Parasitologia最新文献

{"title":"Micro–Nanoplastics as Potential Carriers of Dioxins and Toxoplasma gondii in Patients with Carotid Atheromas","authors":"Giovanni Di Guardo","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4020009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4020009","url":null,"abstract":"A recent major study has shown that there is an increased risk of myocardial infarction, stroke and lethal outcomes in patients affected by carotid atheromas that contain micro-nanoplastics (MNPs) compared to subjects that do not have MNPs in their lesions [...]","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":"41 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140705244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of a Commercial Serum Competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Detection of Neospora caninum-Specific Antibodies in Raw Milk of Ruminants","authors":"Ragab M. Fereig, Sarah A. Altwaim, C. Frey","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4020008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4020008","url":null,"abstract":"Bovine neosporosis is an infection caused by the protozoan parasite Neospora caninum and has substantial veterinary hazards. Neosporosis cannot be controlled by vaccination or chemotherapy. Thus, accurate diagnosis followed by isolation and culling of infected animals is regarded as the most efficient method of control. In vivo diagnosis often relies on serologic testing of the animals, and milk represents a non-invasive and easy-to-collect sample matrix. However, indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) specifically designed for antibody detection in milk are sometimes not easily available and it is tempting to use ELISA kits that are originally designed for use in serum in milk samples instead. Herein, we evaluated a widely used commercial ELISA (ID Screen® Neospora caninum competition Multispecies ELISA (ID. Vet, Grabels, France)), developed for detection of N. caninum antibodies in serum samples, for its performance on milk samples. Milk samples from dairy ruminants (cows, buffaloes, sheep, and goats; n = 149) were tested in parallel with the serum ELISA and a commercial milk ELISA as a standard test (Neospora caninum Milk Competitive ELISA, ID. Vet, Grabels, France). The detected prevalence values were 28.2% (42/149), 17.4% (26/149), and 17.4% (26/149) using milk ELISA, serum ELISA, and both ELISAs, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for the serum ELISA used with milk samples were 61.9%, 100%, 100%, and 87%, respectively. The agreement and kappa value between the two ELISAs were 89.3% and 0.70, respectively, suggesting substantial agreement. High values of Pearson correlation coefficient (0.904, p ≥ 0.0001) and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (0.789, p ≥ 0.0001) demonstrated the high diagnostic performance of the serum ELISA in milk samples. Also, a Bland–Altman Plot and histogram describing the frequency of distribution of ELISA optical densities confirmed the high agreement of both serum and milk ELISAs. The current results revealed the high specificity but moderate sensitivity of the serum ELISA used for milk samples compared with the milk ELISA. However, the excellent positive predictive value of the serum ELISA makes it an alternative option in case of the unavailability of milk ELISAs. With this study, we provided additional evidence that a widely used serum ELISA test kit may also be used for the detection of N. caninum antibodies in milk samples.","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":"58 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140376513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hedgehogs’ Parasitology: An Updated Review on Diagnostic Methods and Treatment","authors":"Francisco Alfaia, C. Jota Baptista, Viktória Sós-Koroknai, Márton Hoitsy, E. Sós, L. M. Madeira de Carvalho","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4010007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4010007","url":null,"abstract":"The genus Erinaceus is commonly found in rescue centres across the European continent despite the reported decline in some countries. Parasite infections are frequently detected in rescued hedgehogs, leading to increased morbidity and mortality and consequently conditioning their recovery. Some of the most frequent parasites include respiratory nematodes, such as Crenosoma striatum and Capillaria spp., which may lead to important pneumonia. Moreover, some of these agents have zoonotic potential, such as Cryptosporidium spp., Sarcoptes spp., and several species of ticks and fleas, which may transmit different vector-borne pathogens. This review provides a brief guide on hedgehogs’ internal and external parasitology, as well as some suggestions for diagnosis and treatment that are relevant for wildlife veterinarians, biologists and other researchers.","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140234743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of Amitraz-Based Product Characteristics on Varroa Mite Population Control","authors":"G. Almecija, B. Poirot, Paulo Mielgo, Max Watkins, C. Suppo","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4010006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4010006","url":null,"abstract":"The presence of the Varroa destructor mite requires the use of acaricide treatments for honeybee colonies. Amitraz is one of the most common acaricide-active ingredients used by beekeepers. Certain Varroa mite populations have developed resistance to amitraz, thereby leading to a loss in the efficacy of amitraz-based treatments. Two products, Apivar and Supatraz, were applied in the same apiary in France to evaluate their efficacy. Both treatments are amitraz-based but have different galenics. Thanks to field data, a dynamic model was used to simulate the actions of Apivar and Supatraz on the mite population. We considered two parameters to compare the products as follows: the daily mortality rate and the treatment duration. In the field, the percentage of the efficacy of the two products was not significantly different, but Supatraz kills mites faster and decreases 90% of the mite infestation in 28.4 days compared with 50.9 days when using Apivar. Through modeling, we showed the daily impact of the two different products on mite population. Supatraz has a higher daily mortality rate during the first two weeks than Apivar. Supatraz requires a lower efficacy (% of varroa mites killed during all the treatment) to stabilize the varroa mite population due to its faster release of active ingredients than Apivar, thereby needing a shorter period to achieve the same result. Depending on the model, Supatraz conserves effective efficacy when used against moderately resistant mites (with mite mortality being 40–70% at the LC90) but not against highly resistant mites (with mite mortality being <40% at the LC90). These results show that the comparison of the efficacy of the two products with different characteristics (duration of treatment and daily mortality rate) should be analyzed with caution.","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":"113 40","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140089634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Field Study Evaluating the Effects of Diclazuril and Oregano Oil for the Prevention of Coccidiosis in Fattening Rabbits","authors":"Florian Lohkamp, J. Hankel, Andreas Beineke, Josef Kamphues, Christina Strube","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4010004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4010004","url":null,"abstract":"For years, there has been an increasing interest in natural alternatives to the conventional coccidiostats applied as feed additives, which have been used for decades to prevent coccidiosis in poultry and fattening rabbits. This study aimed to compare the possible anticoccidial effects of oregano oil to the established substance diclazuril in growing rabbits. The control group (CG) received a non-supplemented basal compound feed, to which either diclazuril (1 mg/kg; DG) or oregano oil (75 mg/kg; OG) was added. In each of the three trials, subgroups of 50 rabbits each were assigned to one of the three experimental groups (CG, DG and OG). Natural Eimeria infection was monitored weekly by fecal oocyst counts and Eimeria species identification following sporulation. Additionally, the performance parameters were determined at the middle and the end of the trials, and the deceased rabbits were subjected to necropsy. Neither oocyst excretion nor the performance parameters differed significantly between the three experimental groups. Eimeria media, Eimeria magna, Eimeria perforans and Eimeria exigua were identified as the occurring species. The highest animal losses (16.0%) occurred in the OG, while the losses were 12.7% in the DG and 12.0% in the CG. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Overall, neither diclazuril nor oregano oil was superior to the non-supplemented feed. This underlines the importance of diagnostics, as this study’s results indicate that in the absence of the highly pathogenic Eimeria species, economic rabbit rearing and fattening is achievable without the use of coccidiostats.","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":"43 9-10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139856951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Field Study Evaluating the Effects of Diclazuril and Oregano Oil for the Prevention of Coccidiosis in Fattening Rabbits","authors":"Florian Lohkamp, J. Hankel, Andreas Beineke, Josef Kamphues, Christina Strube","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4010004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4010004","url":null,"abstract":"For years, there has been an increasing interest in natural alternatives to the conventional coccidiostats applied as feed additives, which have been used for decades to prevent coccidiosis in poultry and fattening rabbits. This study aimed to compare the possible anticoccidial effects of oregano oil to the established substance diclazuril in growing rabbits. The control group (CG) received a non-supplemented basal compound feed, to which either diclazuril (1 mg/kg; DG) or oregano oil (75 mg/kg; OG) was added. In each of the three trials, subgroups of 50 rabbits each were assigned to one of the three experimental groups (CG, DG and OG). Natural Eimeria infection was monitored weekly by fecal oocyst counts and Eimeria species identification following sporulation. Additionally, the performance parameters were determined at the middle and the end of the trials, and the deceased rabbits were subjected to necropsy. Neither oocyst excretion nor the performance parameters differed significantly between the three experimental groups. Eimeria media, Eimeria magna, Eimeria perforans and Eimeria exigua were identified as the occurring species. The highest animal losses (16.0%) occurred in the OG, while the losses were 12.7% in the DG and 12.0% in the CG. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Overall, neither diclazuril nor oregano oil was superior to the non-supplemented feed. This underlines the importance of diagnostics, as this study’s results indicate that in the absence of the highly pathogenic Eimeria species, economic rabbit rearing and fattening is achievable without the use of coccidiostats.","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":"15 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139797141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Host Choice and Feeding Behaviours of Glossina morsitans Offspring Whose Parents Were Fed on Different Host Species","authors":"Filbert E. Mdee, Jeremiah Lyatuu, E. Mafie, L. Mnyone","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4010003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4010003","url":null,"abstract":"The success of any tsetse control program depends on the knowledge of their behaviour. This study assessed the host choice and feeding behaviours of Glossina morsitans siblings whose parents were bloodfed on rabbits, guinea pigs, rodents, and squirrels. Each individual host was placed in a screen cage, which allowed flies to enter through openings on each side. The groups of flies (20 per replicate), which were colour-marked differently based on their parents’ blood meal hosts, were released from the centre of large semi-field cage. The released flies were aspirated after 24 h and then sorted based on their location, feeding status, and parents’ blood meal. A total of 213 flies (72.95% of those recovered) were attracted to the hosts. The numbers of flies attracted to different hosts varied significantly (χ24 = 33.685, p = 0.0001): rodents (n = 80, p = 0.006), rabbits (n = 59, p = 0.331), guinea pigs (n = 49, p = 0.057), and squirrels (n = 25, p = 0.005). The numbers of flies attracted to their parent’s blood meal source varied significantly (χ212 = 56.476, p < 0.001): rabbits (n = 35, 59.32%, p < 0.001), rodents (n = 25, 31.25%, p = 0.043), and guinea pigs (n = 19, 38.78%, p = 0.45). But only 39 flies (18.31% of the total attracted) bloodfed on the hosts, including guinea pigs (n = 10, 25.64%), rodents (n = 23, 58.97%), rabbits (n = 6, 15.38%), and squirrels (n = 0, 0.0%). There was significant variation in the number of flies that fed successively across hosts (χ24 = 49.478, p < 0.001). The findings from this study confirm the presence of differential attractiveness of the hosts to flies and the so-called “Hopkins host selection principle” or “pre-imaginal conditioning”. Therefore, the study attracts the need for detailed investigation on the influence of blood meal sources on tsetse fly siblings’ behaviours across filial generations using small mammals or other large mammal species.","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":"11 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139529176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Amebicides against Acanthamoeba castellanii: The Impact of Organism Models Used in Amebicide Assays","authors":"Leonardo Fernandes Geres, Elena Sartori, João Marcos dos Santos Neves, Danilo Ciccone Miguel, Selma Giorgio","doi":"10.3390/parasitologia4010002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia4010002","url":null,"abstract":"Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living amoeba capable of causing keratitis in humans, with most cases related to contact lens wearers and surgical procedures. In addition, A. castellanii may cause pneumonia, granulomatous encephalitis, and skin lesions in immunocompromised individuals. Considering the lack of adequate treatment for acanthamoebiasis, the aim of this review is to assess relevant original articles that covered the current arsenal of drugs and models of organisms used in the field of experimental A. castellanii infection that have been published within the last 5 years (2018–2023) in journals indexed by the following databases: Electronic Library Online (SciELO), PubMed, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline), Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (Lilacs), Google Academic, and Capes Periodical Portal. Thirty articles were selected, and the main findings showed that the available therapeutics for acanthamoebiasis are still limited and nonspecific, and no innovations have occurred in the last few years. In terms of novel chemotherapeutic advances, the last findings have focused on the activity of natural products (plant-based extracts), nanoemulsions, coated particles, and photodynamic association against A. castellanii, without advancing from the bench to bedside perspective. The choice of a non-representative model system for acanthamoebiasis, as well as the limitations of studies in vivo, impairs the advancement of toxicity analyses. Efforts should be made to expand the model systems used, standardize tests for evaluating anti-A. castellanii drug candidates, and increase and support research groups focusing on the biology of A. castellanii and the pharmacology of acanthamoebiasis.","PeriodicalId":513388,"journal":{"name":"Parasitologia","volume":" 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139392783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}