Vitamin D could help control TB in animals.

A new study has shown that vitamin D supplementation could help control tuberculosis(TB) in animals. Wild boar and red deer are key hosts of TB and transmit the disease to cattle and other species, causing a major problem in farm and domestic animals across Europe, but Vitamin D supplementation can reduce the severity of tuberculosis (TB) in wild boar and red deer. A research published Research in Veterinary Science reveals that vitamin D supplementation reduces the incidence and severity of tuberculosis (TB) in wild boar and red deer.Vitamin D is known to influence the severity of TB in humans but its relationship with cattle and other mammals has not been studied until recently. This research takes the 'One Health' approach, that explores human and animal health in a holistic way using key learnings across both disciplines. In the study, half of the animals were given a vitamin D3-enriched food while half were no provided with supplement. In animals with TB, there was a clear correlation between the severity of the disease and their blood concentration of vitamin D3. These animals were also more likely to be suffering from a localized TB infection than severe generalized TB.

World rabies day in Lagos.

The world rabies day celebrated on the 28/September every year, this year's celebration was marked with public lectures, free vaccination exercises and awareness campaign around the state. The event this year was different because of the collaboration with medical officers from hospitals and primary health centers ,school children and youth corp members. 

 The participation of various local government officials,environmental health workers and various local council development areas,emphasized the importance of awareness campaign from bottom up. The day marked with lectures by some veterinarians and medical officers and free vaccination is shown in pics below;

Rabies kills prevent it.

 

 Rabies a deadly fatal but preventable viral disease that affects warm blooded animals and can also affect man being a zoonotic disease. The rabies virus is transmitted through bite of an infected animal, the saliva is the medium of infection. The virus usually transferred through bites from infected animals or from salivary secretions from infected animals on wounds,cuts and scratches. 

This mode of infection is usually common in the dumb form of rabies ,where the animal is docile, shy but drooling saliva. This form of rabies is the most dangerous as the animal is not a suspect, but rather the owner is cuddling and stroking the pet and coaxing it to eat and be social. The exposure to the drooling saliva usually results in transmission of the virus through mucous membranes, minor cuts and tiny bites,with the owner not seeking medical attention. 

 The furious form of rabies is the most common and recognizable type,where the animal is very violent,drooling saliva, barking and chasing things or people. The animal with this form of rabies are usually sneaky,creeping up behind victims or suddenly charging out at animals or humans in his path. 

When a pet owner notices a sudden change that is violent ,with the animal barking,howling at moving objects,snapping and biting stuff and drooling of saliva,such animal should be reported to animal control for quarantine. 

 When bitten by a dog ,cat monkey or bat carry out the following ; 1) wash the area with soap and water for at least 15 minutes and apply alcohol to the site and go to the hospital for post exposure rabies prophylaxis. 

The animal in question should be quarantined, while the person is getting the shots. People that have died as a result of rabies, is because they did not seek medical attention early,or the pet owner gave false report about the vaccination status ,thus giving the victim false hope that the pet is not rabid. 

 This is the sad case of a boy bitten by a dog who supposedly had an up to date vaccination record,but alas!!! tragedy struck..

The bumble bees use nicotine to fight off parasites.

Bumblebees that have been infected by parasites seek out flowers with nicotine in the nectar, with the aim to fight off the infection. Nicotine slows the progression of disease in infected bees but has adverse effects when consumed by healthy bees. The bumblebees are not the only animal that uses nicotine as a defense mechanism, the house sparrows also relies on nicotine to fight off infection by using cigarette butts in their nests to ward off mites. Bumblebees infected with parasite always chose sugar solution with nicotine in it than one without, infected bumblebees that consumed nicotine delayed the progress of the infection for a few days, showing lower levels of parasites than those that had not taken the nicotine laced sugar solution.

Sugar treat for bees creates a positive emotion state.

Scientists have discovered that when bumblebees drink a small droplet of really sweet sugar water, they behave like they are in a positive emotion-like state.The results published in the journal Science shows that after bumblebees drink a small droplet of really sweet sugar water, they behave like they are in a positive emotion-like state. Biologists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) findings suggest that insects have states that fit the criteria of emotions and open up new avenues for research into positive emotions in relatively simple nervous systems. The researchers trained bees to find food at a blue flower and no food at a green flower, and then tested the bees on a new blue-green flower. Bees that drank a small droplet of sugar water prior to the test took less time to land on the ambiguous-coloured flower. The other experiments showed that this behavior wasn't due to bees just getting more excited or searching faster. This indicates that the sweet sugar water may be causing a positive emotion-like state in bees, similar to humans and other animals.

Machine learning can help stop food poisoning by predicting bacteria strain.

A study carried out by researchers at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which focused on harmful strains of E. coli bacteria could help public health officials to target interventions and reduce risk to human health. The study showed that machine learning can predict strains of bacteria likely to cause food poisoning outbreaks, the researchers used software that compares genetic information from bacterial samples isolated from both animals and people. The software learns the DNA signatures that are associated with E. coli samples that have caused outbreaks of infection in people. It can then pick out the animal strains that have these signatures, which are therefore likely to be a threat to human health. The E. coli strains live in the guts of people and animals without causing illness but E. coli O157 causes more serious human infections. Cows carry E. coli O157 and serve as the main reservoir for this toxic bacteria. The animals excrete the bacteria in their faeces but do not become ill. This makes it difficult to spot which herds and animals are carrying strains that are likely to cause disease in people. The team trained the software on DNA sequences from strains isolated from cattle herds and human infections in the UK and the US. Once trained, the computer is able to predict whether an E. coli strain is likely to have come from a cow or a person. The team used the approach to predict that less than ten percent of the E. coli O157 cattle strains are likely to have the potential to cause human disease. Interventions to stop the spread of the disease by use of vaccines could be targeted at herds with these strains to minimize the risk of outbreaks in people. This study shows the potential of machine learning approaches for identifying these strains early and prevent outbreaks of this infectious disease.

Lagos to hold maiden edition of food security summit.

The Lagos State Government has concluded plans to organize a world class summit, tagged: ‘The Lagos Food Security Summit and Exhibition.’ This is in furtherance of its commitment to optimally explore its agricultural value chain potentials and ensure food security for its teeming populace, The Special Adviser to the Governor on Food Security, Mr Sanni Okanlawon at a news briefing at Alausa, in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Tuesday said that that the summit was being organized to institutionalize a food security framework that would guarantee sustainable food security for its growing population. “The summit which is scheduled to hold at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja from Thursday 10th to Friday 11th November, 2016 is designed to realign emerging realities with new global trends on food safety, food processing, food storage, food handling, funding of agri-business and agric-insurance”. Okanlawon added that the summit, with the theme: “Actualizing Sustainable Food Security in Lagos: A New Comprehensive Agenda,” will attract major stakeholders from the Agricultural sector and academics as well as prospective foreign and local investors, media, civil society and policy makers in government. This is a great way to invest “The Summit is expected to provide a veritable platform for discourse on various investment opportunities in agriculture and agro-allied business in the State with the aim of stimulating private investment in the sector and ultimately optimize its vast agro-processing and agro-allied potentials.” more The issue of food security is a global concern and more countries are turning to agriculture to change their economic terrain. Investing in agriculture and agribusiness ventures is a sure way to push any economy going south. The food summit