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Ecogeographical favourability for roe deer: Population abundance and species distribution

New article published in Pirineos. Revista de Ecología de Montaña

EC assigns 14 millions to Reference Laboratories, among them 3 Spanish

VISAVET entre los laboratorios de referencia españoles

The European Comission (EC) made today public that will give 14 millions of euros in 2012 for financing the investigation in the most of fourty European Reference Laboratories about Food Safety, Animal Health, among them, there ist three Spanish.…

The European Reference Laboratory for bovine tuberculosis holds its third workshop

The European Reference Laboratory (EURL) for bovine tuberculosis,  located in VISAVET , the Health Surveillance Centre  of Complutense University of Madrid , organized from 15 to 16 December 2011 a European meeting,  where will study the advances in diagnostic techniques and control of the disease, as well as achievements in standardization

The eradication of infection in cattle by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex species causing disease remains one of the main objectives of the European Union, which annually spends significant efforts in reducing the levels of prevalence and incidence.
Despite the progress made with regard to understanding the pathogenesis of the disease and its possible diagnosis has not been achieved to eradicate, due to a number of factors that, in certain epidemiological contexts, complicate its control.
The variability inherent in the intradermal test, a diagnostic technique, which it is very difficult standardize.  It must be coordinated efforts by scientific community and government for its optimization. Similarly, the potential development of complementary diagnostic methods in certain situations opens new possibilities in the field of fight against the disease should be evaluated accordingly.
The meeting was attended representing DG Health and Consumers of the European Commission, the EURL, 23 national reference laboratories (NRLS) in Europe and the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs of Spain.… Read more

Large-scale screening of a targeted Enterococcus faecalis mutant library identifies envelope fitness factors

PLoS ONE publish this investigation article

Spread of antibiotic resistance among bacteria responsible for nosocomial and community-acquired infections urges for novel therapeutic or prophylactic targets and for innovative pathogen-specific antibacterial compounds. Major challenges are posed by opportunistic pathogens belonging to the low GC% Gram-positive bacteria. Among those, Enterococcus faecalis is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections associated with life-threatening issues and increased hospital costs. To better understand the molecular properties of enterococci that may be required for virulence, and that may explain t… Read more

Avances en el diagnóstico de la tuberculosis bovina

New outreach post in Blog Madri+d de Seguridad Alimentaria y Alimentación

Laboratorios de referencia de 23 países europeos se reúnen estos días en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid para analizar las mejoras en el diagnóstico y control de esta enfermedad… Read more

European Union Reference Laboratory for Bovine Tuberculosis Workshop. Edición III

Communications in this event:

- Work-programme 2012 - other activities of the EU-RL

- Manual review of the protocols available in the NRLs-questionnaires

- Results and organization of comparative test

- Additional studies related to the skin and gamma-interferon tests

- Factors affecting the intradermal skin test

- Potency test of tuberculins. Material and Methods

- Tuberculosis in camelids

- The EU-RL for Bovine Tuberculosis

- Potency test of tuberculins. Results and discussion

Escherichia coli, un comensal potencialmente patógeno para el hombre y los animales

New article published in Profesión Veterinaria

El potencial efecto patógeno de algunas cepas de Escherichia coli (E. coli) para originar brotes de extraordinaria gravedad en personas ha sido tristemente puesto de manifiesto una vez más en el brote que tuvo su foco principal en Alemania durante los meses de mayo, junio y julio de 2011, y en el curso del cual se detectaron casos relacionados en 15 países europeos más, y también en Norteamérica… Read more

First case of erysipelas in a free-ranging bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) stranded in the Mediterranean Sea

Investigation published in Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

An adult female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) stranded alive and subsequently died several minutes later on the Mediterranean coast of Spain on 14 July 2010. Clinical examination revealed foam through the blowhole and rales upon lung auscultation. On venipuncture, the blood was abnormally dense and dark. Hematological and biochemical abnormalities included dehydration, leukocytosis (48600 leukocytes µl−1) characterized by neutrophilia (48200 neutrophils µl−1), and elevated bilirubin (4.38 mg dl−1), alanine aminotransferase (382.3 U l−1), aspartate aminotransfe… Read more

Review on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius

Investigation article published in The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is an important opportunistic pathogen of companion animals, especially dogs. Since 2006 there has been a significant emergence of methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius (MRSP) mainly due to clonal spread. This article reviews research on MRSP with a focus on occurrence, methods used for identification, risk factors for colonization and infection, zoonotic potential and control options. Potential areas for future research are also discussed… Read more

Spatio-Temporal Trends of Iberian Wild Boar Contact with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Detected by ELISA

Ecohealth publish this investigation article

The continuing expansion of Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations raises concerns regarding disease transmission. In south-central Spain, overabundant wild boar are reservoirs of Mycobacterium bovis, and related members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), the causative agents of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using bovine-purified protein derivative was applied to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of wild boar contact with MTBC in the Iberian Peninsula and to model and identify the associated risk factors. Wild boar ap… Read more

Humans as source of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in cattle, Spain

Emerging Infectious Diseases publish this investigation article

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the main causative agent of tuberculosis in humans. However, little attention has been paid to its transmission from humans to animals. We report M. tuberculosis infections in 3 cattle farms in Spain. The epidemiologic investigation traced humans as the source of infection, with 1 of the strains showing multidrug resistance… Read more

A genetic comparison of pig, cow and trout isolates of Lactococcus garvieae by PFGE analysis

Investigation article published in Letters in Applied Microbiology

Aims:Genetic comparison of Lactococcus garvieae isolated from mammals and fish. Methods and Results:  One hundred and ninety seven L. garvieae isolates obtained from trout (n = 153), cow (n = 7) and pigs (n = 37) were genetically characterized by determining their pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles after macrorestriction with Bsp120I. Overall, L. garvieae isolates from pigs, cow and trout exhibited distinct PFGE patterns, with a low genetic relationship between them. Isolates from trout generated 2 pulsotypes [Genetic diversity (GD) 0.01], showing that the fish isolates wer… Read more

Fluoroquinolone efflux in Streptococcus suis is mediated by SatAB and not by SmrA

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy publish this investigation article

Streptococcus suis is an emerging zoonotic pathogen. However, with the lack of an effective vaccine, antibiotics remain the main tool to fight against infections caused by this pathogen. We have previously observed a reserpine-sensitive fluoroquinolone-efflux phenotype in this species. Here, SatAB and SmrA, two pumps belonging to the ATP Binding Cassette and the Major Facilitator Superfamily respectively, have been analyzed in the fluoroquinolone-resistant clinical isolate BB1013. Genes encoding these pumps were overexpressed either constitutively or in the presence of ciprofloxacin in this st… Read more

Genetic comparison among dolphin morbillivirus in the 1990-1992 and 2006-2008 Mediterranean outbreaks

Investigation article published in Infection Genetics and Evolution

In 1990, dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) killed thousands of striped dolphins in the Mediterranean. Subsequently, the prevalence of the infection declined in this species. In 2006-2008, the virus killed not only numerous striped dolphins but also long-finned pilot whales. All partial sequences of the phosphoprotein and nucleoprotein genes obtained thus far from different host species during the 2006-2008 outbreak show 100% identity, suggesting that a single virus was involved, and these sequences are nearly identical to the 1990 Spanish strain. Here our first objective was to determine the sequenc… Read more

Plasmid containing CpG motifs enhances the efficacy of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome live attenuated vaccine

Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology publish this investigation article

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is now among the most important swine diseases that affect the Chinese swine industry. Both killed and live attenuated vaccines are currently used against the disease, but neither of them could provide full protection after vaccination. In the present study, the adjuvanticity of a plasmid containing CpG motifs (pUC18-CpG) was introduced to enhance the efficacy of a commercial PRRS live attenuated vaccine. After vaccination, PRRSV-specific antibodies, PRRSV-specific cytokines, and clinical parameters were studied and compared between differen… Read more

Pseudomonas composti sp. nov., isolated from compost samples

International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology publish this investigation article

Two unusual gram-negative, catalase- and oxidase-positive, rod-shaped organisms (C2(T) and C5) isolated from compost samples were characterized by phenotypic and molecular genetic methods. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies demonstrated that both isolates were members of the genus Pseudomonas and located in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa group. Pseudomonas cuatrocienegasensis and Pseudomonas borbori were the most closely related species with a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 97.9% and 97.8%, respectively. However, phylogenetic analyses based on rpoD sequences revealed that both is… Read more

Acuicultura en aguas continentales

This book has been published by Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino

The different faces of environmental terrorism in the twenty first century

New post in Blog Madri+d de Seguridad Alimentaria y Alimentación

A meeting room at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Complutense University hosted the last Wednesday by the third consecutive year, the day on bioterrorism, in this case dedicated to environmental terrorism… Read more

Curso de Formación sobre Epidemiología Molecular

Communications in this event:

- Casos prácticos: estudio de los brotes de enfermedades emergentes mediante epidemiología molecular

- El papel de la epidemiología molecular en el control de enfermedades endémicas; Tuberculosis

- PCR y sus aplicaciones en sanidad animal

- Introducción a la epidemiología molecular: fundamentos y aplicaciones

Master en Sanidad y producción porcina

Communications in this event:

- Gestión Sanitaria. Cerdo Ibérico

- Gestión Sanitaria. Fundamentos de la Salud