Canine Distemper Virus in Sardinia, Italy: Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis in Foxes.

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is the etiological agent of a highly prevalent viral infectious disease of carnivores, which could seriously lead to a threat to the conservation of the affected species worldwide [...

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Serotype 8, Italy, 2022.

We describe the detection of epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) serotype 8 in cattle farms in Sardinia and Sicily in October-November 2022. The virus has a direct origin in North Africa; its genome is identical (>99.9% nucleotide sequence identity) to EHDV serotype 8 strains detected in Tunisia in 2021.

A rapid phage assay for detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in milk.

Paratuberculosis is an incurable gastroenteritis among ruminants that is promoted by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), an acid-fast mycobacterium. To accelerate the detection of viable pathogen, a conventional (peptide mediated magnetic separation: PMS) and novel (phage-bead qPCR: PBQ) phage based assay was optimized.

Polymer composition assessment suggests prevalence of single-use plastics among items ingested by loggerhead sea turtles in the western mediterranean sub-region.

The ingestion of plastic is becoming a major concern for various species and particularly for marine turtles across the globe. The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) was recently chosen by the European Commission as a bio-indicator for plastic pollution within the Mediterranean basin. We further investigated which items this key species is more prone to ingest, following the standardised Marine Strategy Framework Directive protocols.

The 2011 West Nile disease outbreak in Sardinia region, Italy.

In 2011, strains of West Nile Virus (WNV) belonging to lineage 1 spread for the first time in Sardinia region (Italy). In contrast to previous WNV Italian incursion, the strains were found in Culex modestus and, more surprisingly, they were able to cause severe clinical signs in the affected birds. Based on the partial sequence of the NS3 encoding gene, the Sardinian WNV strains demonstrated a high similarity with the other WNV strains recently detected in the Mediterranean Basin.

Interaction between loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) and marine litter in Sardinia (Western Mediterranean Sea).

Anthropogenic debris in the environment affects many species that accidentally ingest it. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quantity and composition of marine litter ingested by loggerheads in Sardinia, thus supplying for the lack of data in the existing literature for this area. Seventeen of the 121 (14.

Molecular and antigenic characterization of a Mycoplasma bovis strain causing an outbreak of infectious keratoconjunctivitis.

An unusually high incidence of infectious keratoconjunctivitis followed by pneumonia and arthritis was observed in beef calves of a managed herd. No Moraxella spp. or bacteria other than Mycoplasma spp.