Zoonoses and information of the public: the role of media, with special reference to Italy

The significance of zoonoses varies depending on many socio\u2010economic factors and on the specific situation that prevails in a specific area. The role of the media often determines the importance given to a disease. In resource\u2010rich countries, a zoonosis may be perceived as being important due to inaccurate information that has been circulated by mass media on the risk of infection for animals and humans and on the possible use of the agent for terrorist actions. Images of sick or dead people and animals, drastic methods of control and others, can contribute to an overestimation of the significance of a disease. Information can be lacking or absent in regard to socio\u2010economic factors that clarify occurrence and also on geographic distribution. Therefore, the sensitivity of people can be influenced rapidly and negative socio\u2010economic consequences can occur. These zoonoses can be named \u2018mediaoriented (emphasised) zoonoses\u2019. On the contrary, some zoonoses are scarcely considered for several reasons, for instance: occurrence in poverty\u2010stricken areas and populations, risks of infection for people not considered important enough to deserve medical care, little interest from the media, decision\u2010makers and health services, lack of information and official reports. These zoonoses can be named \u2018neglected zoonoses\u2019. Some examples of zoonoses included in the above categories are described

Echinococcus granulosus "sensu stricto" in a captive ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) in Northern Italy

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) by Echinococcosis granulosus (Eg) infection was seen in a 13 years old male lemur, found dead in a zoo in Northern Italy. Necropsy revealed several transparent cysts in the lungs and in the abdominal cavity. Freefloating cysts of varying sizes were found in the peritoneal cavity, and no protoscolex was seen microscopically. Histologically, a multifocal severe parasitic granulomatous pneumonia was observed. Confirmation of E. granulosus "sensu stricto" was reached by PCR and sequencing. In view of the absence of definitive host in the zoo, located in non-endemic region for CE, it is speculated that infection introduced through translocation of lemur from endemic region (Southern Italy zoo)

Inactivation of eimeria Oocysts in aqueous solution by a dielectric barrier discharge plasma in contact with liquid

This study presents a novel technique to inactivate coccidian oocysts in an aqueous solution. The technique consists of treating the contaminated liquid by using an atmospher- ic-pressure air dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in contact with it. Many experiments in several operating conditions were performed. The discharge was supplied by sinusoidal and nanosecond-pulsed voltages with a constant average power of ~7 W in both cases. Biological effects due to the plasma were investigated by performing tests with increasing treatment time. A sudden ~40% drop in the number of survived oocysts was reached in 4 min and a two-fold reduction was detected after 12 min of exposure. No significant differences in the biocidal efficacy were detected between the AC-driven and the nanosecond-pulsed discharge. Chi-squared statistical analysis on the treated samples showed significant statistical difference (with a statistical significance P value parameter less than 0.01) and nonrandomness warranty of the results, opening interesting scenarios for fimire developments

Ricerca e identificazione morfologica di Strongili broncopolmonari di cervo (Cervus elaphus hippelaphus) e bovino (Bos taurus) nella Regione Valle d’Aosta

Le strongilosi broncopolmonari nei ruminanti domestici e selvatici sono sostenute da nematodi del genere Dictyocaulus spp, agenti eziologici della bronchite parassitaria e causa di importanti danni economici in diversi Paesi del mondo. La conoscenza di questi parassiti, quindi, risulta fondamentale ai fini della salvaguardia del patrimonio zootecnico e faunistico; tuttavia la letteratura disponibile riguardo le strongilosi polmonari, in particolare nei ruminanti selvatici dell\u2019arco alpino, risulta essere limitata. Uno degli obiettivi di questo studio \ue8, pertanto, quello di fornire un panorama sulla presenza delle strongilosi broncopolmonari nel bovino (Bos taurus) e nel cervo rosso (Cervus elaphus) su territorio nazionale e, in particolare nella Regione Valle d\u2019Aosta. Per la ricerca di Strongili sono stati presi in esame i polmoni di 100 bovini di razza Valdostana e di 104 cervi rossi. I bovini sono risultati tutti negativi, mentre 23 cervi sono risultati positivi per la presenza di Strongili polmonari, con una prevalenza di infezione del 22%. Altro punto cardine di questa ricerca \ue8 rappresentato dall\u2019identificazione su base morfologica della specie di Strongilo rinvenuta nel cervo rosso. Per questo sono state effettuate le misure dei caratteri utili ai fini dell\u2019identificazione morfologica e queste sono state confrontate, sia con la specie riconosciuta da tempo nel cervo rosso, Dictyocaulus eckerti, che con la nuova specie recentemente identificata in Polonia: Dictyocaulus cervi n. sp (Pyziel et al, 2017). Queste due specie si distinguono per le misure di diversi caratteri chiave per l\u2019identificazione morfologica. I risultati hanno messo in evidenza una corrispondenza tra i valori delle misure degli Strongili polmonari prelevati e quelle riportate per D. cervi, il che permette di avanzare l\u2019ipotesi secondo cui questa specie sia presente anche in Italia. Questo potrebbe rappresentare, quindi, il primo caso di identificazione di D. cervi n. sp. nel cervo in Italia e non fa altro che confermare la necessit\ue0 di approfondire la ricerca di questi parassiti per risolvere l\u2019annosa questione relativa alla loro tassonomia. Nel tempo diversi studi hanno messo in discussione l\u2019ipotesi secondo cui il cervo possa rappresentare un serbatoio di infezione per il bovino (Divina et al, 2000, Pyziel et al, 2015) e i risultati di questa ricerca forniscono un ulteriore supporto alla tesi secondo cui le strongilosi broncopolmonari siano ad eziologia specie-specifica e non via sia, in natura, la possibilit\ue0 di cross-infezione. Dai parassiti sono stati, inoltre, prelevati campioni da sottoporre a PCR, al fine di confermare o escludere l\u2019ipotesi avanzata dall\u2019indagine morfologica

Hunting dogs as sentinel animals for monitoring infections with Trichinella spp. in wildlife

Nematode parasites of the genus Trichinella are important foodborne pathogens transmitted by ingestion of striated muscles harbouring infective larvae. Wild carnivorous and omnivorous animals are the most important reservoirs of these parasites. Hunting activities play an important role in Trichinella spp

Toltrazuril and sulphonamide treatment against naturally Isospora suis infected suckling piglets: Is there an actual profit?

A study was carried out to assess the efficacy and the economic profit of prophylactic treatment against Isopsora suis with toltrazuril or with a sulfamethazine/trimethoprim combination in piglets from an intensive pig farm. Thirty-one litters were included in study. Eight litters were treated once with toltrazuril (20 mg/kg b.w.) at 3 days of age (Toltra group); 8 litters were treated with the sulphonamide combination (sodium sulfamethazine 35 mg and trimethoprim 7 mg/kg b.w.) for 3 consecutive days starting at 3 days of age (Sulfa group), and 15 litters were untreated (control group). Counts of oocyst per gram on pooled feces sampled from each litter were carried out on Days 7, 14, 21 and 28 and diarrhea was registered daily from pooled samples. Piglets were weighed on Days 1, 7 and 28 and mean weight gain (WG) and daily weight gain (DWG) were evaluated. The economic profit of treatment was evaluated comparing the WG of piglets of each treatment group from the day of birth to Day 28. On Days 14, 21 and 28, toltrazuril showed a better efficacy in controlling fecal oocyst output, diarrhea and weight gain compared with sulphamidic treatment (P < 0.001). The budgeting analysis showed a return of economic benefit of \u20ac 0.915 per toltrazuril-treated piglets and an additional cost of \u20ac 1.155 per sulphonamide-treated piglets

Dog filariosis in the Lazio region (Central Italy): first report on the presence of Dirofilaria repens

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological investigations were carried out in the Lazio Region to assess the status of canine filariosis and to evaluate the actual risk for veterinary and medical public health. METHODS: Since August 2001 to June 2003, a total of 972 canine blood samples, collected in public kennels and from private owners animals of the 5 Provinces of the Region, were tested. The presence of filarial parasites was evaluated by microscopy and bio-molecular techniques; the species identification was performed by means of the same diagnostic tools. RESULTS: A total of 17/972 (1.75%; 95%CI 1.06%–2.85%) blood samples were parasitized by D. repens,13 out them drawn by dogs resident in the Province of Roma, and 4 in the other provinces. Multivariate analysis was performed in order to evaluate the association between filariosis and risk factors. The origin from coastal territories seems to be a significant risk factor to acquire the infection. CONCLUSION: This is the first report of canine filariosis in the Lazio Region, where D. repens was before reported only in foxes. The risk of human zoonotic infection is stressed, and the absence of other filarial species is discusse

Crowdsourced assessment of common genetic contribution to predicting anti-TNF treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects millions world-wide. While anti-TNF treatment is widely used to reduce disease progression, treatment fails in Bone-third of patients. No biomarker currently exists that identifies non-responders before treatment. A rigorous community-based assessment of the utility of SNP data for predicting anti-TNF treatment efficacy in RA patients was performed in the context of a DREAM Challenge (http://www.synapse.org/RA_Challenge). An open challenge framework enabled the comparative evaluation of predictions developed by 73 research groups using the most comprehensive available data and covering a wide range of state-of-the-art modelling methodologies. Despite a significant genetic heritability estimate of treatment non-response trait (h(2) = 0.18, P value = 0.02), no significant genetic contribution to prediction accuracy is observed. Results formally confirm the expectations of the rheumatology community that SNP information does not significantly improve predictive performance relative to standard clinical traits, thereby justifying a refocusing of future efforts on collection of other data