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Last research news
April 1st, 2018
Vía publiDB
Why is African swine fever still present in Sardinia?
Investigation article published in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
African swine fever (ASF) is an infectious disease of swine that has been present in Sardinia since 1978. Soon after introduction of the disease, several control and eradication programmes were established with limited success. Some researchers attributed the persistence of the disease in central and eastern areas to certain socio-economic factors, the existence of some local and traditional farming practices (i.e., unregistered free-ranging pigs known as brado animals) and the high density of wild boar in the region. In the past, scarcity of swine data in Sardinia complicated the evaluation a…
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March 22nd, 2018
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An advection-deposition-survival model to assess the risk of introduction of vector-borne diseases through the wind: Application to bluetongue outbreaks in Spain
Investigation article published in PLoS ONE
This work develops a methodology for estimating risk of wind-borne introduction of flying insects into a country, identifying areas and periods of high risk of vector-borne diseases incursion. This risk can be characterized by the role of suitable temperatures and wind currents in small insects` survival and movements, respectively. The model predicts the number density of introduced insects over space and time based on three processes: the advection due to wind currents, the deposition on the ground and the survival due to climatic conditions. Spanish livestock has suffered many bluetongue ou…
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March 21st, 2018
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The use of serological tests in combination with the intradermal tuberculin test maximizes the detection of tuberculosis infected goats
Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology publish this investigation article
The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in goats is based mainly on the single and comparative intradermal tuberculin (SIT and CIT) tests and, exceptionally, on the interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) assay, however they are not perfect in terms of sensitivity and specificity. Nevertheless, various serological assays that provide a potential cost-effective approach for the control of TB are also available or under development, and a variety of results have been reported regarding the ability of these tests to detect infected animals, particularly in the early stages of infection.
In the present study, S…
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March 16th, 2018
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PCR-Based Analysis of ColE1 Plasmids in Clinical Isolates and Metagenomic Samples Reveals Their Importance as Gene Capture Platforms
Investigation article published in Frontiers in Microbiology
ColE1 plasmids are important vehicles for the spread of antibiotic resistance in the Enterobacteriaceae and Pasteurellaceae families of bacteria. Their monitoring is essential, as they harbor important resistant determinants in humans, animals and the environment. In this work, we have analyzed ColE1 replicons using bioinformatic and experimental approaches. First, we carried out a computational study examining the structure of different ColE1 plasmids deposited in databases. Bioinformatic analysis of these ColE1 replicons revealed a mosaic genetic structure consisting of a host-adapted conser…
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February 28th, 2018
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Phylodynamics and evolutionary epidemiology of African swine fever p72-CVR genes in Eurasia and Africa
Investigation article published in PLoS ONE
African swine fever (ASF) is a complex infectious disease of swine that constitutes devastating impacts on animal health and the world economy. Here, we investigated the evolutionary epidemiology of ASF virus (ASFV) in Eurasia and Africa using the concatenated gene sequences of the viral protein 72 and the central variable region of isolates collected between 1960 and 2015. We used Bayesian phylodynamic models to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the virus, to identify virus population demographics and to quantify dispersal patterns between host species. Results suggest that ASFV exhibit…
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February 5th, 2018
Vía publiDB
In vivo transfer and microevolution of avian native IncA/C2blaNDM-1-carrying plasmid pRH-1238 during a broiler chicken infection study
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy publish this investigation article
The emergence and spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in wildlife and livestock animals poses an important safety concern for public health. With our in vivo broiler chicken infection study we investigated transfer and experimental microevolution of the blaNDM-1-carrying IncA/C2 plasmid (pRH-1238) introduced by avian native Salmonella (S.) Corvallis, without inducing antibiotic selection pressure. We evaluated dependency of the time point of inoculation on donor [S Corvallis (12-SA01738)] and a plasmid-free Salmonella spp. recipient [S Paratyphi B (dTa+), 13-SA01617] exc…
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February 1st, 2018
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Understanding Q Fever Risk to Humans in Minnesota Through the Analysis of Spatiotemporal Trends
Investigation article published in Vector borne and zoonotic diseases
Q fever is a widely distributed, yet, neglected zoonotic disease, for which domestic ruminants are considered the main reservoirs in some countries. There are still many gaps in our knowledge of its epidemiology, and the source of sporadic cases is often not determined. In this study, we show how Q fever surveillance data in combination with information routinely collected by government agencies in Minnesota during 1997 to 2015 can be used to characterize patterns of occurrence of Q fever illnesses and detect variables potentially associated with increased human illness. Cluster analysis and B…
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January 25th, 2018
Vía publiDB
Emergence of chromosome borne colistin resistance gene mcr-1 in clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae from India
Investigation article published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Transmissible colistin resistance gene, mcr-1 has breached the one of the last line of defense for treatment of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae…
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January 15th, 2018
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In-depth resistome analysis by targeted metagenomics
Microbiome publish this investigation article
BACKGROUND:
Antimicrobial resistance is a major global health challenge. Metagenomics allows analyzing the presence and dynamics of "resistomes" (the ensemble of genes encoding antimicrobial resistance in a given microbiome) in disparate microbial ecosystems. However, the low sensitivity and specificity of available metagenomic methods preclude the detection of minority populations (often present below their detection threshold) and/or the identification of allelic variants that differ in the resulting phenotype. Here, we describe a novel strategy that combines targeted metagenomics using las…
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January 9th, 2018
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Genomic comparisons of Streptococcus suis serotype 9 strains recovered from diseased pigs in Spain and Canada
Investigation article published in Veterinary Research
Streptococcus suis is one of the most important bacterial pathogens in the porcine industry and also a zoonotic agent. Serotype 9 is becoming one of the most prevalent serotypes within the S. suis population in certain European countries. In the present study, serotype 9 strains isolated from a country where infection due to this serotype is endemic (Spain), were compared to those recovered from Canada, where this serotype is rarely isolated from diseased pigs. For comparison purposes, strains from Brazil and the only strain isolated from a human case, in Thailand, were also incorporated. Firs…
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