Research

A one health framework to estimate the cost of antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control publish this investigation article

Objectives/purpose: The costs attributable to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remain theoretical and largely unspecified. Current figures fail to capture the full health and economic burden caused by AMR across human, animal, and environmental health; historically many studies have considered only direct costs associated with human infection from a hospital perspective, primarily from high-income countries. The Global Antimicrobial Resistance Platform for ONE-Burden Estimates (GAP-ON€) network has developed a framework to help guide AMR costing exercises in any part of the world as a first step… Leer más

Quantifying Antimicrobial Exposure in Dogs From a Longitudinal Study

Investigation article published in Frontiers in veterinary science

Bacterial resistance to antimicrobials (AMR) is a growing public health threat, and exposure to antimicrobials (AMs) is, on the whole, a major risk factor for the occurrence of AMR. During the past decade, a limited number of studies about AM exposure in dogs have been published, showing a noticeable diversity regarding numerators (AMU), denominators (population at risk), and indicators. The aim of this study is to show that metrics based on the most easily recorded data about treatments and a follow-up design are a promising method for a preliminary assessment of AM exposure in companion anim… Leer más

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Resistance to colistin and production of extended-spectrum Beta-lactamases and/or AmpC enzymes in Salmonella isolates collected from healthy pigs in Northwest Spain in two periods: 2008-2009 and 2018

Investigation published in International Journal of Food Microbiology

Salmonellosis is a common subclinical infection in pigs and therefore apparently healthy animals may represent a reservoir of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella for humans. This study estimates and characterizes resistance to two classes of antimicrobials considered of the highest priority within the critically important antimicrobials for humans, i.e. colistin (CR) and 3rd generation cephalosporins (3GC), on a collection of Salmonella isolates from pigs from two periods: between 2008 and 09, when colistin was massively used; and in 2018, after three years under a National Plan against Antibiotic… Leer más

Tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium caprae in a camel (Camelus dromedarius)

Investigation article published in BMC Veterinary Research

Background Animal tuberculosis (TB) is distributed worldwide and has a wide range of wild and domestic reservoirs. Few studies concerning TB in camelids have been published in the last decade, particularly as regards Old World Camelids (OWC), but the increase in reports of TB outbreaks in these species in recent years suggests a high susceptibility to the infection. Case presentation We studied a dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) herd (n = 24) in which a Mycobacterium caprae infection was detected. The TB infection was confirmed in one animal at necropsy through the detectio… Leer más

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Complementarity of selective culture and qPCR for colistin resistance screening in fresh and frozen pig caecum samples

Investigation published in Frontiers in Microbiology

Retrospective studies involving the screening of frozen stored collections of samples are commonplace when a new threat emerges, but it has been demonstrated that the freeze-thaw process can affect bacterial viability. The study of colistin-resistant bacteria in human and animal samples is an example of this issue. In this study we compared culture-based and PCR-based methods for analysing both relative occurrence and diversity of colistin-resistant bacteria in caecal samples to determine the most appropriate method for frozen samples. Thus, 272 isolates from the caecal contents of healthy pig… Leer más

Forensic cases of suspected dog and cat abuse in the Community of Madrid (Spain), 2014-2019

Investigation article published in Forensic Science International

Companion animal abuse is an issue that concerns not only veterinarians and law enforcement agencies but also society in general. Animals that die under suspicious or violent circumstances should be submitted to reference laboratories for a postmortem examination by veterinary forensic pathologists trained to recognize animal abuse. Nevertheless, the low notification rate of such cases in Spain may explain the country’s lag in the development of veterinary forensics and the limited information available on animal abuse epidemiology in comparison with other countries. By sharing information amo… Leer más

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Extensive antimicrobial resistance mobilization via multicopy plasmid encapsidation mediated by temperate phages

The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy publish this investigation article

Objectives: To investigate the relevance of multicopy plasmids in antimicrobial resistance and assess their mobilization mediated by phage particles. Methods: Several databases with complete sequences of plasmids and annotated genes were analysed. The 16S methyltransferase gene armA conferring high-level aminoglycoside resistance was used as a marker in eight different plasmids, from different incompatibility groups, and with differing sizes and plasmid copy numbers. All plasmids were transformed into Escherichia coli bearing one of four different lysogenic phages. Upon induction, encapsidati… Leer más

Phylogenetic analysis and geographical distribution of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi sequences from horses residing in Spain

Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases publish this investigation article

The intraerythrocytic protozoans Theileria equi and Babesia caballi are the causative agents of equine piroplasmosis (EP), one of the most important equine tick-borne diseases due to its significant impact on global international horse trade. Although EP is known to be endemic in Spain, previous phylogenetic studies have only been conducted for limited geographical regions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity and distribution of these parasite species nationwide. This was performed by amplification of the 18S small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene from 100 … Leer más

Dietary Supplementation with Fermented Defatted Alperujo Induces Modifications of the Intestinal Mucosa and Cecal Microbiota of Broiler Chickens

Investigation article published in Poultry science

Nutraceuticals are not only nutritionally beneficial for animals, but also their use as feed supplements may reduce environmental contamination. The effect of fermented defatted ‘alperujo’, an olive oil by-product, supplementation on the intestinal health of broiler chickens was assessed by analyzing the intestinal mucosal morphology of the duodenum and the cecum. The microbiota of the cecum was also characterized by analyzing the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene on days 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. Supplemented broilers from 14 to 35 days old showed an increase in villus height in the duodenum.… Leer más

Host or pathogen-related factors in COVID-19 severity?

Investigation published in The Lancet

Lucy Okell and colleagues1 observed that the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is currently in marked decline in many countries. Okell and colleagues suggest two possible explanations for this decline, namely the effect of lockdowns, physical distancing, and other interventions; or, alternatively, herd immunity. After analysing trends in cumulative deaths over time in many European countries that went into lockdown at different stages of their epidemic, and data obtained from serology studies on the proportion of the population that had the infection … Leer más

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