A preliminary study on the quality and safety of milk in donkeys positive for Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasmosis is one of the five parasitic diseases considered as a priority for public health action. The consumption of raw milk products represents a possible risk, in particular for certain categories of people. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible effects of Toxoplasma gondii on milk yield and quality in sero-positive animals with parasitemia. Eighteen healthy lactating Amiata jennies, between 90 and 180 days were included in the study. Four donkeys scored positive for immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT), and each IFAT positive donkey presented parasitic DNA both in the blood and milk. No significant differences were found between milk yield in PCR-positive donkeys compared with the negative cases, however the former tended to have a greater production. Milk quality in the positive donkeys showed a significantly lower percentage of casein (0.72% v. 0.81%) and ash (0.32% v. 0.37%). Positive cases had a highly significant larger average diameter of globules (2.35 µm) and fewer globules/ml (2.39 × 108 ). Somatic cell and bacterial counts were normal and in agreement with the literature. Toxoplasma gondii did not seem to present clinical forms in lactating jennies. Further in vivo studies are needed to further assess the risk of T. gondii transmission through donkey milk, together with the impact of different stages of infection on milk quality

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oil of wild and cultivated Origanum syriacum plants grown in Sinai, Egypt

The main constituents of essential oil (EO) of Origanum syriacum L. collected from cultivated and growing wild in Sinai, Egypt were identified and determined by GC-MS. The antimicrobial activity of these essential oils against Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains was studied. The antimycotic activity of these EOs was also evaluated against eight fungal strains isolated from different sources. Forty-six compounds were identified in the EO of both samples, dominated by carvacrol in cultivated type. Thymol, gamma-terpinene, linalool and 4-terpineol were the most represented constituents in O. syriacum plants collected from wild populations. Both EOs showed antibacterial activity with varying magnitudes, while EO from cultivated O. syriacum showed high antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus with an inhibition zone of 32 +/- 4.0 mm. Both EOs showed good antifungal activity against all fungal strains. O. syriacum EO from cultivated plants showed the lowest MIC 0.25 mg/L with Aspergillus fumigates clinical strain isolated either with Aspergillus flavus

Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in Myocastor coypus in a protected Italian wetland

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Toxoplasma gondii </it>is the causative agent for a major zoonosis with cosmopolitan distribution. Water has been implicated in outbreaks of toxoplasmosis in recent years. Coypus (<it>Myocastor coypus</it>), commonly nutria, are large semi-aquatic invasive rodents, naturalized throughout European countries, including most wetlands of Central Italy. The habitat of these animals is both terrestrial and aquatic, making them a species highly exposed to the parasite.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>The occurrence of the infection was evaluated using a modified agglutination test (MAT) in 74 adult coypus from a naturalized population living in a wetland of Central Italy. Nested PCR (n-PCR) assay was carried out on some of them. Positive <it>T. gondii </it>MAT results were found in 44 animals (59·4%), 30 males (68·2%) and 14 females (31·8%). Antibody titers were ranging from 20 to 40960, while 12 out of 23 (52·2%), examined animals, 8 males (66·7%) and 4 females (33·3%), resulted positive to n-PCR. All n-PCR positive animals were seropositive, showing antibody titers ranging from 640 to 40960.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that examined animals are heavily parasitized with <it>Toxoplasma</it>. This suggests that coypus could be a reservoir of this parasite, because they can be eaten both by scavenger animals and by humans, and that these animals would play a role in maintaining the cycle of <it>T. gondii</it>.</p

Studio della resistenza di miceti ambientali e patogeni a diversi antimicotici naturali e di sintesi

Le micosi umane ed animali sono considerate infezioni emergenti. Tra queste le micosi profonde/sistemiche sono caratterizzate da elevata mortalità, mentre le micosi superficiali possono avere importanti implicazioni nell’igiene pubblica e nel benessere animale. L’uso spesso indiscriminato di antimicotici ha determinato l’emergenza di ceppi farmaco resistenti. Gli animali possono svolgere il ruolo di serbatoi di tali miceti, pertanto appare utile l’acquisizione di informazioni sulla sensibilità di isolati fungini animali ed ambientali a diversi principi terapeutici. In questi ultimi anni si è assistito ad una crescita di interesse verso i rimedi terapeutici non convenzionali in campo della medicina umana e veterinaria. Gli antimicotici naturali hanno destato molto interesse in virtù delle loro proprietà, specialmente se messi a confronto con i prodotti di sintesi che in molti casi mostrano problemi di tollerabilità e tossicità e non per ultimo, un sempre maggior numero di casi di resistenza

Indagine sulle principali endoparassitosi e sulla presenza di lieviti nelle feci del gatto in Toscana

I campioni fecali di 273 gatti sono stati esaminati sia con la comune tecnica di flottazione che con il test Baermann. In totale il 26,4% dei campioni testati è risultato positivo per la presenza di endoparassiti. Toxocara cati ha mostrato la prevalenza più elevata (15,4% sul totale, 58,3% sui soggetti parassitati), seguito da Isospora felis (5,1%, 19,4%), Aelurostrongylus abstrusus e Isospora rivolta (2,6%, 9,7%), Ancylostoma tubaeforme e Dipylidium caninum (1,5%, 5,6%), e infine da Toxascaris leonina e Capillaria aerophila (0,7%, 2,8%). Le associazioni tra due specie parassitarie sono state osservate raramente. Esse includevano T. cati/I. felis (1,8%), T. cati/I. rivolta (0,7%), T. cati/A. tubaeforme e I. felis/D. caninum (0,4%). L'associazione di tre specie parassitarie è stata riscontrata in un solo caso (T. cati/A. abstrusus/D. caninum). Inoltre, 6/182 (3,3%) campioni sono risultati positivi ad un test ELISA del commercio per la presenza di antigeni fecali di Criptosporidium spp. Di questi ultimi, solo uno (0,4%, 1,4%) è stato confermato con la successiva tecnica di PCR-RFLP ed è stato identificato come Cryptosporidium felis. Campioni fecali di 29 soggetti diarroici sono stati esaminati anche con un kit commerciale per l’isolamento in coltura di Tritrichomonas foetus dando esito negativo. Complessivamente la presenza di endoparassiti è risultata più elevata nei maschi che nelle femmine (32,5% vs. 18,5%), nei soggetti di età inferiore ad un anno rispetto a quelli di età superiore (46,5% vs. 14,5%) e in quelli appartenenti a gattili o colonie rispetto ai gatti di proprietà (35,8% vs. 22,4%). In fine tutti i campioni sono stati testati per valutare la presenza di lieviti: 35 (12,8%) sono risultati positivi ma solo in 8 casi è stata possibile l’identificazione a causa della difficoltà di isolare le colonie in purezza

Seroprevalence, Detection of DNA in Blood and Milk, and Genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii in a Goat Population in Italy

Toxoplasma gondii is the causative agent of a major zoonosis with cosmopolitan distribution and is known to be transmitted mainly by the ingestion of undercooked or raw animal products. Drinking unpasteurized goat’s milk is a risk factor associated with human toxoplasmosis. However, very little is known about the excretion of DNA in goat milk. Aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection using a modified agglutination test (MAT), to detect T. gondii DNA by nested-PCR (n-PCR) in samples of blood and milk from seropositive goats, and to genotype DNA isolates using 11 molecular markers in 127 adult lactating goats from 6 farms in Italy. Positive MAT results were found in 60.6% of goats while 13% of blood and milk samples from seropositive goats were positive to n-PCR. A kappa coefficient of 1 indicated a perfect agreement between blood and milk n-PCR. Genetic characterization of isolates revealed the occurrence of genotype III (), genotype I (), and atypical genotypes with hints for genotype I (). Our results suggest that the risk of excretion of Toxoplasma tachyzoites might frequently occur in milk of seropositive goats testing positive to n-PCR on blood

In Vitro Activity of Twenty Commercially Available, Plant-Derived Essential Oils against Selected Dermatophyte Species

The in vitro activity of twenty chemically defined essential oils (EOs) obtained from Boswellia sacra, Citrus bergamia, C. limon, C. medica, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Eucalyptus globulus, Foeniculum vulgare, Helichrysum italicum, Illicium verum, Litsea cubeba, Mentha spicata, Myrtus communis, Ocimum basilicum, Origanum majorana, O. vulgare, Pelargonium graveolens, Rosmarinus officinalis, Santalum album, Satureja montana, and Thymus serpyllum was assayed against clinical animal isolates of Microsporum canis, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. erinacei, T. terrestre and Microsporum gypseum, main causative agents of zoonotic and/or environmental dermatophytoses in humans. Single main components present in high amounts in such EOs were also tested. Different dermatophyte species showed remarkable differences in sensitivity. In general, more effective EOs were T. serpyllum (MIC range 0.025%-0.25%), O. vulgare (MIC range 0.025%-0.5%) and L. cubeba (MIC range 0.025%-1.5%). F. vulgare showed a moderate efficacy against geophilic species such as M. gypseum and T. terrestre. Among single main components tested, neral was the most active (MIC and MFC values ≤ 0.25%). The results of the present study seem to be promising for an in vivo use of some assayed EOs