Digital Repository for University of Tripoli

Geospatial database of farm locations and biosecurity measures are essential to control disease outbreaks. A study was conducted to establish geospatial database on poultry farms in Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi region of Libya, to evaluate the biosecurity level of each farm and to determine the seroprevalence of mycoplasma and its relation to biosecurity level. A field team of 7 Veterinarians belongs to the National Center of Animal Health was assigned for data recording and collection of blood samples. Personal information of the producers, geographical locations, biosecurity measures and description of the poultry farms were recorded. The total number of poultry farms in Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi Region is 461 farms distributed in 13 cities. Out of these, 102 broiler farms and one broiler breeder farm (10 houses) which were in operation during team visit were included in this study. Following collection of blood, sera were separated and tested by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the presence of antibodies against Mycoplasma (General antigen for M. gallisepticum and M. synoviae). The seroprevalence of Mycoplasma in the region was 28% (29 poultry farms out of 103 were infected). About 50% (23 out of 47) of poultry farms located in Garian city were infected with Mycoplasma and one significant cluster of Mycoplasma infection in the city was identified. Low level of biosecurity was found in poultry farms of the region. Out of the 103 farms included, 63% of poultry houses has a ground of soil and 44% of them has uncoated walls which may influence the proper cleaning and disinfection. Almost 100% of the farms are at risk of exposure to diseases transmitted by wild birds such as avian influenza and Newcastle disease due to absence of wild birds control program. Although, 81% of the farms have entry restrictions, only 20% have disinfectants at entry which increase the risk of exposure to pathogens. The results of this study highlight the weakness points of biosecurity measures in poultry farms of Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi region and high seroprevalence of mycoplasma. Data collected in this study will assist the Veterinary authorities to apply effective disease control strategies.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(4-2017)

Background: Cronobacter sakazakii is associated with illness in infants from contaminated powdered infant formula (PIF) and it is frequently recovered from PIF factory environment. Limited information is available on contamination of other food such as dairy and meat products in Libya. Methods and findings: A total of 261 samples of milk, dairy products and coarse ground meat products were collected from different localities in Libya. Samples were examined for Cronobacter spp. with an adapted ISO /DTS 22964 cultural protocol using HiChrome™ Enterobacter sakazakii modified agar coupled with 16S rDNA partial sequencing to identify the organism. The identified isolates were biochemically characterized and tested for their ability to produce yellow pigment. Out of the 261 analyzed samples, only two beef burgers, one fermented milk “Laban”, one she-camel’s milk, two raw cow’s milk, two cereal baby food, one Maassora cheese and one ready to feed baby milk were contaminated with Cronobacter spp. at a total rate of 3.8%. Accuracy of HiChrome Ent. sakazakii modified agar reach 100% as all of blue-green presumptive colonies were confirmed Cronobacter spp. while other colorless, greenish or with blue center colonies which competed growth with Cronobacter spp. were predominantly Escherichia coli followed by Klebsiella spp. and to less extent Pseudomonas luteola, Citrobacter freundii and Acinetobacter baumanii. Moreover, the isolated strains of Cronobacter were resistant to Amoxicillin, Erythromycin, Vancomycin and Streptomycin, and sensitive to Doxycycline, Enrofloxacin and Gentamycin. Conclusion: This study documents for the first time the occurrence of Cronobacter spp. in beef burger, raw cow’s milk, fermented milk “Laban”, she-camel’s milk, Maassora cheese, cereal baby food and ready to feed baby milk sold in Libya, by using conventional methods, biochemical tests and molecular techniques.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(12-2017)

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the presence of Bacillus cereus in meat, meat products, and some seafood in Libya. Materials and Methods: One hundred and thirty-one samples were collected from different geographic localities in Libya. The samples were subjected to microbiological analysis for enumeration and isolation of B. cereus by conventional cultural, biochemical, and molecular identification using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and partial sequencing of 16S rDNA techniques. Results: Of 131 samples, only 38 (29%) isolates were found to be B. cereus based on their cultural characteristics on Mannitol Egg-Yolk Polymyxin (MYP) medium that included 30% beef, 38.2% beef products (minced, burger, kabab, and sausage), 31.8% camel meat, and 48% chicken products (burger, sausage, kabab, and liver). However, B. cereus was not detected from mutton and seafood samples. Seventeen isolates were subjected to molecular identification using PCR and partial sequencing of 16S rDNA technique and confirmed to be B. cereus. The confirmed B. cereus strains were tested for their antibiotic sensitivity profiles and showed a high percentage of multiresistance phenotype. Conclusions: The results provide a better understanding of B. cereus isolated from food of animal origin in Libya and suggest that meat and meat products might play an important role in the spreading of B. cereus through the food chain with antimicrobial resistance characteristics.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(6-2018)

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of livestock affecting animal production and trade throughout Asia and Africa. Understanding FMD virus (FMDV) global movements and evolution can help to reconstruct the disease spread between endemic regions and predict the risks of incursion into FMD-free countries. Global expansion of a single FMDV lineage is rare but can result in severe economic consequences. Using extensive sequence data we have reconstructed the global space-time transmission history of the O/ME-SA/Ind-2001 lineage (which normally circulates in the Indian sub-continent) providing evidence of at least 15 independent escapes during 2013–2017 that have led to outbreaks in North Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Far East and the FMD-free islands of Mauritius. We demonstrated that sequence heterogeneity of this emerging FMDV lineage is accommodated within two co-evolving divergent sublineages and that recombination by exchange of capsid-coding sequences can impact upon the reconstructed evolutionary histories. Thus, we recommend that only sequences encoding the outer capsid proteins should be used for broad-scale phylogeographical reconstruction. These data emphasise the importance of the Indian subcontinent as a source of FMDV that can spread across large distances and illustrates the impact of FMDV genome recombination on FMDV molecular epidemiology.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(10-2018)

The epidemiological patterns of Bluetongue (BT) in North Africa and Mediterranean Basin (MB) dramatically changed by emergence of subsequent episodes of novel bluetongue virus (BTV) serotypes with highly pathogenic indexes and socio-economic impacts. The objective of the study was to investigate the sero-prevalence and serotype distribution of BTV in Libya. During 2015-2016, a total of 826 serum samples were collected from domestic ruminants in Libya. All sera were assayed by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (c-ELISA). C-Elisa-positive samples (43.3%; 173/400) were further analyzed by virus neutralization assay to identify BTV serotypes and determine the antibody titre of positive samples. An overall BTV sero-prevalence was 48.4% (95% CI: 45.0%-51.8%). Neutralizing antibodies were detected against the following BTV serotypes namely: BTV-1, BTV-2, BTV-3, BTV-4, BTV-9 and BTV-26. While BTV-1, BTV-2, BTV-4 and BTV-9 circulation was unsurprising as they have been responsible of the last year outbreaks in Northern African Countries, the detection of BTV-3 and BTV-26 was definitely new and concerning for the animal health of the countries facing the Mediterranean Basin. It is crucial that European and Northern African authorities collaborate in organizing common surveillance programmes to early detect novel strains or emerging serotypes in order to set up proper preventive measures, and, in case, develop specific vaccines and plan coordinated vaccination campaigns.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(11-2018)

Aim: The aim of the current investigation was to screen the presence of Staphylococci spp., especially S. aureus in meat, meat products of different animal species, and some seafood sold in some retail markets in Libya using cultural and molecular techniques, and to study their antibiotics resistance profiles. Materials and Methods: A total of 139 samples from red meat, meat products, and seafood were collected from many areas in Libya. Enumeration and isolation of Staphylococci spp. and S. aureus by normal cultural methods followed by molecular identification using molecular techniques by bacterial DNA extraction and partial sequencing of 16S rDNA. Results: Out of 139 samples, 112 (80.6%) were contaminated with different species of Staphylococci based on cultural characteristics of Staphylococci on Baird-Parker medium, for which S. aureus was detected in only 32 samples (23%). However, only six out of 18 (33.3%) isolates sent for sequencing were confirmed to be S. aureus using the molecular technique. The six identified isolates of S. aureus were tested for antimicrobial resistance against 24 most commonly used antibiotics. All isolates were resistant to only two antibiotics (cefotaxime and clindamycin). Among these six isolates, only one confirmed to be methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that food of animal origin could be a source of S. aureus with antimicrobial resistance characteristics that can be spread through the food chain, and raise the importance of these results for public health.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(6-2019)

North Africa has a great diversity of indigenous sheep breeds whose origin is linked to its environmental characteristics and to certain historical events that took place in the region. To date, few genome-wide studies have been conducted to investigate the population structure of North African indigenous sheep. The objective of the present study was to provide a detailed assessment of the genetic structure and admixture patterns of six Maghreb sheep populations using the Illumina 50K Ovine BeadChip and comparisons with 22 global populations of sheep and mouflon. Regardless of the method of analysis used, patterns of multiple hybridization events were observed within all North African populations, leading to a heterogeneous genetic architecture that varies according to the breed. The Barbarine population showed the lowest genetic heterogeneity and major southwest Asian ancestry, providing additional support to the Asian origin of the North African fat-tailed sheep. All other breeds presented substantial Merino introgression ranging from 15% for D'man to 31% for Black Thibar. We highlighted several signals of ancestral introgression between North African and southern European sheep. In addition, we identified two opposite gradients of ancestry, southwest Asian and central European, occurring between North Africa and central Europe. Our results provide further evidence of the weak global population structure of sheep resulting from high levels of gene flow among breeds occurring worldwide. At the regional level, signs of recent admixture among North African populations, resulting in a change of the original genomic architecture of minority breeds, were also detected.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(8-2019)

This study was focused mainly on the third of these components to measure the level of NSP antibodies as indicator of past or current FMDV infection, irrespective of the vaccination status. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks have been sporadic in Libya for nearly fifty years. A countrywide serosurvey was conducted in the spring of 2013 to assess the extent of FMD virus circulation and identify FMD virus serotypes in the country. A total of 4221 sera were collected, comprising samples from large ruminants (LR; n=1428 samples from 357 farms) and small ruminants (SR; n=2793 samples from 141 farms). FMD sero-prevalence of NSP antibodies determined by ELISA were 19.0% (271/1428) with 95% CI (16.9 - 21.0) and 13.5% (378/2793) with 95% CI (12.3 - 14.8) for LR and SR samples, respectively. The sero-prevalence of NSP antibodies in LR was 12.3% and 19.8% for age group < year and 1 year, respectively (X2=4.95,P=0.026), while in SR was 3.7%, 13.6% and 21.3% for age group 2 year, respectively (X2=118.1,P=0.000). These observed NSP serologic profiles support the hypothesis of an endemic level of FMD circulation in Libya. All positive sera were tested for SP antibodies for O, A and SAT-2 FMD virus serotypes. Serotype O was the dominant circulating serotype followed by serotype A, while evidence of SAT-2 was not found. These data provide an insight into the wider epidemiology of FMD in Libya, and contribute to field and laboratory investigations that during 2013 serotype 0 (O/ME-SA/Ind-2001 lineage) was isolated from clinical samples collected from the country. To have a better understanding of livestock production, data collecting on the management system, and risk factor analysis, more study should be done. As a result of the findings, scientists can better understand the epidemiology of FMD and design scientifically sound disease control techniques to reduce the impact of FMD on Libyan livestock.
Ibrahim Eldaghayes(4-2022)