Papers by Valérie De Waele
Building an open data-driven framework to support policy on invasive species
Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases, 2015
Cryptosporidium parvum is a common enteric protozoan pathogen of humans and livestock. Multilocus... more Cryptosporidium parvum is a common enteric protozoan pathogen of humans and livestock. Multilocus genotyping based on simple sequence repeat polymorphisms has been used extensively to identify transmission cycles and to investigate the structure of C. parvum populations and of the related pathogen Cryptosporidiumhominis. Using such methods, the zoonotic transmission of C. parvum has been shown to be epidemiologically important. Because different genetic markers have been used in different surveys, the comparison of Cryptosporidium genotypes across different laboratories is often not feasible. Therefore, few comparisons of Cryptosporidium populations across wide geographical areas have been published and our understanding of the epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis is fragmented. Here we report on the genotypic analysis of a large collection of 692 C. parvum isolates originating primarily from cattle and other ruminants from Italy, Ireland and Scotland. Because the same genotypic marker...
Pathogens
African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal disease of suids that was detected in wild boar in Belgium i... more African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal disease of suids that was detected in wild boar in Belgium in September 2018. The measures implemented to stop the spread and eliminate the African swine fever virus consisted of creating restriction zones, organising efficient search and removal of carcasses, constructing wire fences, and depopulating wild boar in the area surrounding the infected zone. The ASF management zone included the infected and the white zones and covered 1106 km² from which 7077 wild boar have been removed. A total of 5338 wild boars have been qPCR-tested and 833 have been detected ASF-positive. The search effort amounted to 60,631 h with a main focus on the infected zone (88%). A total of 277 km of fences have been set up. The main cause of mortality in the infected zone was the virus itself, while hunting, trapping, and night shooting were used together to reduce the wild boar density in the surrounding white zones. After continuous dispersion of the virus until March...
Scientific Data
Event-based surveillance (EBS) gathers information from a variety of data sources, including onli... more Event-based surveillance (EBS) gathers information from a variety of data sources, including online news articles. Unlike the data from formal reporting, the EBS data are not structured, and their interpretation can overwhelm epidemic intelligence (EI) capacities in terms of available human resources. Therefore, diverse EBS systems that automatically process (all or part of) the acquired nonstructured data from online news articles have been developed. These EBS systems (e.g., GPHIN, HealthMap, MedISys, ProMED, PADI-web) can use annotated data to improve the surveillance systems. This paper describes a framework for the annotation of epidemiological information in animal disease-related news articles. We provide annotation guidelines that are generic and applicable to both animal and zoonotic infectious diseases, regardless of the pathogen involved or its mode of transmission (e.g., vector-borne, airborne, by contact). The framework relies on the successive annotation of all the sen...
Cornell University - arXiv, Jan 15, 2021
This guidelines document introduces One Health EJP partners to data management plan (DMP) and des... more This guidelines document introduces One Health EJP partners to data management plan (DMP) and describes the FAIR principles (i.e. findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). It provides step by step procedures to develop and implement DMP in accordance to H2020 requirements.
Irish Veterinary Journal, 2016
Helminth infections of cattle affect productivity in all classes of stock, and are amongst the mo... more Helminth infections of cattle affect productivity in all classes of stock, and are amongst the most important production-limiting diseases of grazing ruminants. Over the last decade, there has been a shift in focus in the diagnosis of these infections from merely detecting presence/absence of infection towards detecting its impact on production. This has been facilitated by studies observing consistent negative correlations between helminth diagnostic test results and measures of productivity. Veterinarians are increasingly challenged to consider the economic aspects of their work, and the use of these tests should now be integrated in economic evaluation frameworks for improved decision making. In this paper, we review recent insights in the farm-specific economic impact of helminth infections on dairy cattle farms as well as in farmer attitudes and behaviour regarding helminth control. Combining better economic impact assessments of helminth infections together with a deeper under...
Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2021
The recent spreading of African swine fever (ASF) over the Eurasian continent has been acknowledg... more The recent spreading of African swine fever (ASF) over the Eurasian continent has been acknowledged as a serious economic threat for the pork industry. Consequently, an extensive body of research focuses on the epidemiology and control of ASF. Nevertheless, little information is available on the combined effect of ASF and ASF-related control measures on wild boar (Sus scrofa) population abundances. This is crucial information given the role of the remaining wild boar that act as an important reservoir of the disease. Given the high potential of camera traps as a non-invasive method for ungulate trend estimation, we assess the effectiveness of ASF control measures using a camera trap network. In this study, we focus on a major ASF outbreak in 2018–2020 in the South of Belgium. This outbreak elicited a strong management response, both in terms of fencing off a large infected zone as well as an intensive culling regime. We apply a Bayesian multi-season site-occupancy model to wild boar...
Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 2021
SARS-CoV-2). The first human cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported in Wuhan City, China, in... more SARS-CoV-2). The first human cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019 (Wu et al., 2020). While, so far, the exact origin of the virus remains unknown, several hypotheses exist (Andersen et al., 2020; Latham & Wilson, 2020; Zhang & Holmes, 2020). The majority considers this to be a wild animal source (OIE, 2020a) whereby the hypothesis of some species of horseshoe bats (family Rhinolophidae) being
Viruses, 2020
The health of honey bees is threatened by multiple factors, including viruses and parasites. We s... more The health of honey bees is threatened by multiple factors, including viruses and parasites. We screened 557 honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies from 155 beekeepers distributed all over Belgium to determine the prevalence of seven widespread viruses and two parasites (Varroa sp. and Nosema sp.). Deformed wing virus B (DWV-B), black queen cell virus (BQCV), and sacbrood virus (SBV) were highly prevalent and detected by real-time RT-PCR in more than 95% of the colonies. Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) and deformed wing virus A (DWV-A) were prevalent to a lower extent (between 18 and 29%). Most viruses were only present at low or moderate viral loads. Nevertheless, about 50% of the colonies harbored at least one virus at high viral load (>107 genome copies/bee). Varroa mites and Nosema sp. were found in 81.5% and 59.7% of the honey bee colonies, respectively, and all Nosema were identified as Nosema ceranae by real time PCR. Interestingly, we fou...
International journal of health geographics, Jan 14, 2018
Aedes-borne diseases as dengue, zika, chikungunya and yellow fever are an emerging problem worldw... more Aedes-borne diseases as dengue, zika, chikungunya and yellow fever are an emerging problem worldwide, being transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Lack of up to date information about the distribution of Aedes species hampers surveillance and control. Global databases have been compiled but these did not capture data in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), and any models built using these datasets fail to identify highly suitable areas where one or both species may occur. The first objective of this study was therefore to update the existing Ae. aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) and Ae. albopictus (Skuse, 1895) compendia and the second objective was to generate species distribution models targeted to the EMR. A final objective was to engage the WHO points of contacts within the region to provide feedback and hence validate all model outputs. The Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus compendia provided by Kraemer et al. (Sci Data 2:150035, 2015; Dryad Digit Repos, 2015) were used ...
Irish Veterinary Journal, 2015
Helminth infections of cattle affect productivity in all classes of stock, and are amongst the mo... more Helminth infections of cattle affect productivity in all classes of stock, and are amongst the most important production-limiting diseases of grazing ruminants. Over the last decade, there has been a shift in focus in the diagnosis of these infections from merely detecting presence/absence of infection towards detecting its impact on production. This has been facilitated by studies observing consistent negative correlations between helminth diagnostic test results and measures of productivity. Veterinarians are increasingly challenged to consider the economic aspects of their work, and the use of these tests should now be integrated in economic evaluation frameworks for improved decision making. In this paper, we review recent insights in the farm-specific economic impact of helminth infections on dairy cattle farms as well as in farmer attitudes and behaviour regarding helminth control. Combining better economic impact assessments of helminth infections together with a deeper understanding of the non-economic factors that drive a farmer's animal health decisions should result in more effective control strategies and increased farmer satisfaction.
Cryptosporidiosis, a protozoal disease which causes significant morbidity in humans, is one of th... more Cryptosporidiosis, a protozoal disease which causes significant morbidity in humans, is one of the chief causes of diarrhoea in neonatal ruminants. although the parasite poses a significant threat to public health and animal health in Ireland, its epidemiology on the island is only poorly understood. Environmental studies have shown the waterborne parasite to be widespread in some untreated waterbodies around Ireland. The island's hydrogeological situation, combined with high stocking rates of livestock and the absence of filtration from regular water treatment, render it vulnerable to large-scale outbreaks. This review discusses the parasite in the Irish context and underlines the need for a reference facility to provide active surveillance on the island.
Veterinary Parasitology, 2012
In order to clarify if a peri-parturient rise of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts occurs in cows, f... more In order to clarify if a peri-parturient rise of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts occurs in cows, faecal samples from 42 cows on two farms were collected. These samples were taken during the pre-parturient, the peri-parturient and the post-parturient periods. Two methods were used to detect the oocysts, a nested-PCR coupled with sequencing and a duplex real-time PCR (qPCR) that quantified Cryptosporidium spp. DNA concentration. The qPCR results were adjusted using a hierarchical Bayesian model taking into account within and between run variation. Generalised Estimating Equation models (GEE) were used to determine if periparturient cows were at greater risk of being infected than pre-or post-parturient cows. Fourteen dairy cows exhibited a peri-parturient and post-parturient rise in the excretion of Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts, other than the zoonotic C. parvum. The cows in the suckler beef farm were the only ones infected with the zoonotic species C. parvum at calving. Due to the low concentration of oocysts excreted mainly from species other than C. parvum, it would appear unlikely that cows act as a source of infection for their calves or contribute significantly to environmental contamination.
Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2010
To date there is no effective treatment for bovine cryptosporidiosis. This study describes the us... more To date there is no effective treatment for bovine cryptosporidiosis. This study describes the use of halofuginone lactate in preventing cryptosporidiosis in naturally infected neonatal calves on a dairy farm with a high prevalence of infection. The animals were kept in two different calf rearing systems. A randomized double-blind trial was carried out with 32 naturally infected calves, divided into four groups. The two prophylactic halofuginone lactate treated groups were kept in either individual or group pens. Similarly, the animals receiving the placebo were housed in either individual pens or together in a large pen. A total of ten faecal samples were collected periodically during the 28 days study from each calf and tested for the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. using microscopic and molecular methods. Generalized estimating equations models were used to determine if the effects of the various treatments and/or rearing systems on the presence of diarrhoea and infection were statistically significant. Further analysis (classification trees models) was carried out to explore possible risk factors for cryptosporidiosis and interactions between treatments and rearing systems. Halofuginone lactate was shown to be effective in reducing clinical signs of cryptosporidiosis and environmental contamination. However, the treatment did not delay the onset of diarrhoea and did not reduce the risk of infection amongst calves reared together in a highly contaminated environment. The use of halofuginone lactate in combination with good hygienic measures, such as rearing animals in clean individual pens, was the most effective method to reduce the risk of cryptosporidiosis amongst 7-13 days old calves. It was concluded that the control of the parasite could be achieved by the combination of using effective preventive drugs, such as halofuginone lactate and good animal husbandry procedures.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 2010
There is no gold standard diagnostic test for the detection of bovine cryptosporidiosis. Infectio... more There is no gold standard diagnostic test for the detection of bovine cryptosporidiosis. Infection is usually highest in 2-week-old calves, and these calves also excrete high numbers of oocysts. These factors may give rise to variations in the sensitivity and specificity of the various diagnostic tests used to detect infection in calves of various ages. An age-stratified Bayesian analysis was carried out to determine the optimum diagnostic test to identify asymptomatic and clinical Cryptosporidium sp. infection in neonatal calves. Fecal samples collected from 82 calves at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks of age were subjected to the following tests: microscopic examination of smears stained with either phenol-auramine O or fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated anti- Cryptosporidium monoclonal antibody, nested-PCR, and quantitative real-time PCR. The results confirmed a high prevalence of Cryptosporidium sp. infection, as well as a high level of oocyst excretion, in 2-wee...
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2013
In total, 245 Cryptosporidium parvum specimens obtained from calves in 205 Irish herds between 20... more In total, 245 Cryptosporidium parvum specimens obtained from calves in 205 Irish herds between 2003 and 2005 were subtyped by sequencing the glycoprotein gene gp60 and performing multilocus analysis of seven markers. The transmission dynamics of C. parvum and the influence of temporal, spatial, parasitic, and host-related factors on the parasite (sub)populations were studied. The relationship of those factors to the risk of cryptosporidiosis was also investigated using results from 1,368 fecal specimens submitted to the veterinary laboratories for routine diagnosis during 2005. The prevalence was greatest in the northwest and midwest of the country and on farms that bought in calves. The panmixia (random mating) detected in the C. parvum population may relate to its high prevalence, the cattle density, and the frequent movement of cattle. However, local variations in these factors were reflected in the C. parvum subpopulations. This study demonstrated the importance of biosecurity i...
The present document defines the general One Health European Joint Program (OHEJP) strategy regar... more The present document defines the general One Health European Joint Program (OHEJP) strategy regarding data management in the form of an overarching data management plan (DMP), under conditions that conform with the requirements of Horizon 2020. The OH-EJP aims at integrating the complementary expertise of partners across Europe in order to prepare common action against infectious health threats. Those threats include zoonotic infections both in animals and humans, and infections or toxin contamination in feed and food. Due to the heterogeneity of the data that are collected, processed or generated within OHEJP, and due to the level of detail needed, each joint research project (JRP) and joint integrative project (JIP) of OHEJP are also developing project specific DMP's, using as baseline the present overarching DMP.
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Papers by Valérie De Waele