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Introduction
Carla Gomes currently works at Animal Health Ireland and is the Programme Manager for the Pig HealthCheck Programme (https://animalhealthireland.ie/programmes/pig-healthcheck/)
Publications
Publications (57)
Animal Health Ireland’s Dr Carla Gomes DVM MSc PhD DipECVPH, Pig HealthCheck Programme Manager and health psychologist Alison Burrell MSc., C.Psychol., Ps.S.I, explain what the DECIDE project is and what its aims are.
Background:
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major endemic pig disease worldwide and is associated with considerable economic costs.
Methods:
In Scotland, three abattoir surveys were conducted in 2006 (158 farms), 2012-2013 (94 farms) and 2017-2018 (97 farms) to estimate seroprevalence to PRRS virus (PRRSV) in commercial...
Salmonella spp. are one of the main causes of foodborne disease in Europe and have been associated with consumption of pig meat. However, Salmonella monitoring programmes in pigs and pig meat are not harmonized between those European countries where they exist. In general, current control programmes in Europe can be split into those aiming for: (a)...
• Information about procedures and biosecurity practices used by small and medium egg producers (SMEPs) is scarce. Anecdotal evidence suggests that biosecurity in such enterprises may be poor, as personnel and equipment move freely between sites and this may be compounded by personnel working on commercial units who keep their own poultry.
• To fi...
Background:
Accurate estimation of antimicrobial use (AMU) is important in assessing reduction of agricultural AMU. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate several approaches for estimating AMU at the herd level and to report on AMU for beef and dairy farms in Scotland.
Methods:
Pharmaceutical sales data for 75 cattle herds (2011-2015) were...
Uterine lavage (UL) is a routine diagnostic procedure for endometritis. In UL the fluid is centrifuged and the sediment smeared. Samples prepared in cytocentrifuges, the so-called “cytospins”, are useful for evaluating cells in fluids, but never been used in UL. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of cytospins after UL, comparing aut...
For endemic infections in cattle that are not regulated at the European Union level, such as bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), European Member States have implemented control or eradication programs (CEP) tailored to their specific situations. Different methods are used to assign infection-free status in CEP; therefore, the confidence of freedom...
There are calls from policy-makers and industry to use existing data sources to contribute to livestock surveillance systems, especially for syndromic surveillance. However, the practical implications of attempting to use such data sources are challenging; development often requires incremental steps in an iterative cycle. In this study the utility...
When assessing the role of live animal trade networks in the spread of infectious diseases in livestock, attention has focused mainly on direct movements of animals between premises, whereas the role of haulage vehicles used during transport, an indirect route for disease transmission, has largely been ignored. Here, we have assessed the impact of...
Backyard poultry producers have been associated with outbreaks of exotic (e.g. avian influenza) and endemic (e.g. Salmonella) disease all over the world. Currently in the UK the registration of small flocks (less than 50 birds) with local authorities is voluntary therefore there is not an accurate record of how many keepers and birds there are or w...
Bayesian inference using Gibbs sampling (BUGS) is a set of statistical software that uses Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to estimate almost any specified model. Originally developed in the late 1980s, the software is an excellent introduction to applied Bayesian statistics without the need to write a MCMC sampler. The software is typically...
The existence, stage of eradication and design of control programmes (CPs) for diseases that are not regulated by the EU differ between Member States. When freedom from infection is reached or being pursued, safe trade is essential to protect or reach that status. The aim of STOC free, a collaborative project between six countries, is to develop an...
Traditional indicator-based livestock surveillance has been focused on case definitions, definitive diagnoses and laboratory confirmation. The use of syndromic disease surveillance would increase the population base from which animal health data are captured and facilitate earlier detection of new and re-emerging threats to animal health. Veterinar...
The capability to set baselines and monitor trends of health and welfare conditions is an important requirement for livestock industries in order to maintain economic competitiveness and sustainability. Monitoring schemes evaluate the relative importance of conditions so that: appropriate actions can be determined, prioritised and implemented; new...
STOC free poster wins price at SVEPM conference
During the annual conference of the Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (SVEPM) in Tallinn, Estonia (21-23 March 2018) two posters were presented on the STOC free project: a poster presented by Inge Santman about the general outline of the project and a poster presented by Mat...
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRSv) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv) are two of the major viruses that affect pigs worldwide. This chapter focuses on the transmission, clinical presentation, evolution and spread of these two agents (PRRSv and PEDv), due to their importance in pig production worldwide and their evo...
Collection of abattoir data related to public health is common worldwide. Standardised on-going programmes that collect information from abattoirs that inform producers about the presence and frequency of disease that are important to them rather than public health hazards are less common. The three voluntary pig health schemes, implemented in the...
Grading of canine mammary carcinomas (CMC) is associated to subjective assessments made by the pathologists. Due to its unbiased nature, stereology can be used to objectively quantify morphological parameters associated with grading and malignancy. However, the use of stereology in CMC has not been fully disclosed. The nuclear numerical density [NV...
Small-scale keepers are less likely to engage with production organisations and may therefore be less aware of legislation, rules and biosecurity practices which are implemented in the livestock sector. Their role in the transmission of endemic and exotic diseases is not well studied, but is believed to be important. The authors use small-scale pig...
Classical swine fever (CSF) is a notifiable, highly contagious viral disease of swine which results in severe welfare and economic consequences in affected countries. To improve preparedness, it is critical to have some understanding of how CSF would spread should it be introduced. Based on the data recorded during the 2000 epidemic of CSF in Great...
Male/female differences in enzyme activity and gene expression in the liver are known to be attenuated with ageing. Nevertheless, the effect of ageing on liver structure and quantitative cell morphology remains unknown. Male and female Wistar rats aged 2, 6, 12 and 18 months were examined by means of stereological techniques and immunohistochemical...
Background:
Smears prepared by cytocentrifugation, the so-called cytospins, are widely used in human and veterinary cytology. However, the high cost has hampered the availability of commercial cytospin centrifuges in some veterinary clinics and laboratories. Nevertheless, cytospins are important for evaluating fluids with very low cellularity such...
Statutory recording of carcass lesions at the abattoir may have significant potential as a resource for surveillance of livestock populations. Food Standards Agency (FSA) data in Great Britain are not currently used for surveillance purposes. There are concerns that the sensitivity of detection, combined with other issues, may make the outputs unre...
The information recorded by each set of assessors/inspectors and how it was recategorised into ‘conditions’ for use in the batch-level comparison.
(DOCX)
Description of characteristics of the three data sources (FSA, BPHS, FarmFile) for pigs in Great Britain.
(DOCX)
The information within each dataset (FSA, BPHS and FarmFile) and how it was recategorised into ‘conditions’ for use in the population-level analysis.
(DOCX)
There is long-standing evidence that male and female rat livers differ in enzyme activity. More recently, differences in gene expression profiling have also been found to exist; however, it is still unclear whether there is morphological expression of male/female differences in the normal liver. Such differences could help to explain features seen...
Modelling is an important component of contingency planning and control of disease outbreaks. Dynamic network models are considered more useful than static models because they capture important dynamic patterns of farm behaviour as evidenced through animal movements. This study evaluates the usefulness of a dynamic network model of swine fever to p...
It was shown recently that many genes are differentially expressed in the liver of males and females, thus strengthening the concept of liver gender dimorphism. This dimorphism exists in many pathological scenarios, from regeneration to fibrosis, which has led to the development of gender hepatology. Nevertheless, it is still unknown if gender dimo...
In the past decade, the human Nottingham histological grade (NHG) has been applied to canine mammary carcinomas (CMC). The Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) enables identification of more aggressive human breast cancer. The prognostic value of grading parameters and NPI has never been detailed in CMC. The aim of the present study was to assess the...
Surveillance of animal diseases provides information essential for the protection of animal health and ultimately public health. The voluntary pig health schemes, implemented in the United Kingdom, are integrated systems which capture information on different macroscopic disease conditions detected in slaughtered pigs. Many of these conditions have...
Histological grading of canine mammary carcinomas (CMCs) has been performed using an adaptation of the human Nottingham method. The histological grade could be a prognostic factor in CMC; however, no data are available concerning interobserver variability in grading. In this study we analyzed the interobserver reproducibility between three observer...
Background
The impact of non-commercial producers on disease spread via livestock movement is related to their level of interaction with other commercial actors within the industry. Although understanding these relationships is crucial in order to identify likely routes of disease incursion and transmission prior to disease detection, there has bee...
Canine mammary tumours are highly heterogeneous in morphology and behaviour and successful clinical management requires robust prognostic factors. Histological grade, determined by the Nottingham nuclear pleomorphism scoring method, has been considered one of these factors. Despite the adoption of this method, it is unknown whether inter-observer a...
Transmission models can aid understanding of disease dynamics and are useful in testing the efficiency of control measures. The aim of this study was to formulate an appropriate stochastic Susceptible-Infectious-Resistant/Carrier (SIR) model for Salmonella Typhimurium in pigs and thus estimate the transmission parameters between states.
The transmi...
This works reports the development and preliminary assessment of a new bioreactor for culturing large-sized three-dimensional constructs in bone tissue engineering. The bidirectional continuous perfusion bioreactor (BCPB) promotes mechanical stimulation of cells through the creation of shear forces induced by flow perfusion. The main innovation con...
Salmonella is one of the major causes of food borne disease in the European Union (EU). Some of the human cases are related to pork products. An EU baseline survey to assess the Salmonella pork prevalence was performed. Mesenteric lymph nodes were cultured and Salmonella sp. isolates were serotyped. Data concerning the animal and the slaughterhouse...
Background
The EU Regulation No 2160/2003 imposes a reduction in the prevalence of Salmonella in pigs. The efficiency of control programmes for Salmonella in pigs, reported among the EU Member States, varies and definitive eradication seems very difficult. Control measures currently recommended for Salmonella are not serotype-specific. Is it possib...
WinBUGS code for the categorical multilevel model.
Salmonella is the second most frequent cause of foodborne illness in the European Union (EU), so EU enforced legislation to achieve a reduction in Salmonella prevalence in the swine sector. To set the reduction target each country carried out a baseline survey to estimate Salmonella prevalence. The aim of our study was to identify risk factors for...
Paratuberculosis is a contagious chronic disease of ruminants which causes significant losses in cattle worldwide, affecting mainly the dairy sector. The implementation of control programmes to have success requires previous knowledge about the risk factors relevant for the region where the programme will be implemented. The objective of the curren...