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.

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

• La T, Philipps, ND, Reichel MP and Hampson DJ (2004) Protection of pigs from swine dysentery by vaccination using recombinant Bmpb, a 30 kda outer-membrane lipoprotein of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae. Veterinary Microbiology 102, 97-109 (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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• Reichel MP, Ellis JT and Dubey JP (2007) Neosporosis and hammondiosis in dogs. Journal of Small Animal Practice 48, 308-312 (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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)