VISAVET | Foodborne Zoonoses and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit

Contact

Foodborne Zoonoses and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit
VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre
Universidad Complutense
Av. Puerta de Hierro s/n. 28040 Madrid. Spain

e-mail:

Head office phone: (+34) 913 944 097

Fax: (+34) 913 943 795

Foodborne Zoonoses and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit became operational in 1996 based on the Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (VAV). Nowadays, it includes the study of different food-borne zoonoses (Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli, Yersinia, Staphylococcus aureus ...). It is also responsible for analyzing antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic organisms, commensal bacteria of the intestinal tract or clinical isolates. The group has several lines of research on the characterization of important foodborne pathogens for Public Health and the mechanisms involved in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance by using molecular tecniques as well as sequencing. It is outstanding the leadership of this group in international research projects and its collaboration with Public Administrations and companies. ZTA gives support to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Environment (MAPAMA) and the Community of Madrid developing surveillance programs for zoonotic agents.

Research

Research lines:

Last scientific publications:

Serna C., Pulido-Vadillo M., Matamoros BR., Fernandez-Favieres FJ., Montero N., Garcia-Berdun C., Garcia ME., Blanco JL., Delgado-Blas JF. and Gonzalez-Zorn B.. Persistent multispecies dissemination of armA-carrying IncR plasmids among clinical and environmental bacterial populations in a Spanish veterinary hospital. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, e0067325. 2025. (A)
Maguire M., Serna C., Delgado-Blas JF., Clarke C., DeLappe N., Cormican M., Coughlan SC., Miliotis G., Gonzalez-Zorn B. and Burke LP.. Healthcare-related transmission of mobile genetic elements co-carrying blaNDM and 16S rRNA methyltransferase genes in multiple Enterobacterales. Microbial Genomics, 11(8):001473. 2025. (A)
Serna C., Matamoros BR., Pulido-Vadillo M., Delgado-Blas JF., Jansen RR., Willems RJL., Almeida A., Harrison EM., Dupuy B., Coll F. and Gonzalez-Zorn B.. Global dissemination of npmA mediated pan-aminoglycoside resistance via a mobile genetic element in Gram-positive bacteria. Nature Communications, 16(1):6360. 2025. (A)
Rebollada A., Vela AI., Canales R., Romani-Cremaschi U., Ugarte-Ruiz M., Buendia A., Perez-Sancho M., Dominguez L., Fernandez-Garayzabal JF. and Rodriguez-Bertos A.. Reproductive loss attributed to Lactococcus petauri infection in a black-and-white ruffed lemur. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation , 37(3):471-474. 2025. (A)
Ortiz-Miravalles L., Prieto A., Kieffer N., Vergara E., Canton R., San Millan A., Baquero F., Hipolito A. and Escudero JA.. Effect of oxygen on antimicrobial resistance genes from a one health perspective. Science of the total environment, 979:179523. 2025. (A)

See all scientific publications

Last PhD thesis:

Vicente López Chavarrías. Epidemiology of resistance to aminoglycosides and macrolides in thermotolerant Campylobacter in livestock in Spain. 2025. (Doctorado Internacional)
Bosco Matamoros Rodríguez. Analysis of pan-resistance to aminoglycosides mediated by the NPM methyltransferases using metagenomics and single-cell genomics. 2025. (Doctorado Internacional)
Carlos Serna Bernaldo. Impacto de los elementos genéticos móviles en la diseminación de las metiltransferasas del ARNr 16S, un mecanismo emergente de resistencia a aminoglucósidos. 2025. (Doctorado Internacional)
Pedro Miguela Villoldo. Identification and characterization of colistin resistant bacteria from food-producing animals in Spain. Assessment of its persistance and possible dissemination. 2023. (Doctorado Internacional)
José Francisco Delgado Blas. Emergencia y diseminación de mecanismos de resistencia a antibióticos de último recurso en bacterias humanas, animales y ambientales. 2021. (Doctorado Europeo)

See all thesis

Outreach

Last outreach publications:

Mazariegos M.. Funciones y actuaciones del Veterinario Designado. Ciencia y Tecnología en Investigación Animal. Ed. 1. Universidad de Alcalá. 2022.
Ugarte-Ruiz M., Alvarez J., Escudero JA., Gonzalez-Zorn B., Miguela-Villoldo P., Moreno MA., Rebollada A., Rodriguez-Bertos A. and Dominguez L.. Resistencias antimicrobianas y One Health. REDRISA, Vetdivulga. 2020.
Juez-García M., Alvarez J., Sotodosos-Carpintero M. and Ugarte-Ruiz M.. Asociación entre resistencia a antibióticos y serotipos en Salmonella de transmisión alimentaria. Revista Madrileña de Salud Pública, 4(5):1-8, Dirección General de Salud Pública de la Consejería de Sanidad de la Comunidad de Madrid. 2020.
Gonzalez-Zorn B.. Listeriosis: así es la alarma sanitaria del verano 2019. ucm.es/otri, Universidad Complutense. 2019.
Florez-Cuadrado D., Moreno MA., Ugarte-Ruiz M. and Dominguez L.. Antimicrobial Resistance in the Food Chain in the European Union. Biological Emerging Risks in Foods. Ed. 1. 86(5):115-136, Academic Press. 2018.