Preventive Veterinary Medicine

Koalas within Australia are facing multiple threats from habitat loss, climate change and pervasive chlamydial disease. A safe and effective vaccine to protect koalas against chlamydia would be a welcome veterinary intervention to prevent this devastating disease which causes blindness, renal and reproductive pathology, infertility and mortality. However, over a decade of vaccine development and research trials has produced conflicting results, which vary from no observable indication of protective efficacy to a 64% reduction in chlamydia associated mortality. Given this discrepancy we conducted an independent analysis of data underpinning the highly cited publication demonstrating vaccine efficacy that was the basis for a permit for limited use in koalas. In doing so, we identified a substantial error in the way the data was encoded for analysis, which resulted in survival from birth to time of vaccination incorrectly being attributed to vaccination. After correction for this error, we show using the exact methods of the original authors that there was no significant difference in the survival or disease rate between vaccinated and unvaccinated koalas. Furthermore, we identified a substantial source of bias whereby animals with disease at their first health assessment were not excluded from the study and as those animals were generally not vaccinated, they were almost six times more likely to be included in the control group. Reanalysis including only koalas that were healthy on initial assessment and for which follow-up health assessments were performed, showed that vaccinated individuals were equally likely to contract disease or to die with disease; 18 of 143 vaccinated koalas (12.6%) developed disease and 3 (2.1%) died, compared to 63 of 439 control animals (14.4%) that developed disease and 11 (2.5%) that died. This study highlights the importance of randomised, observer blinded, placebo-controlled studies in veterinary settings to uphold scientific rigor and prevent stratification bias.

Vaccination of free-roaming dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and cats (Felis catus) remains a major public health challenge. Rapid urbanization forces these species into complex contact zones, where structural failure of pulsed vaccination under high demographic turnover undermines standard One Health interventions. In such cases species-specific intervention cycles are needed to reduce zoonotic disease risk. We integrated field-data within a simulated vaccination campaign to determine how species-specific turnover rates drive the erosion of herd immunity at an Amazonian urban sentinel site (university campus). We monitored free-roaming populations (72 dogs, 75 cats) using a non-invasive photographic mark-resight protocol from 2023 to 2025. We modelled time-to-disappearance using Cox Proportional Hazards and simulated the trajectory of effective vaccination coverage against a 40% herd immunity threshold, distinguishing between loss of vaccinated individuals and recruitment of susceptible individuals. The campus functioned as a high-turnover system, with 72% of dogs and 48% of cats classified as transients. Species significantly predicted persistence (Hazard Ratio = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.33-0.94; p=0.029), with cats exhibiting double the median residency of dogs (432 vs. 193 days). Consequently, the species experienced divergent epidemiological failure modes. For dogs, simulated vaccination coverage collapsed below a 40% herd immunity threshold in 160 days, driven by rapid immunity attrition (the loss of vaccinated individuals). Although cats persisted longer, their effective coverage was eroded by immunity dilution due to recruitment of naive juveniles, creating a 33% gap between cohort survival and population-level immunity by day 365. Annual vaccination campaigns are likely insufficient in this high-turnover urban dog population. Effective One Health zoonotic control strategies must transition from static abundance-based targets to dynamic, species-specific and turnover-adjusted intervention schedules.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is among the most significant disease threats to poultry worldwide. Modelling challenges, where independent teams address a common epidemiological scenario, can support the development of response capabilities and strengthen communication between modellers and risk managers. Despite the established benefits of these exercises, they remain uncommon in animal health, and none have previously addressed avian influenza. Here Jolly Island, an artificial landscape of 9160 poultry farms with five production types, was developed and seeded with stochastic HPAI epidemics that ran their course over a three-to-four month period. From January through April 2026, 45 registered teams across five continents investigated a selected synthetic epidemic, producing probabilistic forecasts, inferring transmission drivers, and evaluating counterfactual control policies. Here the objectives, design choices, and data generation of the HPAI Modelling Challenge are described in full, covering transmission processes, surveillance system operations, and control strategy implementation, along with the selected epidemic trajectory, the narrative situation reports supplied to the teams at each phase, and the complete phase-specific datasets released to them. As the opening paper of this special issue, here is provided the foundation upon which all subsequent contributions, where teams document their approaches and analyses, are built.

African swine fever (ASF) in wild boar poses major surveillance and control challenges, particularly in periurban and human-modified landscapes where ecological complexity, delayed detection, and heterogeneous host movements complicate out-break interpretation. In late 2025, ASF was detected in wild boar in Catalonia, Spain, creating a high-priority epidemiological scenario at the wildlife-urban interface. In this study, we analysed the 2025-2026 Catalonia outbreak using scenario-based spatial modelling with the WIMBOARD (Wild Integrated Movement Boar Outbreak and Risk Dynamics) framework. Simulations under baseline control conditions were used to interpret spread dynamics and support anticipatory surveillance. The results indicate that outbreak expansion was structured and directional rather than isotropic. Temporal outputs suggested delayed detectability between infection prevalence and mortality signals, whereas cumulative spatial risk maps, time-to-infection surfaces, and monthly infection-risk dynamics identified directional asymmetries and differentiated phases of spread. An early southward dispersal signal was consistent with initial field observations, while the north-northwest sector emerged as the most consequential expansion scenario because of its stronger functional connectivity and higher potential for regional amplification and persistence, while a later northeast-ward phase remained comparatively less influential within the 500-day simulation horizon. Monthly risk surfaces further showed that ASF spread behaved as a moving eco-epidemiological wavefront, allowing identification of shifting surveillance windows before mortality became apparent. These findings support the interpretation of the Catalonia outbreak as a landscape-mediated epidemiological process shaped by functional connectivity, wildlife behavioural adaptation, peri-urban ecological structure, and delayed detection. This study shows how spatially explicit eco-epidemiological modelling can support outbreak interpretation, surveillance prioritisation, and proactive wildlife disease management under complex field conditions.

Measurement uncertainty can affect the classifications of individual as positive or negative, and thus, the diagnostic performances of a test. Existing methods to assess measurement uncertainty and its impact on diagnostic performance are difficult to apply in the absence of a gold standard. We proposed a method applicable to any quantitative diagnostic test and in the absence of a gold standard, and applied it to ELISA tests for Q fever serology in ruminants. We assessed measurement uncertainty using a mixed-effects model on data from an inter-laboratory proficiency testing. Then, we estimated the sensitivities and specificities accounting for measurement uncertainty. To do so, we combined, for each individual of a sample representative of the population, the probability of being truly seropositive and the probability of being positive when retested in another laboratory. We also estimated the sensitivity and specificity of each laboratory and of each batch, taking into account their bias. While the sensitivities and specificities of the ELISA tests were slightly affected by the measurement uncertainty, they varied between laboratories and between batches. This highlights the importance of harmonising analytical practices across laboratories and calibrating batches. The extent to which measurement uncertainty impacts diagnostic performance depends not only on the values of the inter- and intra-laboratory standard deviations, but also on the position of the cut-off in the population's measurand distribution. Therefore, in addition to the analytical performance of a test, the position of the cut-off relative to the distribution of test value is an essential parameter to consider.

Background: Flea infestation is an important companion-animal health problem and a prime source of zoonotic exposure. However, information on cat owners awareness and preventive behavior regarding fleas and flea-borne diseases (FBDs) in Bangladesh is limited. This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of cat owners regarding flea infestation and flea-borne diseases in selected areas of central Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from November 2025 to July 2026 among 238 cat owners attending veterinary clinics in Savar, Dhamrai and Manikganj Upazila. Data were collected using a pretested structured questionnaire covering respondent characteristics, flea biology and transmission, perceived risks, and flea-prevention and control practices. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the findings, and respondents were classified according to their overall KAP scores. Results: Of the respondents, 47.1% owned cats with outdoor access and 77.7% reported that their pets had previously experienced flea infestation. Although 65.5% used flea-control treatments, awareness of zoonotic and disease-transmission risks was limited. Only 14.7% recognized that fleas can parasitize humans, while 17.6% knew that fleas can transmit infectious agents. Overall, 83.2% of respondents had poor knowledge, whereas 69.7% demonstrated moderate attitudes and 63.9% showed moderate practices. Good knowledge and good practice were uncommon, accounting for only 3.8% and 4.6% of respondents, respectively. Veterinary recommendation was the most frequently reported motivation for using flea-control products. Conclusions: Cat owners attending in the surveyed areas frequently reported flea exposure and treatment use, but substantial gaps remained in their understanding of flea biology, zoonotic potential and comprehensive control. Targeted veterinary education emphasizing routine prevention, treatment of all susceptible household animals and environmental management is needed. These findings provide regional baseline evidence and should not be interpreted as nationally representative. Keywords: Bangladesh; cat owners; ectoparasites; flea-borne diseases; flea control; knowledge, attitudes and practices; One Health.

BackgroundIdentifying risk factors for Leishmania infection in dogs is essential for understanding disease epidemiology and informing control and targeted prevention. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined these risk factors across endemic and non-endemic regions of Europe. MethodsInclusion criteria included studies that quantified the association between Leishmania infection (both asymptomatic infection and canine leishmaniosis) and risk factors among European dogs. Non-peer reviewed grey literature and studies that focus only on prevention were excluded. The search included all records indexed in PubMed up to 17th March 2026. Risk of bias was assessed using the ROBINS-E tool. Random-effects multilevel models were used for meta-analysis, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess robustness. ResultsOf the 46 studies included, 94% were cross-sectional and 76% assessed seroprevalence. Studies were primarily conducted in Southern Europe (Spain 35%, Portugal 17%, Italy 17%, and Greece 11%). There was considerable evidence of an association between increasing age and infection (OR = 1.15 [95% CI: 1.10, 1.21] per year). Five additional factors showed some evidence of association: male sex (OR = 1.17 [1.01, 1.36]), higher body weight (OR = 1.06 [1.02, 1.09] per kg), outdoor housing (OR = 1.84 [1.26, 2.69]), outdoor sleeping (OR = 2.50 [1.52, 4.09]), and neuter status showing higher odds in neutered dogs (OR = 2.22 [1.37, 3.61]). Other potential risk factors, with weak or no clear evidence, included fur length, coat color, breed, utilization (e.g. pet or hunting), urbanicity, care setting, clinical signs, cohabitation, co-infection, sand fly density, land cover, home features, owner perception and knowledge of the disease, travel history and origin of dog, and area-level socioeconomic deprivation. Over 75% of analytical units were assessed as having a high risk of bias, with the remaining assessed as moderate risk. Inadequate handling of confounders was the primary source of bias risk. ConclusionsThe results highlight key risk factors to consider in future research and for improving prevention and disease control, with most identified factors likely acting as proxies of exposure to sand fly bites. Future studies should ensure adequate control for confounding, while causal inference would be strengthened by conducting longitudinal cohort studies.

Rabies remains a major zoonotic public health threat, associated with approximately 59,000 annual deaths globally, with Africa bearing 36% of this burden. In Uganda, an estimated 36 human deaths and 1.8 million dog bite exposures occur annually, yet national dog vaccination coverage remains critically low at approximately 10%. This study investigated factors associated with rabies vaccination uptake among dog owners in Butaleja Town Council, Eastern Uganda, a high-risk setting. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 173 dog owners between May 18 and June 28, 2024, using semi-structured questionnaires. The primary outcome was vaccination uptake ([≥]1 dose in the past year). Modified Poisson regression with robust variance estimated adjusted prevalence ratios for all socio-demographic, veterinary system, health system, dog-related, and knowledge factors. Among 173 dog owners, 57.2% vaccinated at least one dog, corresponding to 54.6% (166/304) of all dogs vaccinated. Factors associated with vaccination uptake included older age (21-40 years: aPR 1.43, 95% CI: 1.15-1.71; 41-60 years: aPR 1.53, 95% CI: 1.22-1.82; [≥]61 years: aPR 1.56, 95% CI: 1.33-2.23), higher education (primary: aPR 1.20, 95% CI: 1.00-1.45; secondary: aPR 1.55, 95% CI: 1.20-2.00), higher income, access to veterinary clinics (aPR 2.50, 95% CI: 1.52-3.75), and participation in community education sessions (aPR 1.71, 95% CI: 1.34-2.15). While household-level uptake showed moderate engagement, the resulting dog population vaccination coverage of 48.4% remained substantially below the 70% World Health Organization threshold required for herd immunity. Achieving the "Zero by 30" elimination dog-bite mediated Rabies target in this setting requires targeted interventions addressing the identified associated factors including; enhanced community education, improved veterinary service accessibility, reminder systems, and strategies to convert partial household vaccination into complete coverage particularly among younger, less educated, and lower-income dog owners.

Background: Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a major cause of antimicrobial use in cattle, raising concerns about antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This systematic review estimated pooled AMR proportions in BRD pathogens: Mannheimia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida, and Histophilus somni, and assessed temporal and geographic trends in resistance. Methods: Five antimicrobials commonly used for BRD treatment were evaluated: penicillin G (PEN), tetracycline (TET), florfenicol (FLO), tulathromycin (TUL), and enrofloxacin (ENR). Following PRISMA guidelines, 1,097 records were screened and 24 studies met inclusion criteria. Study quality and risk of bias were assessed, and random-effects meta-analyses estimated pooled proportions of resistant isolates by antimicrobial, continent and period. Results: A total of 13,949 bacterial isolates were analysed including P. multocida (5,615), M. haemolytica (5,585), and H. somni (2,749). TET resistance was highest across all pathogens (12-30%), followed by TUL (6-11%), PEN (4-12%), FLO (0.5-1.6%) and ENR (0.2-1.1%). TET resistance in M. haemolytica and P. multocida, and FLO resistance in P. multocida were significantly more frequent in North America than in Europe (p[≤]0.05). TUL resistance increased significantly in P. multocida after 2013 (p=0.038), with similar non significant trends in M. haemolytica and H. somni. FLO resistance decreased significantly in H. somni after 2013 (p=0.013). Egger's test identified significant funnel plot asymmetry for ENR resistance in H. somni and PEN resistance in M. haemolytica, suggesting possible small study effects. Conclusion: These results offer insights into distribution of phenotypic resistance across pathogens and regions, informing BRD antimicrobial treatment guidelines and One-Health antimicrobial stewardship aimed at preserving the effectiveness of medically important antimicrobials.

The emergence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI 2.3.4.4b) in dairy herds in 2024 across 19 states in the United States of America has raised concerns regarding the potential national and global zoonotic impact. All recent modeling efforts implemented homogenous cattle-to-cattle (both intra and inter-herd) transmission models which did not capture the real-world heterogeneity in mixing of animals, individual variations in susceptibility and infectiousness and clinical incidences across pens and lactation groups. The aim of this study was to develop a heterogenous transmission model to estimate the epidemiological parameters for intra-herd HPAI transmission on Californian dairies. We developed a validated stochastic agent-based model to estimate the epidemiological parameters for intra-herd HPAI transmission on California dairies. The hierarchical agent-based model also parameterized stochastic cattle movements within-herd to simulate real dairy management practices. A cow-level SEIR transmission approach was assumed during the outbreak. A novel Bayesian Optimizer with Gaussian Process (BO-GP) was fitted to the agent-based model for validation which converged within 25-40 iterations (out of 100 per farm) with minimal loss over two distinct error metrics, namely, Poisson loss function and temporal distance metric. Our optimized simulations estimated an average R0 was around 10.7-10.8 across all farms within the first 15 days of observed outbreak on four dairy farms with a mean effective transmission rate of 4.5% per contact between susceptible and infectious cows within each pen. Our model demonstrated that the movement of cows between pens ensured localized clusters of outbreaks within the sub-herds (pen population) that prolonged the overall outbreak within farms. We estimated the total duration of infection between 14.5 and 28 days, which is higher than the estimates from the homogenous models. With an integrated hierarchical agent-based model combined with Bayesian approximation, we produced actionable insights on the epidemiology of intra-farm spread of HPAI within cow herds, thereby guiding both future model development and applied disease control strategy.

Occupational ocular injuries are a preventable yet neglected public health problem, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Maintenance workers are exposed to diverse ocular hazards daily, yet compliance with protective measures is consistently poor. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 85 maintenance workers at the Maintenance and Essential Services Organization (MESO) of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, recruited through stratified convenience sampling across seven occupational sections. A structured questionnaire assessed knowledge of ocular hazards and protective equipment, attitudes toward ocular safety, and safety practices. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 26 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA); chi-square and Fishers exact tests assessed associations (p < 0.05). Participants were predominantly male (84/85, 98.8%), with a mean age of 44.5 {+/-} 10.4 years. Overall knowledge was good (mean 9.40 {+/-} 1.59 out of 11), but attitude and practice scores were average (2.78 {+/-} 0.92 and 3.27 {+/-} 0.93, respectively). Most workers correctly identified goggles and face shields as protective, but only about half recognized that ordinary sunglasses and spectacles offer inadequate protection. Although 97.6% (83/85) recognized the need for ocular protection, only 7.1% (6/85) reported consistent protective eyewear use, and fewer than half (45.9%, 39/85) had received formal ocular safety training. Routine general protective equipment use was significantly associated with ocular protection use (Fishers exact test, p = 0.011). Sand and dust particles were the leading causes of injury and only 25% (5/20) of injured workers sought formal care. Workers demonstrated good knowledge but poor attitudes and practices toward ocular safety, suggesting that knowledge alone does not translate into protective behaviour even within a relatively well-resourced institutional setting. Findings suggest that limited access to task-appropriate protective eyewear may represent an important institutional barrier. Institutional PPE supply and section-specific safety training are essential to bridge this knowledge-practice gap.

Introduction: Veterinary Professionals are at risk of contracting zoonoses, including potential emerging infections. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) could reduce infection transmission risk, but use of it in the profession is low. Understanding Veterinary Professionals experiences with PPE could help identify facilitators and barriers, therefore informing a future strategy to improve usage. Methods: Two focus group discussion with veterinary nurses and two with veterinarians took place at a tertiary small animal teaching hospital. With an interpretivist epistemology, transcriptions were inductively coded and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Veterinary Professionals frequently reported underusing PPE, despite significant zoonotic risk. Friction in interdisciplinary relationships negatively impacted veterinary professionals experiences with PPE: differing views on risk, policy and PPE, contrasting perceptions of each other, and challenges with communication impacted PPE decision-making. Barriers included an absence of initial recognition of risk, a staff culture of prioritising patient health over risk to self, friction in response to others PPE use or lack thereof, an overly complex policy, and a lack of cultural and institutional reaction to occupationally contracted zoonoses. Facilitators included effective inter and intradisciplinary communication and previous personal experience with serious zoonoses. Conclusion: Veterinary Professionals experiences with PPE, are shaped by social and professional factors, such as interdisciplinary friction, perceptions of self and others, of risk and policy. Recommendations are for the findings to be used locally to embed PPE use into everyday practice. At a national level, the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) should use the findings to evaluate current policies regarding PPE and zoonoses in veterinary practice and produce a simplified national guidance, in collaboration with veterinary professionals with lived experience. Further research into General Practice Veterinary Professionals experiences and the interdisciplinary social dynamics is recommended.

Spatial overlap of domestic animals and wildlife can have positive effects such as increased biodiversity in some areas and reduction in forest fires but it can also have negative consequences such as pathogen spillover, vector and pathogen propagation into new areas among others. Thus, understanding the interactions between wildlife and domestic animals on shared landscapes is critical for conservation and management purposes. To investigate these cattle-wildlife interactions, we chose Buck Island Ranch (BIR) in southcentral Florida. We studied spatial overlap between Domestic Cattle (Bos Taurus) and multiple wildlife species such as Wild Boar (Sus scrofa), White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), Rabbits (Sylvilagus spp) and others in pasture, semi-pasture, and hammock habitats/vegetation types at BIR. Five management blocks were selected that had pasture and hammock habitats and within each block we established matched pairs of 100m transects. Animal dung samples were surveyed and identified in 13 pairs of transects. We used Wilcoxon signed rank test to determine differences in dung counts between the habitats and calculated Simpson diversity index to analyze the differences in diversity between the habitat types. We found that there was greater dung count of white-tailed deer in hammock habitats compared to pastures (p=0.048) and greater diversity of wildlife in hammocks than pastures (p=0.028). Cattle dung was found in high density in both hammocks and pastures. These results indicate that hammocks are areas shared between cattle and wildlife at BIR and depending on the extent of direct and indirect contacts between these animals there can be a risk for pathogen spillover. We recommend further research on local land and cattle management practices that can facilitate the co-existence of livestock and wildlife.

Neoehrlichia mikurensis is widely detected in tick populations across Europe, yet its host range beyond small rodents remains poorly understood. Large wild mammals are frequently exposed to tick vectors, but their role in the transmission cycle of this bacterium is unclear. Wild boars (Sus scrofa) are among the most abundant large mammals in southern Sweden and commonly inhabit tick-infested environments, making them a potentially relevant host species. In this study, spleen samples from 87 wild boars collected between 2023 and 2025 across southern and central Sweden were analysed for the presence of N. mikurensis DNA using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. N. mikurensis DNA was not detected in any of the analysed samples, despite sampling in regions where the bacterium is known to be prevalent in ticks. These results indicate that wild boars may have a limited role in the maintenance of N. mikurensis in Sweden, although the possibility of rare or transient infection cannot be excluded. Despite being based on negative findings, this study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the host range of N. mikurensis and highlights the importance of continued evaluation of wildlife species in the transmission dynamics of tick-borne pathogens.

Biological invasions by feral swine are among the most important drivers of ecological change worldwide, yet invasion dynamics remain poorly documented in tropical South America. In Brazil, the recent spread of wild boar and wild boar-domestic pig hybrids (javaporcos) overlaps with long-established populations of free-ranging feral pigs (porco-monteiro) in the Pantanal, creating a unique scenario of dual invasive lineages of Sus scrofa. We reconstructed the spatiotemporal invasion process of feral swine (S. scrofa) across the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), Brazil, using historical occurrence records, captive-breeding data, landscape variables, detection frequencies, and occupancy estimates from 2007 to 2017. The invasion expanded from 29 municipalities (36.7% of the state) in 2007 to all 79 municipalities by 2017. During this period, at least 247 breeding facilities were identified across 59 municipalities, including numerous informal and clandestine operations involving wild boar and hybrids (javaporcos). Municipalities with the largest numbers of breeding facilities and reproductive stocks consistently coincided with areas of highest invasion intensity, indicating that propagule pressure from captive populations strongly influenced feral swine expansion. By 2017, invasive populations occupied approximately 3.2 million hectares (8.85% of the state territory), with the greatest occupancy concentrated in agricultural landscapes dominated by soybean, maize, sorghum, and sugarcane production. Detection frequency and occupied area were positively associated with croplands, exposed soil fields, and water-associated habitats, suggesting that agricultural mosaics linked by riparian corridors facilitate invasion and persistence. Conservative population estimates ranged from 11,850 to 47,400 individuals statewide, although carrying-capacity scenarios suggested populations could exceed 500,000 animals under favorable conditions. Detection patterns involving native peccaries (Tayassu pecari and Pecari tajacu) indicated differential coexistence responses to invasive swine, with collared peccaries apparently more sensitive to heavily invaded landscapes. Our findings demonstrate that feral swine expansion in central South America was driven by the interaction of anthropogenic propagule pressure, permissive governance, and highly suitable agricultural environments, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated monitoring, regulation of captive breeding, and large-scale adaptive control programs.

Rapid detection is critical for successful management of transboundary animal disease incursions in wild host populations. However, decisions about how best to allocate wildlife disease surveillance effort must be made under high uncertainty. Risk-based surveillance can improve efficiency but approaches that focus surveillance too narrowly on expected high risk areas could have low power to detect unexpected events. We developed and field-tested an adaptive, search-theoretic surveillance framework for detecting transboundary animal disease incursions in wild ungulates in New South Wales, Australia. Key principles that guided the frameworks development included accommodating uncertainty, regularly updating search priorities based on expected risk and spatial coverage, and a flexible structure that allows the system to respond to changing information or conditions over time. We created a coarse state-wide risk map that served as a weakly informative prior describing expected variability in disease incursion risk, loosely focused on foot and mouth disease virus (FMDv). Risk and search values were updated every three months based on realised surveillance effort and estimated detection probabilities over the preceding 12 months, meaning that areas of persistently high risk could nonetheless have low search value if they had recently been intensively searched. Surveillance activities collected blood and swab samples from 1,964 wild pigs (Sus scrofa) during 110 sampling occasions over a two-year evaluation and refinement period. Activities sought to simulate FMDv surveillance operations, but FMDv serological tests were not available at the time. Effort was consistently concentrated in areas of high search value, with at least 74% of sampled cells in the highest risk class. Estimated surveillance system sensitivity ranged from 0.86 to 0.93 over five successive updating cycles and increased as operational procedures were refined. Although the surveillance program was based on FMDv incursion risk, it also fulfilled its secondary objective of detecting unexpected events, including detecting Japanese encephalitis virus in wild pigs before detections in humans and domestic animals. By combining risk-based surveillance with adaptive updating of search priorities in a modular structure, the framework provided a flexible and generalisable approach for early detection of transboundary and emerging animal disease incursions in wildlife populations under high uncertainty.

Bangladesh's agricultural sector remains heavily dependent on pesticides and chemical inputs, yet limited attention has been paid to how farmers' knowledge of occupational health and environmental sustainability translates into actual practice across the full agricultural value chain. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of farmers in Pabna District, Bangladesh, regarding occupational health, pesticide handling, environmentally sustainable farming, and market sanitation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 301 farmers in 2024 using a structured questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics, sustainable farming knowledge and adoption, soil testing and organic farming practices, pesticide handling and occupational health and safety behaviours, post-harvest waste management, and market sanitation conditions. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The majority of respondents were male (87.04%) and had no formal education (63.46%). Although most farmers reported knowledge of environmentally sustainable farming practices (97.70%) and pesticide label instructions (98.00%), corresponding safety practices were poor: only 10.63% reported wearing any personal protective equipment and 1.33% reported using a mask during pesticide application. Eye irritation was the most commonly self-reported health symptom following pesticide exposure (92.69%). Market sanitation infrastructure was similarly inadequate, with 89.00% of respondents reporting an absence of sanitary toilets. These findings indicate a consistent gap between farmers' knowledge and their actual practices across multiple domains of the agri-food system. Strengthening extension services, delivering practical hands-on occupational safety training, and investing in market sanitation infrastructure are recommended to close this gap and support safer, more sustainable farming practices in Bangladesh.

This paper evaluates the computational and epidemiological robustness of the historical Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), the foundational empirical experiment guiding zoonotic tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) control policies. Wildlife reservoir management frequently relies on the RBCTs trade-off hypothesis, which posits that reductions in cattle herd infections are offset by a perturbation effect driven by disrupted host dispersal. Using generalized linear mixed models with a generalized Poisson error distribution to explicitly address historical data overdispersion, this study contrasts traditional parametric inference against exact cluster-constrained permutation tests across distinct operational definitions of disease incidence. Non-parametric diagnostics reveal that previously reported treatment and perturbation effects are entirely statistical artifacts. Inside culling zones, parametric significance fails to withstand exact permutation verification due to extreme data leverage in localized cluster blocks. Crucially, when diagnostic misclassification biases are eliminated by analysing total reactor datasets, all apparent culling effects disappear, and information criteria overwhelmingly favour nested null architectures. Unconfirmed reactors likely represent true biological infections missed by low-sensitivity post-mortem macro-necropsy, proving that host removal tracks observation noise rather than genuine zoonotic transmission pathways. Finally, empirical scaling conducted in this study identifies a novel, mathematical saturation effect arising from unmodelled disease recurrence rather than an ecological reality. Current zoonotic tuberculosis intervention frameworks are built upon structurally miss-specified statistical models, resulting in misdirected, large-scale veterinary interventions that cause substantial ecological and economic harm while failing to provide genuine public health, animal health, or disease control benefits.

Porcine adenoviruses are common in domestic pigs and are generally regarded as low-pathogenicity viruses associated with mild or subclinical infections. However, their diversity, host associations and disease potential remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated a disease outbreak in an immunologically naive 320-sow high-health hysterectomy-derived pig herd in New Zealand. The outbreak was characterised by anorexia, lethargy, diffuse cutaneous erythema, death in neonatal piglets, and an increased occurrence of mummified fetuses. Histopathological examination of a piglet revealed widespread intranuclear inclusion bodies within endothelial cells, indicative of systemic viral infection. Total RNA sequencing was performed on tissues from an affected piglet and mummified fetuses. Metatranscriptomic analysis identified an abundant adenovirus in multiple piglet and aborted fetus tissues, and de novo assembly recovered a 27,685-nucleotide genome. Phylogenetic analysis placed the virus within the genus Mastadenovirus but it formed a divergent lineage distinct from all previously characterised porcine adenoviruses. Despite sequence divergence, the genome retained the characteristic organisation of mastadenoviruses. Aside from a single detection of porcine kobuvirus identified at low abundance in the small intestine and colon from the piglet, no other viral pathogens were identified. The high viral abundance and systemic tissue distribution observed in both the piglet and fetus, together with the presence of widespread adenoviral inclusion bodies in the piglet, support an association between this novel adenovirus and the disease outbreak. These findings expand the diversity of porcine adenoviruses and suggest that previously unrecognised adenovirus lineages may contribute to reproductive and neonatal disease when introduced into immunologically naive high-health herds.

Understanding the transmission and persistence of zoonoses in wild reservoirs is crucial for outbreak prevention, demographic assessment, and conservation planning. Host demography, ecology, behaviour and within-host viral kinetics together underpin transmission dynamics but are rarely united within epidemiological models. Here we characterised the transmission dynamics of European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2) infection dynamics by uniting a long-term study (2010-2018) of the ecology of five greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) colonies in France (~2700 marked individuals) with diagnostic evidence of virus circulation. Although no lyssavirus was detected in any of the 442 saliva samples tested, seropositivity showed synchronised peaks across colonies (0-100% annually), with the highest seroprevalence in 2015-2017, but remaining low otherwise. Fitting Bayesian compartmental epidemiological models, we found evidence that shifts in EBLV-2 prevalence were primarily driven by the gregarious behaviour of populations during the mating season and age-dependent variation in transmission. The duration of maternal immunity emerged as a key, and still empirically unknown factor, which shaped whether EBLV-2 maintenance was enzootic or required an external force of infection. Lyssavirus outbreaks in M. myotis were associated with few deaths overall and had a negligible impact on population dynamics. These findings underscore the value of integrating ecological and individual-level data with mechanistic modelling to enhance our understanding and management of zoonotic pathogens in wildlife.