Pathogens, Volume 10, Issue 6

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococci; GAS) is an exclusively human pathogen. It causes a variety of suppurative and non-suppurative diseases in people of all ages worldwide. Not all can be successfully treated with antibiotics. A licensed vac...

Wild small mammals and ticks play an important role in maintaining and spreading zoonoses in nature, as well as in captive animals. The aim of this study was to monitor selected agents with zoonotic potential in their reservoirs and vectors in a zoo,...

Feline coronavirus (FCoV) is a complex pathogen causing feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). Host genetics represents a factor contributing to the pathogenesis of the disease. Differential susceptibility of various breeds to FIP was reported with con...

Ticks are obligate ectoparasites as they require to feed on their host blood during some or all stages of their life cycle. In addition to the pathogens that ticks harbor and transmit to vertebrate hosts, they also harbor other seemingly nonpathogeni...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is zoonotic and the leading cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. Rabbit HEV can infect humans and is prevalent globally. It is reported that laboratory rabbits are also naturally infected with HEV. Therefore, it is import...

Persistent infection with the human papillomavirus 16 (HPV 16) is the cause of half of all cervical carcinomas (CC) cases. Moreover, mutations in the oncoproteins E6 and E7 are associated with CC development. In this study, E6/E7 variants circulating...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus with a pandemic spread. So far, a total of 349,910 SARS-CoV-2 cases and 7687 deaths were reported in Croatia. We analyzed the seroprevalence and neutralizing (NT) ant...

Rabbits are increasingly farmed in Egypt for meat. They are, however, known reservoirs of infectious pathogens. Currently, no information is available on the genetic characteristics of Cryptosporidium spp. in rabbits in Egypt. To understand the preva...

Babesia bovis, an etiological agent of bovine babesiosis, causes a significant burden to the cattle industry worldwide. The most efficient method to mitigate bovine babesiosis is a live vaccine produced by serial passage in splenectomized cattle. How...

Alphaviruses are positive-sense RNA arboviruses that are capable of causing severe disease in otherwise healthy individuals. There are many aspects of viral infection that determine pathogenesis and major efforts regarding the identification and char...

Several human papillomaviruses (HPV) are associated with the development of cervical carcinoma. HPV DNA synthesis is increased during the differentiation of infected host keratinocytes as they migrate from the basal layer of the epithelium to the spi...

Currently, the diagnosis of Lyme disease is based mostly on two-tiered serologic testing. In the new generation of immunoenzymatic assays, antigens comprise whole-cell lysates of members of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) species complex,...

The understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and the clinicopathological forms caused by currently circulating African swine fever virus (ASFV) isolates is incomplete. So far, most of the studies have been focused on isolates classified within geno...

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV, Nairoviridae family) and Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV, Phenuiviridae family) are zoonotic vector-borne pathogens with clinical relevance worldwide. Our study aimed to determine seroprevalences of these v...

The incursion of African swine fever virus (ASFV) into Eurasia presents a threat to the world’s swine industry. Highly sensitive and specific diagnostic assays are urgently needed for rapid detection during an outbreak, post-outbreak investigation, a...

Little is known about the association between respiratory viral infections and their impact on intestinal microbiota. Here, we compared the effect of influenza types, A and B, and influenza shedding in patients’ stools on the gut microbiota diversity...

Candida species cause serious infections requiring prolonged and sometimes toxic therapy. Antimicrobial proteins, such as chemokines, hold great interest as potential additions to the small number of available antifungal drugs. Metamorphic proteins r...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients sometimes experience long-term symptoms following resolution of acute disease, including fatigue, brain fog, and rashes. Collectively these have become known as long COVID. Our aim was to first determine l...

In Panama, epidemiological data on congenital toxoplasmosis are limited, making it difficult to understand the scope of clinical manifestations in the population and factors that may increase the risk of infection. This study provides insight into th...

LasB (elastase/pseudolysin) is an injurious zinc-metalloprotease secreted by the infecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa. LasB is recognized as the bacterial key virulence factor for establishment of successful infection, acquisition of nutrients, dissemina...

Streptococcus suis (S. suis), an emerging zoonotic pathogen, can cause streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS) in humans with high mortality. STSLS is characterized by high bacterial burden, an inflammatory cytokine storm, multi-organ dysfunc...

Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis that occurs worldwide. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has become a widely accepted molecular typing method for outbreak tracing and genomic epidemiology of brucellosis. Twenty-nine Brucella spp. (eight B. ab...

More than 1 year has passed since social activities have been restricted due to the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). More recently, novel SARS-CoV-2 variants have been spreading around the world, and there is gr...

Salpingitis is manifested as hemorrhagic follicular inflammation exudations and peritonitis, leading to reduced egg production and high culling of breeder flocks. From 2018 to 2021, increasing salpingitis during egg peak is threatening the poultry in...

Domestic rabbits are commercially farmed for their meat whilst gastrointestinal diseases can hinder their production. Passalurusambiguus and Eimeria spp. are two common rabbit intestinal parasites that can cause diarrhoea, among other symptoms, and i...

African swine fever virus (ASFv) is one of the most challenging pathogens to affect both domestic and wild pigs. The disease has now spread to Europe and Asia, causing great damage to the pig industry. Although no commercial vaccine with which to con...

Until now, there has been no direct evidence of the effectiveness of repurposed FDA-approved drugs against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. Although curcumin, hesperidin, and quercetin have broad spectra of pha...

Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted by insect-vectors in the taxonomic subfamily Triatominae and affects approximately 8,000,000 people world-wide. Current mitigation strategies for Chagas focus on insecti...

Here we report on an EHV-1 outbreak investigation caused by a novel genotype H₇₅₂ (histidine in amino acid position 752 of the ORF 30 gene). The outbreak involved 31 performance horses. Horses were monitored over a period of 35 days for clinical sign...

West Nile virus (WNV) is the most widespread flavivirus in the world with a wide vertebrate host range. Its geographic expansion and activity continue to increase with important human and equine outbreaks and local bird mortality. In a previous exper...

Fasciola hepatica is a widespread pathogen that is known for its harmful effects on the health and productivity of ruminant animals. To identify the proteins present in all periods of infection with F. hepatica but not in those with Fasciola gigantic...

The possibilities for diagnosing prion diseases have shifted significantly over the last 10 years. The RT-QuIC assay option has been added for neuropsychiatric symptoms, supporting biomarkers and final post-mortem confirmation. Samples of brain homog...

Recently, recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) of three Ig isotypes (IgG, IgA, and IgM) sharing the same anti-spike protein Fab region were developed; we evaluated their neutralizing abilities using a pseudo-typed lentivirus coated with the SARS-...

A total of 15 RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 patients were admitted to our hospital during the in-itial outbreak in Taiwan. The average time of virus clearance was delayed in seven patients, 24.14 ± 4.33 days compared to 10.25 ± 0.56 days post-symptom ons...

Coxiella burnetii is the causative agent of Q fever. It can infect animals, humans, and birds, as well as ticks, and it has a worldwide geographical distribution. To better understand the epidemiology of C. burnetii in Somalia, ticks infesting camels...

The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the current status of rabies in Europe, with special emphasis on Croatia and Southeast and East Europe. Due to the systematic implementation of a rabies eradication program by oral vaccination...

Malaria is the most lethal parasitic disease in the world. Mortality and severity in symptoms are higher in men than women, suggesting that oestrogens, which are in higher concentration in females than in males, may regulate the immune response again...

The potato cyst nematode (PCN) Globodera pallida has acquired significant importance throughout Europe due to its nefarious effects on potato production. Rapid and reliable diagnosis of PCN is critical during the surveillance programs and for the imp...

Rickettsioses are arthropod-borne zoonotic diseases, several of which occur in Australia. This study aimed to assess the exposure levels and risk factors for Rickettsia spp. among Australian wildlife rehabilitators (AWRs) using serology, PCR and a qu...

Endophytic, saprobic, and pathogenic fungi have evolved elaborate strategies to obtain nutrients from plants. Among the diverse plant-fungi interactions, the most crucial event is the attachment and penetration of the plant surface. Appressoria, spec...

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), the third largest solid fraction in human milk, can modulate inflammation through Toll-like receptor signaling, but little is known about their immunomodulatory potential in the oral cavity. In this study, we deter...

Rabies remains endemic in Zambia. Despite conducting canine vaccinations in Lusaka district, the vaccination coverage and actual seropositivity in the dog population in Lusaka district are rarely evaluated. This study estimated the seropositivity-bas...

Research on alien and invasive species focuses on the direct effects of invasion on native ecosystems, and the possible positive effects of their presence are most often overlooked. Our aim was to check the suitability of selected alien species (the...

Trypanosoma rangeli is a generalist hemoflagellate that infects mammals and is transmitted by triatomines around Latin America. Due to its high genetic diversity, it can be classified into two to five lineages. In Brazil, its distribution outside the...

Through 4 June 2021, COVID-19 has caused over 172.84 million cases of infection and 3.71 million deaths worldwide. Due to its rapid dissemination and high mutation rate, it is essential to develop a vaccine harboring multiple epitopes and efficacious...

Murine models of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection have revealed an immunological phenomenon known as “memory inflation” (MI). After a peak of a primary CD8⁺ T-cell response, the pool of epitope-specific cells contracts in parallel to the resolution of...

Background: Dialister pneumosintes (D. pneumosintes) is known to cause dental, periodontal or sinus infections. To date, the pathogen has only been described in a small number of cases with a severe infection. Case report: We describe the clinical ca...

Ticks are important vectors of a great range of pathogens of medical and veterinary importance. Lately, the spread of known tick-borne pathogens has been expanding, and novel ones have been identified as (re)emerging health threats. Updating the curr...

We determined the association between T. gondii infection and suicidal behavior in people with alcohol consumption. One-thousand four-hundred and twenty-three people with alcohol consumption were screened for suicidal behavior and tested for anti-T. ...

Free-roaming dogs and cats represent potential reservoirs for zoonotic vector-borne pathogens shedding to the human population. Given the health impact of these pathogens, we searched free-roaming dogs and cats included in an animal population contro...