the recorded patterns of pathological findings differed, which points towards the need for further harmonisation to provide high-quality feedback to farmers and veterinarians. ABSTRACT: Meat inspection data can provide valuable information about herd health to producers, veterinarians and veterinary authorities and can be used as a feedback system for farmers to improve their herd management. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of agricultural holdings, slaughterhouses and time periods (quarters) on the occurrence and composition of the prevalence of post-mortem findings of 4 million pigs slaughtered in Austria in 2016, by applying a permutation multivariate analysis of variance. Pneumonia (21.9%) and milk spots (19.9%) were the most frequently ...

AbstractDirect contact between humans and live broilers, as well as the consumption of chicken meat, have been suggested as pathways for transmission of extended‐spectrum‐β‐lactamase (ESBL) and AmpC‐β‐lactamase (AmpC)‐producing Escherichia coli. One approach to design intervention strategies to control the transmission of such bacteria between animals and humans is to study the transmission pathways of such bacteria between the animals themselves. The rationale is that controlling the process of the underlying source, here transmission between animals, can provide hints on how to control a higher‐level process, here the transmission between animals and humans. The focus of this article is the transmission of the above‐mentioned bacteria between broilers and broiler flocks in meat production with regards to the establishment of possible intervention strategies to reduce the transfer of these bacteria between animals. The objective of this work is to design a mathematical transmission model describing the effects of vertical and horizontal bacterial transmission in the broiler production chain, from the parent generation to the slaughterhouse level. To achieve this objective, an existing transmission model for Campylobacter was adapted for the case of E. coli. The model keeps track of prevalence among flocks (flock prevalence) and of prevalence among animals within one flock (animal prevalence). Flock and animal prevalences show different dynamics in the model. While flock prevalence increases mainly through horizontal transmission in hatcheries, animal prevalence increases mainly at the broiler‐fattening farm. Transports have rather small effects just as the vertical transmission from parents to chicks.

AbstractThis article presents a mathematical model for the Enterobacteriaceae count on the surface of broiler chicken during slaughter and how it may be affected by different processing technologies. The model is based on a model originally developed for Campylobacter and has been adapted for Enterobacteriaceae using a Bayesian updating approach and hitherto unpublished data gathered from German abattoirs. The slaughter process in the model consists of five stages: input, scalding, defeathering, evisceration, washing, and chilling.The impact of various processing technologies along the broiler processing line on the Enterobacteriaceae count on the carcasses' surface has been determined from literature data. The model is implemented in the software R and equipped with a graphical user interface which allows interactively to choose among different processing technologies for each stage along the processing line. Based on the choice of processing technologies the model estimates the Enterobacteriaceae count on the surface of each broiler chicken at each stage of processing. This result is then compared to a so‐called baseline model which simulates a processing line with a fixed set of processing technologies.The model calculations showed how even very effective removal of bacteria on the exterior of the carcass in a previous step will be undone by the cross‐contamination with leaked feces, if feces contain high concentrations of bacteria.

After first detections of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in animals, the European Union Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance has provided a protocol for the isolation of carbapenemase-producingEscherichia(E.)colifrom cecum content and meat. Up to now, only few isolates were recovered using this procedure. In our experience, the choice of the selective agar is important for the efficacy of the method. Currently, the use of the prevailing method fails to detect CPE that exhibit a low resistance against carbapenems. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the suitability of selective media with antibiotic supplements and commercial ChromID(R)CARBA agar for a reliable CPE detection. For comparative investigations, detection of freeze-dried carbapenemase-resistant bacteria was studied on different batches of the ChromID(R)CARBA agar as well as on MacConkey agar supplemented with 1 mg/L cefotaxime and 0.125 mg/L meropenem (McC+CTX+MEM). The suitability of the different media was assessed within a time of 25 weeks, starting at least six weeks before expiration of the media. Carbapenem-resistant isolates exhibiting a serine-based hydrolytic resistance mechanism (e.g.,bla(KPC)genes) were consistently detected over 25 weeks on the different media. In contrast, carbapenemase producers with only slightly reduced susceptibility and exhibiting a zinc-catalyzed activity (e.g.,bla(VIM),bla(NDM), andbla(IMP)) could only be cultivated on long-time expired ChromID(R)CARBA, but within the whole test period on McC+CTX+MEM. Thus, ChromID(R)CARBA agar appears to be not suitable for the detection of CPE with slightly increased minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) against carbapenems, which have been detected in German livestock and thus, are of main interest in the national monitoring programs. Our data are in concordance with the results of eleven state laboratories that had participated in this study with their ChromID(R)CARBA batches routinely used for the German CPE monitoring. Based on the determined ...

Due to the increasing reports of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) from livestock in recent years, the European Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistances (EURLAR) provided a protocol for their recovery from caecum and meat samples. This procedure exhibited limitations for the detection of CPE with low carbapenem MIC values. Therefore, it was modified by a second, selective enrichment in lysogeny broth with cefotaxime (CTX 1 mg/L) and with meropenem (MEM 0.125 mg/L) at 37 C under microaerophilic conditions. By Real-time PCR, these enrichments are pre-screened for the most common carbapenemase genes. Another adaptation was the use of in-house prepared MacConkey agar with MEM and MEM+CTX instead of commercial selective agar. According to the EURL-method, we achieved 100% sensitivity and specificity using the in-house media instead of commercial agar, which decreased the sensitivity to ~75%. Comparing the method with and without the second enrichment, no substantial influence on sensitivity and specificity was detected. Nevertheless, this enrichment has simplified the CPE-isolation regarding the accompanying microbiota and the separation of putative colonies. In conclusion, the sensitivity of the method can be increased with slight modifications. ; This work was financially supported by a grant of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (43-001 and 43-002). The work of Natalie Pauly was supported by the European Joint Project (EJP) IMPART funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 773830. The work of Stefan Schwarz is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under project number and 01KI2009D as part of the Research Network Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

After first detections of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in animals, the European Union Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance has provided a protocol for the isolation of carbapenemase-producing Escherichia (E.) coli from cecum content and meat. Up to now, only few isolates were recovered using this procedure. In our experience, the choice of the selective agar is important for the efficacy of the method. Currently, the use of the prevailing method fails to detect CPE that exhibit a low resistance against carbapenems. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the suitability of selective media with antibiotic supplements and commercial ChromID(®) CARBA agar for a reliable CPE detection. For comparative investigations, detection of freeze-dried carbapenemase-resistant bacteria was studied on different batches of the ChromID(®) CARBA agar as well as on MacConkey agar supplemented with 1 mg/L cefotaxime and 0.125 mg/L meropenem (McC+CTX+MEM). The suitability of the different media was assessed within a time of 25 weeks, starting at least six weeks before expiration of the media. Carbapenem-resistant isolates exhibiting a serine-based hydrolytic resistance mechanism (e.g., bla(KPC) genes) were consistently detected over 25 weeks on the different media. In contrast, carbapenemase producers with only slightly reduced susceptibility and exhibiting a zinc-catalyzed activity (e.g., bla(VIM), bla(NDM), and bla(IMP)) could only be cultivated on long-time expired ChromID(®) CARBA, but within the whole test period on McC+CTX+MEM. Thus, ChromID(®) CARBA agar appears to be not suitable for the detection of CPE with slightly increased minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) against carbapenems, which have been detected in German livestock and thus, are of main interest in the national monitoring programs. Our data are in concordance with the results of eleven state laboratories that had participated in this study with their ChromID(®) CARBA batches routinely used for the German CPE monitoring. Based on the ...