The complexity of the mast cell is becoming more prominent. From being the cell recognized just to contribute to allergic inflammation it is now also associated with wound healing, protection against tumor growth and in recognition and defense against a wide range of pathogens. The location of the mast cell in the barrier between the external and internal environment of the body enables the cell to quickly respond to invading bacteria, virus and parasites. Diarrhea due to Escherichia coli infection, listeriosis, toxoplasmosis, Newcastle disease and bovine respiratory syncytial virus are examples of mast cell activating diseases that can affect animals in, as well as outside, the agricultural sector. Additionally, ticks and tick-borne diseases are of concern.

Two species of bees in the genus Apis, real honey bees, has long been of interest for man. These two are the European honey bee, Apis mellifera, and the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. In Vietnam, beekeeping is of great importance, both with A.cerana and A.mellifera. The aim of this project was to investigate if the introduction of the European honey bee in Asia has affected the Asian honey bee, and whether different pathogens from A.mellifera have been transferred to A.cerana. Totally 40 samples, 20 from every species, were analysed for 8 different viruses.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

The artic fox is under threat of extermination in Europe. The population decreased strongly at the beginning of the twentieth century because of intensive hunting. The artic fox was placed under protection by law 1928 in Sweden but despite this the population has had difficultly to recover. This can depend on several reasons, but the main threats are shortage of food and competition from the red fox. Along with Norway and Finland, Sweden has carried out a project called SEFALO (Saving the Endangered Fennoscandian Alopex lagopus), whose objectives were to prevent continued decreased populationnumbers and through, for example supplementary feeding, help the population to recover.

Nipahvirus is most likely spread from bats to other species and causes lethal encephalitis in humans and respiratory illness in pigs. Different species are affected with varying severity but it seems to have an unprecedented zoonotic capacity and the humans affected either die or receive permanent brain damage. Full recovery is possible but very uncommon. Pigs that live and are bread in the areas that these bats frequent are constantly in danger of contracting pneumonias and meningitis and they can spread the virus further on to the people who work with the pigs and process their carcasses. These workers could then infect other humans in their immediate surroundings, their families for instance.

So far, only limited research has been carried out on viruses infecting raspberry, even though the diseases that these viruses cause result in economical losses for raspberry growers. Raspberry ringspot virus (RpRSV) belongs to the family Comoviridae and the genus Nepovirus. Nepoviruses are characterized by their icosahedral virus particles and bipartite genome of single-stranded (+) RNA (RNA-1 and RNA-2). These viruses are transmitted mainly by nematodes of the genus Longidorus, which feed on the roots of plants. RpRSV causes disease in raspberry, grapevine, strawberry and many other plants.

The Swine flu (H1N1) erupted in 2009 and wasquickly spread over the world and developed into a pandemic, with a great threat against people?s health. It was soon discovered that the H1N1?virus had a different character than the seasonal flu, since it especially affected younger individuals and the consequences from the disease were expected to be more severe. In Sweden it was decided to provide a free of charge vaccination against the H1N1-virus, and the Swedish vaccination ratiobecome relatively high compared to other countries.

Background: Hepatitis E (HEV) is a small, non-enveloped virus that belongs to the viral genus Hepevirus. HEV is a positive sense single-stranded RNA virus and there is insufficient information regarding its replication. This is mainly because the virus has low capacity to grow in normally used cell cultures. Many specific strand assay detection studies have been done in order to understand more about HEV replication. Unfortunately, these assays have the disadvantage of giving false positive results.Aim: The aim of this project was to improve the positive strand assay to increase specificity and eliminate false positivity which is due to high sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Felint coronavirus (FCoV) är vanligt förekommande hos våra katter. Viruset i sig orsakar för det mesta inga symtom alls eller en mild enterit, men hos vissa individer muterar viruset och orsakar den dödliga sjukdomen Felin infektiös peritonit (FIP). De flesta katter som smittas av FCoV bär på viruset i veckor till månader för att sedan göra sig av med det. Vissa katter blir persistenta bärare och smittspridare. Eftersom viruset är så spritt i vår kattpopulation är det svårt att sanera en besättning från FCoV.

Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV) is a common cause of respiratory disease among young cattle. The virus causes severe losses; the herd mortality rate can sometimes be as high as 20 %. In this study the avidity (i.e the antigen binding force) of BRSV specific antibodies was measured to see if there was a difference between antibodies produced during an acute phase of infection and antibodies produced by earlier infected animals. A commercially available ELISA-testkit against BRSV-specific antibodies was used and an incubation step with 6M urea was added. The effect of the urea is that it breaks the weak bonds between antibodies and antigen while the stronger bonds remain intact. Four different groups of animals were included in this study; seven calves that were naturally infected, three acutely infected calves with known time of infection, five cows that were seropositive during several years and four experimentally infected calves that had been a part of a vaccine trial. The results of this study showed that antibodies produced during the acute phase of an infection had a low avidity and that the avidity increased with time after infection.

Background: As a part of a national health control program, Statens VeterinärmedicinskaAnstalt performs diagnostics to screen flocks for certain pathogens causing high mortality,morbidity and/or serious economical losses. There are several viruses in the programincluding IBDV (infectious bursal disease virus), IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) and NDV(Newcastle disease virus). Method: 96 serum samples were collected from different poultryflocks in Sweden and analyzed by ELISA, which are currently used in the health controlprogram as well as by a commercial prototype of a multiplex immunoassay manufactured byLuminex Corp., which is currently under evaluation at the United States Department ofAgriculture USDA. This 4-plex assay detects antibodies for the three above-mentionedviruses as well as antibodies of avian reovirus. In the context of this study the ELISAs run inroutine diagnostics as well as a REO ELISA were used as the standard for comparison.Result: The antibody concentration in serum from vaccinated chickens was high while theantibody concentration level in serum from not vaccinated chickens was low.

The Swine flu (H1N1) erupted in 2009 and wasquickly spread over the world and developed into a pandemic, with a great threat against people?s health. It was soon discovered that the H1N1?virus had a different character than the seasonal flu, since it especially affected younger individuals and the consequences from the disease were expected to be more severe. In Sweden it was decided to provide a free of charge vaccination against the H1N1-virus, and the Swedish vaccination ratiobecome relatively high compared to other countries.

Background: Infection with Human Papillomavirus, HPV, is one of the world's most common sexual transmitted infections. The virus causes genital warts (condyloma) but certain virus types can cause cancer. The most common cancer type caused by the virus is cancer of the cervix. Nowadays there is a screening program for women between 23 and 60 years of age where Pap smears of the cervix is taken to discover abnormalities at an early stage. Cervical cancer is very common all over the world and this screening program saves many lives, but not in the less developed countries since the screening program is too expensive.

Canine herpes virus 1 (CHV-1) är en vitt utbredd smittsam patogen. Viruset tycks verka enzootiskt i hundpopulationer och ger upphov till en livslång latens hos infekterade djur. CHV-1 kan sedan reaktiveras vid exempelvis stress, som vid dräktighet. Hos vuxna hundar får infektionen ofta ett subkliniskt uttryck, men kan också ge upphov till respiratoriska symtom samt genitala blåsor och ögoninfektioner. Dräktiga tikar kan drabbas av fertilitetsproblem, med mumifikation, resorption, dödfödsel samt abort av foster.