Bringing back the nutrients from the city to the country is becoming increasingly important, as the world?s stores of nutrients get more exhausted. Sewage sludge is an unapplied resource, rich in plant nutrients, which could replace parts of the commercial fertilizers used in Sweden today. Sewage sludge may contain large amounts of pathogens, such as Campylobacter and Salmonella, why use can cause severe spreading of infections, both to animals and humans. These pathogens have the ability to survive for a long time in soil and water and therefore some sort of treatment of the sludge is recommended before use.

Hard-to-heal ulcers are resource intensive due to the fact that they are difficult to treat and especially vulnerable to bacterial invasion. The bacterial culture contaminating these wounds often consist of several different bacterial organisms that originate from endogenous sources. Necrotic material in ischemic ulcers provide nutrition which support bacterial reproduction, increasing the risk of infection. Determining causative pathogen in infected ulcers proves to be difficult when culturing swab samples, however Staphylococcus aureus and hemolytic streptococci generally act as primary pathogens.    The aim of the study was to investigate if the detection rate increased for S. aureus and hemolytic streptococci when culturing swab samples from ulcers on Columbia CNA; a media selective for gram-positive bacteria.

Wound care of the horse?s distal part of the leg is challenging. Due to that distal limb wounds are easily enlarged, infected and generally heal slower than wounds on the body of the horse, the need for improved wound nursing arise. One way of improving wound nursing is to evaluate new ways of healing treatment. In this study, evaluation was made of a new product consisting of lactic acid bacteria and honey.

Aim: The aim of this paper was to investigate whether scientific evidence exists to improve, of students? perceived, insufficient infection control in isolation facilities in companion animal hospitals in Sweden. Material and methods: A question was emailed to the students in the last year of the animal nursing program at SLU in the spring 2012 to get their view of perceived insufficient infection control. A literature study was thereafter preformed using the search engine Web of Knowledge. Results: The students reported several perceived shortcomings which were divided into five categories: basal hygiene, isolation routines, cleaning and disinfection, patient flow and other. Studies supporting that the shortcomings perceived by the students also exist in human health care and to some extent in animal clinics and hospitals were found. Furthermore, scientific evidence that improved hand hygiene, glove procedures and cleaning and disinfection reduces the risk of nosocomial infections in humans was reported. Conclusion: There is not a lot of research performed in the area of infection control in animal nursing.

Escherichia (E) coli is one of the most common udder pathogens associated with acute clinical mastitis in Swedish dairy cows. The aim of this study is to review some of the existing literature on E coli mastitis from a Swedish perspective. The bacteria, its most important characteristics, and diagnostics under field conditions is covered, as well as what happens during infection, how E coli affects the cow and which consequences this have. Clinical symptoms associated with E coli mastitis are described and information on when these cases of mastitis usually occurs is given. Risk factors in the cow?s enviroment are described as well as the importance of the cow?s immune defence.

The aim of the study was to investigate if some selected recipes could be hazardous for man; that is if pathogenic bacteria in raw ingredients could survive the cooking process. The study included three known pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella Typhimurium and Campylobacter jejuni. A known number of the bacterium chosen was added to the raw product. The dish was prepared according to the recipe and then a bacteriological investigation concerning the added pathogenic bacterium was performed. The results showed that all recipes tested could be hazardous; that is the added pathogen was still living after the cooking process..

To save energy it?s popular to build houses with low energy loss. In these houses the walls are keeping a lower temperature in the external side which leads to a higher relative humidity. In addition more material, such as wood studs, are used which means that there is more moisture to dry. More moisture in combination with higher relative humidity may pose a higher risk of microbial growth.

Eight healthy 3-day-old foals were given repeated injections of trimethoprim-sulfadiazine intravenously for 3 days, at a dosage of 15 mg/kg bodyweight (2,5 mg trimethoprim and 12,5 mg sulfadiazine). Blood samples were collected prior to each administration and for the following 24 hours after last administration. Serum concentrations of trimethoprim and sulfadiazine were measured and the pharmacokinetics for the substances were studied. The elimination half time (t½) and clearance (ClB) for trimethoprim and sulfadiazine for the foals did not diverge from adult horses. According to these data it is possible to assume that the same dose interval and dose can be used for foals as for adult horses.

Eight healthy 3-day-old foals were given repeated injections of trimethoprim-sulfadiazine intravenously for 3 days, at a dosage of 15 mg/kg bodyweight (2,5 mg trimethoprim and 12,5 mg sulfadiazine). Blood samples were collected prior to each administration and for the following 24 hours after last administration. Serum concentrations of trimethoprim and sulfadiazine were measured and the pharmacokinetics for the substances were studied. The elimination half time (t½) and clearance (ClB) for trimethoprim and sulfadiazine for the foals did not diverge from adult horses. According to these data it is possible to assume that the same dose interval and dose can be used for foals as for adult horses.

Eight healthy 3-day-old foals were given repeated injections of trimethoprim-sulfadiazine intravenously for 3 days, at a dosage of 15 mg/kg bodyweight (2,5 mg trimethoprim and 12,5 mg sulfadiazine). Blood samples were collected prior to each administration and for the following 24 hours after last administration. Serum concentrations of trimethoprim and sulfadiazine were measured and the pharmacokinetics for the substances were studied. The elimination half time (t½) and clearance (ClB) for trimethoprim and sulfadiazine for the foals did not diverge from adult horses. According to these data it is possible to assume that the same dose interval and dose can be used for foals as for adult horses.

The aim of this thesis was to examine if it is possible to keep nitrogen in the form of nitrate(NO3-) in ponds from one season to another by keeping a high concentration of oxygen in thepond water. This hypothesis was tested by doing a lab experiment where two systems werecompared according to nitrate concentration. One system had high concentration of oxygen inthe water and one had low concentration of oxygen. Before the main experiment wasconducted I did a pilot study to test the system setup and included parameters. The result fromthis study and the main study did not show the same result.

Every year about 210 000 tones dry weight of sewage sludge is produced in Sweden. Most of the sludge is applied to agricultural land, plantsoil and landfill cover. Sewage sludge contains essential nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is limiting growth on solid ground in Sweden and can therefore be used as fertilizer to increase productivity. In order that the sludge can be spread to forest land it requires first a conversion of sludge to pellets, to make it more manageable.

Fusarium graminearum is one of the most important pathogens on cereals and causes major crop losses around the world. The most cultivated cereal in Sweden is winter wheat. F. graminearum produces both sexual and asexual spores for dispersal. Multiple factors affect the production of these spores.

Mastitis is an important disease in dairy cattle. It is very costly for the farmers and affects a large number of animals. Few studies have been made investigating the outcome of treatment for acute clinical mastitis under Swedish conditions, and it can be problematic to use the results in foreign studies since both the microbial flora as well as treatments may be different from the situation in Sweden. In this project we have investigated data on clinical mastitis and antibiotic treatment in the dairy herd at Jällaskolan, Uppsala based on recordings during the last ten years. The material includes both Swedish Red (SRB) and Swedish Holstein (SLB) breeds, which have been kept at the farm under similar conditions.

Today, there are more than 12 000-14 000 farms worldwide using an automatic milking system (AMS). Studies have shown that transition to AMS affects the udder health of cows adversely, recognized primarily as elevated somatic cell counts. There are several reasons for this, for example the greater variation in milking frequency seen in AMS. On one hand, short milking intervals may lead to bad teat condition of the cows due to the stress the milking procedure exposes the teats to. Too long milking intervals, on the other hand, seem to predispose for milk leakage, which is, in turn, a risk factor for the development of mastitis.