Publications

metabolic fingerprints of mycobacterium bovis cluster with molecular type: implications for genotype-phenotype links.	mycobacterium bovis is the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis. various genetic typing techniques have been used to trace the reservoirs of infection; however, they have limited success in population genetics and outbreak studies. fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ft-ir) is a rapid phenotypic typing technique, which may be used to generate a metabolic fingerprinting and is increasingly used to characterize bacteria. when coupled with multivariate cluster analysis, this powerful combina ...	2006	16946270
comparisons of original laboratory results and retrospective analysis by real-time reverse transcriptase-pcr of virological samples collected from confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth disease in the uk in 2001.	there were 2030 designated cases of foot-and-mouth disease (fmd) during the course of the epidemic in the uk in 2001 (including four from northern ireland). samples from 1720 of the infected premises (ips) were received in the laboratory and examined for either the presence of fmd virus (virological samples from 1421 ips) or both fmd virus and antibody (virological and serological samples from 255 ips) or antibody alone (from 44 ips). the time taken to issue final diagnostic results ranged from ...	2006	16980522
optimizing antigen cocktails for detection of mycobacterium bovis in herds with different prevalences of bovine tuberculosis: esat6-cfp10 mixture shows optimal sensitivity and specificity.	bovine tuberculosis is a major problem in many countries; hence, new and better diagnostic tools are urgently needed. in this work, we have tested esat6, cfp10, pe13, pe5, mpb70, tb10.4, and tb27.4 for their potentials as diagnostic markers in field animals from northern ireland, mexico, and argentina, regions with low, medium, and high prevalences of bovine tuberculosis, respectively. at all three sites, esat6 and cfp10 were superior diagnostic antigens, while their combination performed even b ...	2006	17005738
mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in lake catchments, in river water abstracted for domestic use, and in effluent from domestic sewage treatment works: diverse opportunities for environmental cycling and human exposure.	mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis from infected animals enters surface waters and rivers in runoff from contaminated pastures. we studied the river tywi in south wales, united kingdom, whose catchment comprises 1,100 km2 containing more than a million dairy and beef cattle and more than 1.3 million sheep. the river tywi is abstracted for the domestic water supply. between august 2002 and april 2003, 48 of 70 (68.8%) twice-weekly river water samples tested positive by is900 pcr. in rive ...	2006	16751517
bovine tuberculosis--another view from down under.		2007	16793295
genotypes and subtypes of cryptosporidium spp. in neonatal calves in northern ireland.	cryptosporidium spp. in diarrheic calves less than 30 days old from farms across northern ireland were examined over a year period by microscopic, genotyping, and subtyping techniques to characterize the transmission dynamics. cryptosporidium oocysts were detected in 291 of 779 (37.4%) animals. the prevalence rates of rotavirus, coronavirus, and escherichia coli k99+ were lower as seen in 242 of 806 (30.0%), 46/806 (5.7%), and 16/421 (3.8%) of animals, respectively. of the 224 cryptosporidium-po ...	2007	17031699
no increase in human cases of mycobacterium bovis disease despite resurgence of infections in cattle in the united kingdom.	a resurgence of mycobacterium bovis infections in cattle in the united kingdom since the 1980s has raised concern about risks to human health. enhanced surveillance data for england, wales and northern ireland between 1993 and 2003 of culture-positive human m. bovis cases identified 315 m. bovis infections; the mean annual number of cases was 28 (range 12-41). the most frequently reported exposures were consumption of unpasteurized dairy products 41/83 (49%) and exposure to cattle 45/123 (37%). ...	2007	16740186
risks for bovine tuberculosis in british cattle farms restocked after the foot and mouth disease epidemic of 2001.	the foot and mouth disease (fmd) epidemic of 2001 was used to investigate herd breakdown (hbd) with bovine tuberculosis (btb) in totally restocked herds of cattle. by august 2004, 2941 restocked cattle herds, with cattle movements from before and after 2001, had been tested for btb for the first time since restocking. a total of 6% (177) of these herds broke down at the first btb test. a binomial logistic regression model with hbd (at least one reactor bovine) at the first test after restocking ...	2008	18164499
risk associated with animals moved from herds infected with brucellosis in northern ireland.	the movement of cattle from herds infected with brucella abortus was investigated in order to assess the control measures for eradication of brucellosis from the cattle population of northern ireland. using recorded cattle movement data, a historical cohort study was designed and carried out to quantify the risk of seropositivity in bovine animals moved from herds infected with brucellosis. the study found that 3.1% of animals, moved in the 6-month period prior to disclosure of infection in the ...	2008	18207262
evidence for transplacental and contact transmission of bluetongue virus in cattle.	this paper presents evidence that a field strain of bluetongue virus serotype 8 (btv-8) was transmitted transplacentally and that it was also spread by a direct contact route. twenty pregnant heifers were imported from the netherlands into northern ireland during the midge-free season. tests before and after the animals were imported showed that eight of them had antibodies to bluetongue virus, but no viral rna was detected in any of them by reverse transcriptase-pcr (rt-pcr). two of the seropos ...	2008	18708653
[bluetongue virus serotype 8 in healthy young calves].	following the detection in northern ireland of bluetongue serotype-8 (btv-8) pcr-positive calves born from pcr-negative but seropositive heifers imported from the netherlands, an investigation was started to determine whether pcr-positive calves were born in the first quarter of 2008 in the netherlands. blood samples were collected on 43 dairy farms from 388 cow-calf combinations. all calves were at least 10-days-old and had been born after 1 january 2008. in total, 229 cows had had a btv-8 infe ...	2008	19133436
detection of clostridium botulinum type a toxin in a cow in northern ireland.		2009	19880869
compilation of a panel of informative single nucleotide polymorphisms for bovine identification in the northern irish cattle population.	animal identification is pivotal in governmental agricultural policy, enabling the management of subsidy payments, movement of livestock, test scheduling and control of disease. advances in bovine genomics have made it possible to utilise inherent genetic variability to uniquely identify individual animals by dna profiling, much as has been achieved with humans over the past 20 years. a dna profiling test based on bi-allelic single nucleotide polymorphism (snp) markers would offer considerable a ...	2010	20100323
detection of bovine tuberculosis in herds with different disease prevalence and influence of paratuberculosis infection on ppdb and esat-6/cfp10 specificity.	bovine tuberculosis (btb) is a major animal health problem with zoonotic implications. current control programs are based on test and slaughter strategies utilizing skin tests with tuberculins as antigens. the low specificity and associated operative difficulties of these tests have driven the search for new antigens and diagnostic assays. in this multicenter study, using herds from argentina, mexico and northern ireland, we selected skin test positive and negative animals from herds with differ ...	2010	20630607
coxiella burnetii (q fever) seroprevalence in cattle.	human cases of q fever appear to be common in northern ireland compared to the rest of the british isles. the purpose of this study was to describe the seroepidemiology of coxiella burnetii infection in cattle in northern ireland in terms of seroprevalence and determinants of infection. a total of 5182 animals (from a stratified systematic random sample of 273 herds) were tested with a commercial c. burnetii phase 2 igg elisa. a total of 6.2% of animals and 48.4% of herds tested positively. resu ...	2010	19480726
mycobacterium bovis genotypes in northern ireland: herd-level surveillance (2003 to 2008).	surveillance genotyping (variable number tandem repeat profiling and spoligotyping) of mycobacterium bovis isolates from culture-confirmed bovine tuberculosis (tb)-affected herds in northern ireland is presented for the years 2003 to 2008 inclusive. a total of 175 m bovis genotypes were identified in 8630 isolates from 6609 herds. on average, 73 genotypes were identified each year, with 29 genotypes present in all six years. highly significant differences (p<0.0001) were observed between the rel ...	2010	21257483
northern ireland disease surveillance, july to september 2010.		2010	21262691
culture phenotypes of genomically and geographically diverse mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis isolates from different hosts.	mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis causes paratuberculosis (johne's disease) in ruminants in most countries. historical data suggest substantial differences in culturability of m. avium subsp. paratuberculosis isolates from small ruminants and cattle; however, a systematic comparison of culture media and isolates from different countries and hosts has not been undertaken. here, 35 field isolates from the united states, spain, northern ireland, and australia were propagated in bactec 12b ...	2011	21430104
a comparison of badger activity in two areas of high and low bovine tuberculosis incidence of northern ireland.	during 2005, a field survey of badger activity was carried out to evaluate differences between two areas with different levels of bovine tuberculosis (annual herd incidences of 16% and 4%) and to assess the awareness of herd keepers in relation to badgers. a random selection of herd keepers was interviewed and their farm land surveyed for the presence of badgers. the survey end point for each farm was the discovery of an active badger sett. participation was very high in both areas (>80%). evide ...	2011	21440386
field trial of six serological tests for bovine brucellosis.	serum agglutination (sat), complement fixation (cft), indirect elisa (ielisa), competitive elisa (celisa), rose bengal (rbt) and edta-modified agglutination (edta) tests were used in parallel on serological samples from 19,935 cattle in 301 herds. the study herds were selected according to putative exposure to brucellaabortus with cases defined by bacteriological culture or test agreement. no single test identified all infected cattle and, at diagnostic thresholds, relative sensitivity was highe ...	2011	21550272
northern ireland disease surveillance report: northern ireland disease surveillance, october to december 2010.		2011	21634063
northern ireland disease surveillance, april to june 2011.		2011	21936069
behavior of cows during and after peak feeding time on organic and conventional dairy farms in the united kingdom.	the behavior of groups of housed, lactating dairy cattle was observed over 2 winter housing periods on 20 organic farms and 20 conventional farms in the united kingdom. three methods were used: (1) 6 video-clips of 10 min duration were captured of cows feeding at sections of the feed-bunk face during the peak feeding period (0 to 90 min) and continuously observed for aggressive interactions among cows; (2) the proportion of cows at the feed-bunk face was scanned every 15 min for 4.5h to include ...	2011	21257042
a survey on antimicrobial resistant escherichia coli isolated from unpasteurised cows' milk in northern ireland.		2017	28424319