Mortality rates from a Nigerian isolate of the <i>Infectious Bursa Disease Virus</i>and passive haemagglutination antibody titer that protects chicks against challenge with the virus isolate

To determine passive haemagglutination (PHA) antibody titer that would protect chicks against Nigerian isolates of the Infectious Bursa Disease Virus (IBDV), five groups of chicks aged 30 days which had different antibody titers were challenged with a Nigerian isolate of virulent IBDV. Mortality rates of the different groups were plotted against their respective mean PHA antibody titers. A group with zero antibody titer had a mortality rate of 75% while those with PHA antibody titers of 185.6, 243.2, 256 and 307.2 had mortality rates of 40%, zero, zero and zero respectively. Linear equation generated for a line of best fit of the graph of mortality rates of the chicks on their IBD antibody titers gave antibody titer (X) at which mortality (Y) would be zero as 300. A mortality of 75% and the high antibody level needed to protect chicks suggest that the isolate may be a hypervirulent strain.

Histomorphological Changes in the Skin and Eye Induced by Sub-Chronic Exposure of Wistar Rats to 3G Cell Phone Radiation

The effects of electromagnetic radiation produced by a 3G cell phone (third-generation) on skin tissues and eyes were investigated in terms of histomorphological parameters. A total of 26 Wistar rats (2 weeks-old, each weighing 40 g at the time of experiment) were used. They were maintained under a control room with water and food continuously available. The animals were divided into two experimental groups: Group A (Exposed) and Group B (Control), each with 13 Wistar Rats kept inside a plexi cage. Group A was exposed to a 3G cell phone radiation while Group B the control group, was not. All animals were generally anesthetized with Ketamine injection and then decapitated. The skin tissue was excised from the dorsal area and eyes samples were taken from all the rats by enucleating of the eye balls, fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin for a minimum of 72 hours before processing through a graded alcohol and xylene was used as a clearing agent, embedded in paraffin blocks. Tissues were sectioned at 5μm thick and routinely stained with hematoxylin/eosin. Mounted slides were examined and photographed using a light microscope. Mild to severe orthokeratotic parakeratosis was observed in the skin while eye revealed loss of striation in the sclera with necrosis of the layers of rods and cones in the retina of the exposed group. We conclude that sub chronic exposure to 3G cell phone radiation impaired the protective ability of the skin and also impaired accommodation.

Modification of the passive heamagglutination test for detection of <i>infectious bursal disease virus</i>

To modify the Passive Haemagglutination (PHA) test, a rapid test, used for qauntitative detection of viral antibodies, so that it can be used for determination of viral titres, dilutions of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) were used to sensitize the Red Blood Cells (RBCs) before reacting them with known IBD serum. Also, to improve sensitivity of the test, different RBC concentrations were used for the test. A standard IBDV gave positive PHA reaction upto its 1:2048 dilution. With different IBDV samples, positive PHA reactions occured upto dilutions, ranging from 1:16 to 1:4096. Different RBC concentrations gave different titres for same IBDV samples. With 0.6% and 0.2% RBC concentrations, mean PHA titres of IBDV samples increased from 454. 85 ± 315.32 to 2396.57 ± 489.55 (p < 0.05 ). It was concluded that PHA can be adopted for evaluation of viral titres. To improve sensitivity of the test, use of 0.2% RBC is recommended.

Ovine Progressive Pneumonia Virus Is Transmitted More Effectively via Aerosol Nebulization than Oral Administration

A new method of experimental infection of ovine progressive pneumonia virus (OPPV), aerosol nebulization (Nb), was compared to intravenous (IV) and oral (PO) methods of experimental infection. Seven month old lambs were given 3.5 × 107 TCID50 of Dubois OPPV LMH19 isolate using IV, PO, or Nb methods and were monitored for infection using cELISA and OPPV quantitative (q) PCR for 35 weeks. Four out of four sheep in the IV group, six out of six sheep in the Nb group, but only two out of six sheep in the PO group became infected by OPPV;whereas the uninoculated controls (n = 2) and a sentinel control (n = 1) remained uninfected during the course of the study. The time to a cELISA or OPPV qPCR positive result in the Nb group was quicker and statistically different from the time to a cELISA or OPPV qPCR positive result in the PO group (cELISA P value = 0.0021 and OPPV qPCR P value = 0.0007). When the Nb and IV groups were compared, sheep became cELISA and OPPV qPCR positive at similar times (cELISA P value = 0.6 and OPPV qPCR P value = 0.1). In addition, sheep became OPPV qPCR positive prior to cELISA in both the IV and Nb groups (IV P value = 0.027 and Nb P value = 0.007). Aerosol nebulization is a more natural experimental method of transmitting OPPV and may be valuable for testing potential vaccines or specific host genetics.