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)

Tritrichomonas foetus

Post-coital pyometra

Routine follow-up visit by VMTH/AES faculty

Coop. Ext. “Present at the Creation”

Sensitivity of diagnostic methodWhat are the chances I’ll miss a + bull?

= No. of positive culturesTotal 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 TreatmentPlayers: Producer, CE, AES

• 1 dose ipronidazole 39/42 92.8%

• 3 doses ipronidazole 31/31 100%

• 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” DxLocal CA company’s innovation

• Start with bulls– Gold standard =

smegma culture (Se = 90%)

– Sp (presumed 100%)

The “Virgin bull” problemPlayers: Western States’ Dx, AES labs

• Dogma: Bulls < 3 are “safe”• But virgin bulls (< 2) were

showing + cultures• “Network” of AES labs* and

State Dx labs formed• Showed that “Virgin Bull Isolate”

was NOT T.foetus, but rather…

* Through USDA – W112 Regional Research Project

More good companyCollaborators 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 Changesin 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/AES faculty• Alex Yule, London Sch Trop Med, Hygiene• Sue Skirrow, Australia• Mark Anderson, Rich Walker, CAHFS• Lynette Corbeil, Sch Med., UCSD• 11 western states diagnostic and 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…