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The overall goal of this project is to develop approaches for the diagnosis and surveillance of infectious diseases in cattle. Specific objectives include <OL> <LI> the integration of genetic technologies in identification of host and pathogen risk factors for disease <LI> developing approaches to define the impact of intensive animal production on microbial ecology <LI>developing epidemiologic and statistical methods for identifying risk factors for disease in cattle populations with hierarchical structure including genetic and spatiotemporal risks. </oL> Production practices including nutritional inputs, stocking density and antimicrobial use will be assessed for associations with disease or the presence of pathogenic bacteria in the environment. The results of this work will help to identify critical control points within intensive cattle production systems disease for targeted surveillance and intervention. Further, the application of genetic technologies to describe host and pathogen genetic risk factors will provide additional tools to aid in control of animal disease, identify genotypes associated with disease resistance, and identify opportunities to utilize these technologies in diagnosis and surveillance.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Infectious diseases of cattle pose threats to animal well-being, productivity, and food safety. Reducing the incidence of infectious disease in cattle populations requires development of improved methods for diagnosis and surveillance, identification of production practices and animal traits that are risk factors for infectious disease, and integration of knowledge regarding risk factors for disease into existing production systems. Development of improved methods to control infectious disease is particularly important for the cattle industries of the Southern Great Plains where most cattle are consolidated into intensive production systems including the feedlot and dairy industries. Further, this region represents a national center for cattle production including animals with diverse geographical origin and health histories. Among the many challenges to controlling infectious disease in contemporary cattle populations is the inefficiency and cost of diagnosis and surveillance. There is an immediate need for improved methods for monitoring population susceptibility, disease transmission, and distributions of pathogenic organisms in the environment. Emerging genetic technologies provide one opportunity to improve the ability to address these challenges. Novel approaches to detection of pathogenic microbes in the environment and assessing the effects of production practices on distribution of bacterial populations in the environment will modify the perspective of animal health from an individual or small animal group level to larger ecosystem scales. The objective of this project is to develop approaches for the diagnosis and surveillance of infectious diseases in contemporary cattle production systems. Emphasis will be placed on epidemiologic approaches that integrate genetic technologies at the individual animal, population, and ecosystem levels.
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APPROACH: Cattle populations in the feedlot and dairy industries of the Southern Great Plains will be identified for use in this project. Population-based case-control studies will be performed to determine the association between genetic markers and prevalence of selected infectious diseases. Genotypes will be characterized using available single nucleotide polymorphism arrays and multivariate approaches to analysis of genetic data. Candidate markers will be evaluated for their suitability for use in marker assisted selection. The effects of intensive cattle production and specific management practices on microbial ecology will be assessed in sustained and newly constructed production units. Microbial ecology will be characterized based upon molecular diversity in biological specimens, the identification of specific bacterial pathogens of significance to bovine and human health, and the distribution of pathogenicity genotypes including antimicrobial resistance among bacterial populations in animal production environments. Stochcastic models will be developed to describe the impact of intensive animal production on the evolution of microbial ecology. Observational research projects will be conducted in existing intensive cattle production facilities to identify risk factors for infectious disease. Animal health databases will be constructed integrating animal health information from existing production records systems into a regional surveillance tool. Spatial and temporal distributions of disease incidence will be described and used to assess risk for infectious disease within and among production units. Emphasis will be placed on the development of epidemiologic approaches to assessing animal health in contemporary production systems and the application of frequentist and Bayesian statistical models for describing infectious disease in cattle populations of the Southern Great Plains.