Bovine fasciolisis in São Paulo state, Brazil.

Fasciolosis is a zoonotic disease with a worldwide distribution caused by Fasciola hepatica, which leads to severe economic losses in cattle such as reducing meat and milk production, livers condemnation, growth retardation and increase in mortality. From October 2008 to April 2011, condemned bovine livers in slaughterhouses of different municipalities from São Paulo state, Brazil were evaluated for the presence of Fasciola hepatica. Out of 20,635 analyzed livers, 1422 were infected with F.

Study of sand fly fauna in an endemic area of American cutaneous leishmaniasis and canine visceral leishmaniasis in the municipality of Espírito Santo do Pinhal, São Paulo, Brazil.

Canine American visceral leishmaniasis and American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) cases have been recorded in Espírito Santo do Pinhal. The aim of this study was to gather knowledge of the sand fly community and its population ecology within the municipality. Captures were made weekly over a period of 15 months in the urban, periurban and rural areas of the municipality, using automatic light traps.

Comparison of house dust mites found on different mattress surfaces.

Background: House dust mites have been considered the most important source of allergens for humans. These allergens have been encountered at different indoor sites, mainly on mattresses and pillows.

Objective: To evaluate the number and different specimens of mites on Brazilian bunk-bed mattresses.

Microsporidiosis of Tachinaephagus zealandicus Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae).

An undescribed microsporidium was found infecting Tachinaephagus zealandicus, a gregarious parasitoid that attacks third instar larvae of muscoid flies. Spores were present in all body regions and in all stages of development. Infected adults contained an average of 3.

Thermal constant of an experimental population of Muscina stabulans (Fallén 1817) (Diptera:Muscidae) in the laboratory.

A study was conducted to investigate the thermal constant in an experimental population of Muscina stabulans (Fallén 1817). A natural population was obtained from a livestock and their F1 generations were maintained at four constant temperatures (16 degrees C, 20 degrees C, 26 degrees C and 31 degrees C). The thermal constant was calculated by the hyperbole method using the base temperature, tb = 4.