How the Trich is Done (-in)

A Success Story* for the Land-Grant College Concept in California

* (work in progress)

How it all began

• CA beef ranch having repro problems – Manager phones Extension agent – Refer. DVM contacts UCD VMTH/AES faculty • Phone consult: bring repro tracts to UCD

History (more)

Post-coital pyometra

Tritrichomonas foetus

Routine follow-up visit

by VMTH/AES faculty

Coop. Ext. “Present at the Creation”

Sensitivity of diagnostic method

What are the chances I’ll miss a + bull?

= No. of positive cultures Total cultures taken from known positive bulls = 81.6% before treatment = 75% after 1 treatment Probability of missing a + bull after 3 neg cultures = 1/167

Efficacy of Treatment

Players: Producer, CE, AES

• 1 dose ipronidazole • 3 doses ipronidazole 39/42 31/31 92.8% 100% •

Within 18 months, FDA banned ipronidazole and all members of the same family of drugs

•

Only options: test and slaughter

Vet. Coop. Extension:

Testing a new test

“Trich” Dx

Local CA company’s innovation

• Start with bulls – Gold standard = smegma culture (Se = 90%) – Sp (presumed 100%)

The “Virgin bull” problem

Players: Western States’ Dx, AES labs

• Dogma: Bulls < 3 are “safe” • But virgin bulls (< 2) were showing + cultures • “Network” of AES labs * State Dx labs formed and • Showed that “Virgin Bull Isolate” was NOT

T.foetus

, but rather… * Through USDA – W112 Regional Research Project

More good company

Collaborators in trich research

Mark Anderson, CAHFS Lab Lynette Corbeil, UCSD Rich Walker, CAHFS Lab

Extramural funding for trich

Funding sources

– CFAH (Ag Experiment Station) – USDA NRI (with Lynette Corbeil) – NIH – California Cattlemen’s Association – NAAB

Legal/Regulatory Changes

in consultation w/ AES/CE faculty, CCA

DVM’s certified to diagnose trich New molecular test (PCR) made “official” test Mandatory reporting of positive results

Partial Cast of characters

• Chris Nelson, San Felipe Ranch • Jim Correa, Private DVM practitioner, Merced • Jim Farley,

Coop. Extension

, Merced Co.

• Ben Norman, Vet.

Coop. Ext

. Beef Spec.

• Bob BonDurant, UCD VMTH/ • Alex Yule, London Sch Trop Med, Hygiene • Sue Skirrow, Australia • Mark Anderson, Rich Walker,

AES CAHFS

• Lynette Corbeil, Sch Med., UCSD • 11 western states diagnostic and faculty

AES

labs • Anita Edmundson, CDFA • Rich Walker, Mark Anderson, CAHFS

Output

• Sensitivity of old, new diagnostic tests • Statewide prevalence survey • Characterization of trich “look-alikes” – Show that “look-alikes” are NOT pathogens – Develop molec assay to ID look-alikes – Certify DVM’s to culture and read cultures – Certify labs to run confirming PCR

Output (cont)

• Regulatory changes  reportable disease • Studies on pathogenesis of preg. Loss • Studies on immune environment that allows carrier state in bulls.

• Studies on “relatedness” of

T. foetus

from – `cattle – pigs – Cats (!)

• And it all started with one phone call…