Review of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in the eastern part of Europe, 2016

Introduction: This paper reviews the current knowledge and understanding of Cryptosporidium spp. an d Giardia spp. in humans, animals and the environment in 10 countries in the eastern part of Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Methods: Published scientific papers and conference proceedings from the international and local literature, official national health service reports, national databases and doctoral theses in local languages were reviewed to provide an extensive overview on the epidemiology, diagnostics and research on these pathogens, as well as analyse knowledge gaps and areas for further research. Results: Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. were found to be common in eastern Europe, but the results from different countries are difficult to compare because of variations in reporting practices and detection methodologies used. Conclusion: Upgrading and making the diagnosis/detection procedures more uniform is recommended throughout the region. Public health authorities should actively work towards increasing reporting and standardising reporting practices as these prerequisites for the reported data to be valid and therefore necessary for appropriate control plans.Peer reviewe

Séroprévalence de Toxoplasma gondii chez les porcs de Croatie

International audienceObjectifsToxoplasma gondii est un parasite intracellulaire obligatoire de tous les animaux à sang chaud et de l'homme. Selon l'Autorité Européenne de Sécurité des Aliments (EFSA), environ 60 % de toutes les infections humaines par T. gondii sont dues à une consommation de viande mal cuite, la viande de porc étant l'une des sources d'infection les plus courantes (Almeria et al., 2020 ; Dubey, 2022). Le diagnostic de la toxoplasmose chez l'homme et l'animal n'est pas standardisé, que ce soit en termes de type de tissu examiné ou de méthode. Le test d'agglutination modifié (MAT) est souvent considéré comme le test sérologique de référence chez les animaux car il peut être appliqué à toutes les espèces, ce qui permet de comparer les résultats (Klun et al., 2006). L'objectif de cette étude était de déterminer la séroprévalence de T. gondii chez les porcs abattus en Croatie et destinés à la consommation humaine.Matériel et méthodesEn 2021, 646 échantillons de sérum au total ont été prélevés sur des porcs d'engraissement dans des abattoirs par des vétérinaires agréés, tandis que 541 sérums de truies provenaient des archives de l'Institut vétérinaire croate. Tous les échantillons de sérum, provenant de différentes régions croates et représentants de la production nationale, ont été testés par la technique MAT pour détecter les IgG anti-T. gondii au Laboratoire de Santé Animale de l'Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire (ANSES), Maisons-Alfort, France. L'antigène utilisé pour ce test a été fourni par le Centre National de Référence de la toxoplasmose à Reims, en France. Tous les sérums ayant agglutiné l’antigène à des dilutions ≥1:6 ont été considérés comme positifs et ont été titrés plus précisément par la suite.RéférencesAlmeria, s., Dubey J.P. (2020): Res. Vet. Sci. DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2020.10.019 ; Dubey, J.P. (2022): Toxoplasmosis of Animals and Humans. 3rd ed., CRC Press.Boca Raton, Florida. ; Klun, I., et al., (2006): Vet. Parasitol. DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2005.08.01

Genetic diversity and structure in Leishmania infantum populations from southeastern Europe revealed by microsatellite analysis

WOS: 000328837200003PubMed ID: 24308691Background: The dynamic re-emergence of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in south Europe and the northward shift to Leishmania-free European countries are well-documented. However, the epidemiology of VL due to Leishmania infantum in southeastern (SE) Europe and the Balkans is inadequately examined. Herein, we aim to re-evaluate and compare the population structure of L. infantum in SE and southwestern (SW) Europe. Methods: Leishmania strains collected from humans and canines in Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and Croatia, were characterized by the K26-PCR assay and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE). Genetic diversity was assessed by multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) and MLM Types were analyzed by model- and distance-based algorithms to infer the population structure of 128 L. infantum strains. Results: L. infantum MON-1 was found predominant in SE Europe, whilst 16.8% of strains were MON-98. Distinct genetic populations revealed clear differentiation between SE and SW European strains. Interestingly, Cypriot canine isolates were genetically isolated and formed a monophyletic group, suggesting the constitution of a clonal MON-1 population circulating among dogs. In contrast, two highly heterogeneous populations enclosed all MON-1 and MON-98 strains from the other SE European countries. Structure sub-clustering, phylogenetic and Splitstree analysis also revealed two distinct Croatian subpopulations. A mosaic of evolutionary effects resulted in consecutive sub-structuring, which indicated substantial differentiation and gene flow among strains of both zymodemes. Conclusions: This is the first population genetic study of L. infantum in SE Europe and the Balkans. Our findings demonstrate the differentiation between SE and SW European strains; revealing the partition of Croatian strains between these populations and the genetic isolation of Cypriot strains. This mirrors the geographic position of Croatia located in central Europe and the natural isolation of the island of Cyprus. We have analysed the largest number of MON-98 strains so far. Our results indicate extensive gene flow, recombination and no differentiation between MON-1 and MON-98 zymodemes. No correlation either to host specificity or place and year of strain isolation was identified. Our findings may be associated with intensive host migration and common eco-epidemiological characteristics in these countries and give valuable insight into the dynamics of VL.GSRT-TUBITAKTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [SBAG-GSRT-23 (109S448)]This study was supported by the GSRT-TUBITAK grant [joint Research and Technology programmes 2010-2011, Greece-Turkey, Project no: SBAG-GSRT-23 (109S448)]. The authors also thank Dr. E. Dotsika (Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute) for kindly providing strain BG1 and Dr. Teita Myrseli and Dr. Silva Bino (Control of Infectious Diseases Department, Institute of Public Health, Tirana, Albania) for providing Leishmania DNA for the strains AH2, AH4 and AD16. This work was in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Charite Universitatsmedizin in Berlin (Germany) toward the PhD of Ms Evi Gouzelou