In recent years several "new" infectious agenLs have been associated with neonatal diarrhoea in both calves and pigs. Furthermore, important additional information has become available as regards enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli infec tions in both species. Although still much has to be learned, it is likely that in many field cases differnt agents act in concert. Therefore an integrated approach to the problem of neonatal diarrhoea appears to be necessary, particularly in the field research. Such an approach requires a series of diagnostic techniques. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together a limited number of scientists that are actively involved in neonatal diarrhoea research, in order to discuss present knowledge and to produce proceedings containing review articles, new developments and laboratory manuals of relevant diagnostic techniques. x This publication constitutes a collection of scientific pa pers and laboratory manuals on diagnostic techniques for en teropathogenic agents in neonatal diarrhoea in calves and pigs, presented and discussed during a workshop in the EEC Program me of Coordination of Agricultural Research on Protection of the Young Animal against Perinatal Diseases, held at the Central Veterinary Institute, Department of Virology, Lely stad, the Netherlands, June 3-5, 1980. VIRAL AGENTS ASSOCIA1ED WIlli NEONATAL DIARRHOEA AND TIlEIR DE1ECTION BY ELECTRON MICROSCOPY M.S. McNulty, W. 1. Curran and J.B. McFerran Veterinary Research Laboratories, Stormont, Belfast, BT4 3SD, N. Ireland ABSTRACT Simple techniques for diagnosis of enteric viral infections by direct electron microscopy of faeces are described.

Reproductive wastage is a major inefficiency in all livestock production with embryonic mortality accounting for a major portion of this loss. Accordingly the Commission of the European Communities encouraged the organisation of a seminar on embryonic mortality in farm animals which was held in Brussels on the 11th and 12th of December 1984. This book contains the text of the papers, discussions and final summary presented at that Seminar. As a background to the Seminar, the extent and timing of embryonic loss was described for farm animals. Particular consideration was then given to the various mechanisms and signals, both embryonic and uterine in origin, that are so far known to be involved in the establishment of pregnancy. Possible causes of embryonic death including physiological, endocrinological, genetic and immunological components were outlined and discussed. The final summary contains general conclusions from the Seminar and recommendations for future research work on this topic. J.M. Sreenan M.G. Diskin July 1985. ******************** THE EXTENT AND TIMING OF EMBRYONIC MORTALITY IN THE COW J. M. Sreenan & M. G. Diskin, The Agricultural Institute, Belclare, Tuam, Galway, Ireland ABSTRACT The extent and timing of embryonic mortality in heifers, normal cows and repeat breeder cows has been reviewed.

The CEC-seminar on "Indicators relevant to Animal Welfare" was held on November 9 - 10, 1982 at the Institut fUr Tierzucht und Tierverhalten, Mariensee, of the Bundesforschungsanstal t fUr Landwirtschaft (FAL) - It was the intention of this meeting to outline the present state of know ledge on proven and potential indicators and to discuss their applica bility in the assessment of farm animal management systems. After an introduction of the legal and material aspects of animal welfare, the following topics were dealt with : - Significance of indicators relevant to animal welfare - Integrated systems of indicators relevant to animal welfare - Applicability of indicators in animal welfare research and control procedures. The concluding discussion focussed on the applicability of indicators in science and in practice. As a result of the seminar, the presently known indicators can be grouped into the following categories : - indicators already being applied to animal welfare assessment in prac tice, such as morbidity and mortality, technopathies, behavioural aberrations and production performances; - indicators of high sensitivity, such as physiological criteria, which as yet are too demanding for general application; - indicators still under investigation for their reliability. It became also evident that the continuous integration of indicators into canprehensive assessment systems promises an ever improving judgement of animal welfare problems. The proceedings will be of substantial value to the CEC in the pursuit of animal welfare problems

This seminar referred to latent herpes virus infections in veterinary medicine, with emphasis on the domestic animals. The phenomenon of latency is of particular importance in veterinary medicine because it can jeopardize the successful control and eradication of diseases such as Aujeszky's disease and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, diseases which are often the cause of great economic losses. For this reason, the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) realized the importance of summarizing the present state of knowledge on latent herpes virus infections in veterinary medicine. A seminar was therefore organized by the Federal Research Institute for Animal Virus Diseases in Ttibingen, Federal Republic of Germany, from September 21 to 23, 1982, as a part of the 'Animal Pathology Programme' of the CEC. The seminar was attended by 50 participants not only from the countries of the CEC, and 38 papers were selected for presentation. In veterinary medicine, more intensive investigations on the latency of animal herpes viruses have only relatively recently been initiated. In contrast, great efforts have been made for many years to elucidate latency in human and primate herpes viruses, and consequently the most considerable advances have been made in this field. Some of the most experienced scientists working on both systems were therefore invited. As a result, this seminar was the first occasion on which scientists from different countries and faculties investigating herpes virus latency had the opportunity to present and exchange their latest results. The.

In some countries, especially on the European continent, there still exists a remarkable veal market. This type of meat production seems, irrespective of any economic forecasts, to remain unchallenged so long as consumers expect that restaurants should offer courses like "r6ti de veaux", "vitello a la casa" or "Kalbsschnitzel". Producers, at least since about the past 1-/2 decades, have been aware of the beneficial effect of anabolic agents in veal production. This is possible due to the lack of endogenous sexual hormones during the juvenile or prepuberal status of these animals. A discussion about the benefit / risk - evaluation in connection with the use of anabolic agents in general was promoted in recent years by the public. This concern occurred concomitantly with the detection of illegally treated veal calves and the occurrence of diethylstilbestrol (DES) residues in canned food containing veal. The aim of this paper is to summarize the present status of residue data in edible tissues and excreta in order to allow the evaluation of the risk (given in the paper of Hoffmann within this program) and to consider reasonable monitoring measures. We have to face the fact that without an efficient control system the illegal treatment of calves can not be excluded. Therefore, this paper will not only consider different compounds and formulations, but will also deal with practised routes of administration.