Investigation article published in Research in Veterinary Science

December 1^st, 2016

Lactococcus garvieae is a relevant worldwide fish pathogen affecting various farmed and wild marine and freshwater species. It has also been isolated from other animals, such as ruminants with subclinical mastitis and pigs with pneumonia. From the early 90s, L. garvieae has been associated with different human infections, mainly endocarditis. During the last five years, human infections by this bacterium appear to be increasing, likely due to the improvement in microbiological methods for bacterial identification and the alertness of this bacterium by physicians. Human L. garvieae infections have been associated with the consumption or the handling of contaminated raw fish or seafood, and recently, a genetic study showed that meat, raw milk and dairy products may also be food sources of human L. garvieae infections. However, the status of L. garvieae as a potential zoonotic bacterium is still controversial to date. In this work, we describe four new human infections by L. garvieae in elderly and inmunocompromised patients, and we show an overview on L. garvieae microbiology, epidemiology, virulence factors and relationship with its presence in foods

Gibello A., Galan-Sanchez F., Blanco MM., Rodriguez-Iglesias M., Dominguez L. and Fernandez-Garayzabal JF..

The zoonotic potential of Lactococcus garvieae: An overview on microbiology, epidemiology, virulence factors and relationship with its presence in foods

The zoonotic potential of Lactococcus garvieae: An overview on microbiology, epidemiology, virulence factors and relationship with its presence in foods

	Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar. Servicio Andaluz de Salud. Consejería de Salud. Junta de Andalucía.
	Servicio de Identificación y Caracterización Microbiana (ICM). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).