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The School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences
Ground Floor, Williams Building
Roseworthy Campus
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
Roseworthy SA 5371

Phone: +61 8 8313 7660
Fax: +61 8 8313 7956
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Veterinary Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals

Professor Michael P Reichel

During a long career in the veterinary diagnostic laboratory world and the animal health pharmaceutical industry, Prof Reichel has developed a strong interest in providing practical and cost-effective solutions to the primary industry for the control of infectious diseases.

jersey calves A most recent project established a commercial molecular veterinary diagnostic laboratory to test for the presence of cattle, persistently infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhoea virus and established cost-effective approaches to testing for this pathogen. The high analytical sensitivity of molecular techniques was used to establish and validate tests that could be applied to pooled samples, providing a quicker and cheaper way for the testing of large numbers of cattle.

Testing of tank milks also provided a cost-effective means of assessing the status of a whole milking herd of up to 400 head of cattle. By then focussing follow-up testing initially on the bottom 10% of producers, this approach offers an economically viable alternative to whole herd testing. Economic modelling of the cost of Neospora caninum abortions to dairy farmers by means of a simple decision-tree model can be easily adapted to changing livestock and commodity prices. Vaccination invariably emerged as the most economical control option and in close collaboration with Prof John T Ellis (University of Technology, Sydney) successful vaccine trials have been carried out.


Calf aborted due to Neospora caninum infection	Example of positive fluorescent staining for Neospora caninum

Disease eradication efforts have also been an interest in Prof Reichel’s international career, from the successful completion of Brucella ovis eradication efforts, and research into the epidemiology of echinococcosis in the Falkland Islands, as well as research into bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis in East Africa.

Throughout his career as a researcher into animal infectious disease diagnostics, Prof Reichel has published extensively on the validation of these diagnostic assays.

With obvious commercial interests and an MBA from Macquarie University, Prof Reichel was also successful in the commercialisation (with Idexx) of a diagnostic assay for the detection of antibodies to Johne’s disease in ruminants.

Recent Publications

Weber FH, Jackson JA, Sobecki B, Choromansk Li, Olsen M, Meinert T, Frank R, Reichel MP and Ellis JT (2013) On the Efficacy and safety of vaccination in cattle with live tachyzoites of Neospora caninum for the prevention of Neospora-associated fetal loss. Clinical Vaccine Immunology, doi:10.1128/CVI.00225-12 (Download)
Reichel MP, Ayanegui-Alcérreca MA, Gondim LFP and Ellis JT (2013) What is the global economic impact of Neospora caninum in cattle - the billion dollar question. International Journal for Parasitology 43, 133-142 (Download)
Moore D, Reichel MP, Späth E and Campero C (2013)Neospora caninum causes severe economic losses in cattle in the humid pampa region of Argentina Trop Anim Health Prod. DOI 10.1007/s11250-013-0353-z (Download)
Lanyon SR, Anderson ML Bergman E and Reichel MP (2013) Validation and evaluation of a commercially available ELISA for the detection of antibodies specific to bovine viral diarrhoea virus (bovine pestivirus) Australian Veterinary Journal 91:52–56, doi: 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2012.01010.x (Download)
Caraguel CGB, Wohlers-Reichel RL and Reichel MP (2012) EpiCal: an App for Epi geeks, ISVEE 2012, Maastricht, The Netherlands, p188 (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/epical/id557537942?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4)
Nasir A, Lanyon, SR, Schares G, Anderson ML and Reichel MP (2011) Sero-prevalence of Neospora caninum and Besnoitia besnoiti in South Australian beef and dairy cattle. (Download)
Al-Qassab S; Reichel MP and Ellis JT (2010) On the biological and genetic diversity in Neospora caninum. Diversity, Special Issue "Biological Diversity Assessed by Molecular Methods" 2, 411-438 (Download)
Al-Qassab S; Reichel MP and Ellis JT (2010) A second generation Multiplex PCR for typing strains of Neospora caninum using six DNA targets. Molecular and Cellular Probes 24, 20–26 (Download)
Bishop S; King J; Reichel MP; Ellis JT; Windsor P and Šlapeta J (2010). The first report of ovine cerebral neosporosis and evaluation of Neospora caninum prevalence in sheep in New South Wales. Veterinary Parasitology 170, 137-142 (Download)
Al-Qassab S; Reichel MP; Hall C; Johnson M; Windsor P; Jenkins D; Su C; Dubey JP and Ellis JT (2009). Isolation of Toxoplasma gondii from the brain of a dog in Australia and its biological and molecular characterisation. Veterinary Parasitology 164, 335-339 (Download)
Reichel MP, Ellis JT (2009) Neospora caninum – How close are we to development of an efficacious vaccine that prevents abortion in cattle? International Journal for Parasitology 39, 1173-1187 (Download)
Ellis JT, Miller CMD, Quinn H, Ryce C, and Reichel MP (2008) Evaluation of recombinant proteins of Neospora caninum as vaccine candidates (in a mouse model). Vaccine 26, 5989-5996 (Download)
Barratt J, Al Qassab S, Reichel MP and Ellis JT (2008) The development and evaluation of a nested PCR assay for detection of Neospora caninum and Hammondia heydorni in feral mouse tissues. Molecular and Cellular Probes 22, 228-233 (Download)
Reichel MP, Hill FI and Voges H (2008) Does control of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea infection make economic sense? New Zealand Veterinary Journal 56, 60-66 (Download)
Reichel MP, Ellis JT and Dubey JP (2007) Neosporosis and hammondiosis in dogs. Journal of Small Animal Practice 48, 308-312 (Download)
Williams DJL, Guy CS, Smith RF, Ellis J, Björkman C, Reichel MP and Trees AJ (2007) Immunisation of cattle with live tachyzoites of Neospora caninum confers protection against foetal death. Infection and Immunity 75, 1343-1348 (Download)
Hill FI, Reichel MP, McCoy RJ and Tisdall DJ (2007) Evaluation of two commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assays for the detection of bovine viral diarrhoea virus in serum and skin biopsies of cattle. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 55, 45-48 (Download)
Reichel MP and Ellis JT (2006) Control of Neospora caninum infection is technically feasible – but does it make economic sense? Veterinary Parasitology 142, 23-34 (Download)
Miller C, Quinn H, Ryce C, Reichel MP and Ellis JT (2005) Reduction in transplacental transmission of Neospora caninum in outbred mice by vaccination. International Journal for Parasitology 35, 821-828 (Download)
Hall C, Reichel MP and Ellis JT (2005) Neospora abortions in dairy cattle: diagnosis, mode of transmission and control.Veterinary Parasitology 128, 231-241 (Download)