Laurea Magistrale a Ciclo Unico in Medicina Veterinaria

Propaedeutic exams: CI Microbiology and Immunology
veterinary (VET0016)

• The aim of this teaching is to provide knowledge in the field of infectious diseases of farm and pet animals. It also provides knowledge for the proper management of control plans and health emergencies in livestock, including diseases that can be transmitted to humans. It contributes to the training of the veterinary practitioner and the official veterinarian working in the animal health area. The teaching also provides the necessary knowledge for the State examination in Veterinary Medicine and for the access to the post graduate education in animal health

Knowledge and learning skills

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• 
  identify the main etiological and pathogenic properties of infectious agents of veterinary interest
• to know the main risk factors associated with the introduction of epidemic agents
• correctly use the terms of descriptive epidemiology
• to know the principles, methods and application of direct and indirect diagnostic tests
• describe monitoring methods for defining health status in animal populations
• to know the main international databases on the information of the spread of infectious diseases of veterinary interest
• to know the principles governing the national and international trade of live animals and their products
• to describe the symptoms associated with health emergencies in the various animal species
• to list the intervention procedures for a correct management of health emergencies.
• to know the main characteristics of the veterinary vaccines
• to know the principles for safety and awareness use of drugs for treatment of infectious diseases
• use an appropriate scientific language

Use of knowledge and learning skills

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Interpret correctly the operating procedures for the health management of infectious emergencies
• Perform and correctly interpret laboratory tests specific to infectious agents
• apply a correct vaccination plan
• plan a biological sampling suitable for health surveillance
• consult databases to update knowledge on the health status of the main infectious agents
• predispose health control programs according to the epidemiological characteristics of specific infectious agents

Independent judgment

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• critically evaluate control plans and vaccination strategies applicable to pet and farm animal infections
• identify the hygienic-sanitary problems and risk factors associated with the spread of infectious diseases.

Communication skills

Students must be able to describe clearly and with appropriate scientific language the main topics

Learning abilities

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• analyze and evaluate the health problems related to infectious diseases
• develop proposals for the application of control measures for infectious agents
• understand the technical reports and national and international guidelines for the control of infectious diseases.

Type of teaching

Type of teaching includes lectures as well as practical training organized collectively and in small groups as follows

DM Bacterial diseases: DM Bacterial diseases: frontal lectures (31 hours) + practical classes (8 hours). The latter include laboratory activity (4 hrs) with small groups of students

DM Viral diseases: lectures 36 hours + practical activities 16 hours, the latter includes classwork 2 hours, experimental farm 3 hours (small group), labs 11 hours (small group.

Lectures will provide an outline the areas of study included in the syllabus, with the help of slide shows and movies. The classroom exercises provide presentation and discussion of specific topics (MD bacterial diseases: mastitis management, case problems, issues related to biosafety; MD viral diseases: case studies, interpretation of diagnostic tests). The laboratory sessions (3 groups of students further divided into 6 group of 6-7 students each) are organized in order to enable the student to perform isolation and identification of specific pathogens and to use the main serological techniques for the diagnosis of the specific infections included in the course.

Final evaluation

The final exam include a written test and a oral examination

Written test

• The test includes 40 multiple-choice questions
• The test includes question on all the topics covered during the lectures
• The test is Moodle-based
• The maximum grade is 30/30 and the student must reach at least 18/30 in order to access to the oral examination
• The grade obtained in the written test represents the 60% of the final grade. Correct answer is 0.75, incorrect answer -0.15, not given answer 0.

Oral examination

• Students who have obtained at least 18/30 to the written test are admitted to oral exam. Oral exam represents 40% of the total evaluation

The student must demonstrate the ability to integrate different aspects of an infectious disease including appropriate diagnostic method and control measures. The oral exposure ability and the correct use of scientific terminology are also evaluated.

• If the student do not pass the oral examination, hi/she must repeat the entire exam (including the written part) 

The online activities consist of self-assessment exercises by the student on specific topics treated in the classroom. These activities are not mandatory but are monitored by the teachers for an assessment of the effectiveness of frontal teaching

All self-assessment tests are available on Moodle platform

Syllabus

Lectures

MD Bacterialdiseases

-   General concepts of bacterial infections, including the properties of different types of pathogens and the mechanisms of pathogenesis.

Information on bacterial diseases of particular importance in veterinary medicine: brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis and paratuberculosis, colibacillosis and salmonellosis, clostridiosis, swine erysipelas, listeriosis, mycoplasmosis, chlamydiosis, Q fever, anthrax, leptospirosis, staphylococcal and streptococcal infections

MD Viral diseases

 - Types of viral infections; viral genetic and evolution; in vitro and in vivo pathogenic activity

 - Etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and control of the main viral diseases of domestic animals, with particular emphasis on the following viral families: Picornaviridae, Flaviviridae,Coronaviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Togaviridae, orthomixoviridae, Paramixoviridae, Reoviridae, Retroviridae, Herpesviridae, Parvoviridae, Asfarviridae, Poxviridae. Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies

 - Viral vaccines

• Le esercitazioni suddivise su campo e in laboratorio prevedono manualità sul prelievo di campioni biologici, esecuzione delle principali analisi di laboratorio (dirette ed indirette) per la diagnosi di malattie ad eziologia infettiva, discussione e risoluzione di casi-problema.
• Gli studenti eseguono test diretti (analisi batteriologiche, colture di tessuto ed esami virologici) e indiretti, (test sierologici, in particolare tecniche immunoenzimatiche) con particolare attenzione ai criteri interpretativi.
• Vengono proposti alcuni esempi di applicazione delle tecniche biomolecolari ed esempi di risorse disponibili in rete per lo studio degli agenti infettanti.

Practical activities

Practical activities are performed on the field and in the laboratory. They include training on collection and conservation of biological samples, execution of the main laboratory analysis (direct and indirect methods) for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, discussion of case problems. 

Students use direct diagnostic methods (bacteriological exams, tissue culture techniques, virus isolation) and indirect diagnostic methods (serological tests, immunoenzymatic assays in particular) with emphasis on interpretive criteria.  

- educational material provided by the teachers available online (campusnet) and recommended for the study

Educational material suggested for further reading

- Farina R., Scatozza F.: Trattato di Malattie infettive degli animali. UTET, 1998

- Benazzi Pietro: Regolamento Di Polizia Veterinaria 20011 Esculapio + aggiornamenti