Publications by authors named "Ana Huertas-Lopez"

Knowledge of pathogen epidemiological dynamics and habitat ecological features is essential for wildlife population and health monitoring and management. Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum are two broadly distributed multi-host parasites that affect both wild and domestic animals and, in the case of T. gondii, cause zoonosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Drug development for congenital toxoplasmosis is challenging due to high adverse effects and poor efficacy of first-line therapies; bumped kinase inhibitors (BKIs) like BKI-1748 may offer a new treatment option.
  • In a study involving 19 pregnant sheep, those treated with BKI-1748 after infection showed lower fever and immunological responses compared to untreated counterparts.
  • The treated group had a higher percentage of healthy lambs at delivery and showed no evidence of congenital transmission of the parasite, unlike the untreated group where parasite DNA was detectable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • In a study in southern Spain, 390 sheep and 387 free-ranging mouflons were tested for antibodies, revealing a seroprevalence of 26.2% in sheep and 5.7% in mouflons.
  • The presence of multiple dogs on farms and specific sheep breeds were identified as risk factors for N. caninum exposure, highlighting the need for control measures to protect sheep flocks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endothelial injury, inflammatory infiltrate and fibrosis are the predominant lesions in the testis of bulls with besnoitiosis that may result in sterility. Moreover, fibroblasts, which are key players in fibrosis, are parasite target cells in a chronic infection. This study aimed to decipher the molecular basis that underlies a drift toward fibrosis during the disease progression.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Toxoplasma gondii is a paradigmatic zoonotic parasite from the One Health perspective, since it is broadly distributed and virtually infects all warm-blooded species. A wide variety of serological techniques have been developed to detect T. gondii infection in humans and animals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Toxoplasma gondii is a globally distributed food-borne zoonotic parasite with numerous infection sources. The control of this zoonosis requires a One Health response that partially depends on serological monitoring in humans and animals. Herein, a systematic review and a meta-analysis were performed to analyse and compare the transdisciplinary and integrative research under the One Health approach.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Felids are definitive hosts of Toxoplasma gondii, being the only hosts that can spread the infection through oocyst shedding in their feces. The elevated presence of this parasite in the domestic cat (Felis catus), and its close contact with humans, make it necessary to obtain reliable diagnostic methods to detect positive animals as a public health measure. For this reason, in this study, the diagnostic performance of five different recombinant antigen-based techniques was assessed to diagnose T.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ovine neosporosis, caused by the Apicomplexan parasite Neospora caninum, leads to reproductive failure worldwide. Nowadays, there is a trend to develop diagnostic techniques using non-invasive samples, such as milk, in order to reduce animal stress, sample collection effort, and costs. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a highly sensitive and specific serological technique, based on a time resolved-fluorescence immunoassay using a N.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Acute and chronic besnoitiosis can significantly impact the health and productivity of bulls, warranting the need for better understanding through biomarkers of inflammation in serum.
  • Recent research focused on several inflammatory biomarkers—including haptoglobin, albumin, and adenosine deaminase—showed notable changes during different clinical phases of the disease, particularly in the acute phase.
  • Findings suggest that specific biomarkers could aid in early diagnosis and prognosis of besnoitiosis, enhancing knowledge of its pathogenesis and informing treatment strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide distributed parasite causing abortions and fetal malformations in small ruminants. The aim of this study was to design and validate a new immunoassay based on the use of TgSAG1-GRA8 chimeric antigen for the detection of anti-T. gondii antibodies in serum of goats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with Toxoplasma gondii exposure in dogs and cats from Bangkok, Thailand. Blood samples from 318 dogs and 321 cats were tested for T. gondii antibodies by modified agglutination test (cut-off 1:25).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neospora caninum is a protozoan parasite (Phylum Apicomplexa) that has been recently suggested as a relevant cause of reproductive disorders in small ruminants. The aim of the present study is to develop and validate a new serological test based on time resolved fluorescency using N. caninum GRA7 recombinant antigen (GRA7-TRFIA) for the detection of N.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF