Publications by authors named "Carra E"

An epidemiological survey of honey bee viruses was conducted on 87 clinically healthy beehives located in southeastern Morocco. The sampled colonies were analyzed by reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR / Real Time RT-qPCR with the aim of detecting and / or quantifying the following viruses: acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), deformed wing virus (DWV), sacbrood virus (SBV), black queen cell virus (BQCV), Kashmir bee virus (KBV) and Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV). With the exception of the last two of these viruses, all the other five were detected with different prevalence rates.

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(.) is one of the main causative agents of animal and human leishmaniasis across many endemic areas in South America, Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Despite its clinical significance, little is known about the genetic diversity of circulating in a given endemic area.

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  • Research in Italy has found group B Streptococcus causing illness in both farmed pigs and wild porcupines.
  • In pigs, the infection is likely due to transmission from nonpasteurized bovine milk whey.
  • The study reveals that porcupines have a different source of infection, highlighting the diverse host range for this bacterium.
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Tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) is endemic but neglected in southern Europe. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the strains causing TL cases in northeastern Italy, where an upsurge of TL cases has been observed in the last decade. Sections from 109 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) biopsies of skin and mucosal tissues were collected from TL cases in the selected area.

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In the last decade, an upsurge of human leishmaniasis has been reported in the Emilia-Romagna region, Northeast Italy. Epidemiologic data have raised doubts about the role of dogs as the main reservoirs for . In the present study, a total of 1,077 wild animals were screened for DNA in earlobe and spleen samples from 2019 to 2022.

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No molecular data are currently available for the Sicilian populations of the European pine marten , thus preventing any sound inference about its native or non-native status on the island, as well as the local phylogeography of the species. In order to investigate these issues, we sequenced two mtDNA markers in road-killed specimens collected in Sicily. Both markers consistently demonstrated the existence of a well-characterised Sicilian clade of the species, which is endemic to the island and constitutes the sister group of a clade including the Mediterranean and Central-North European major phylogroups of the European pine marten.

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We report here on an outbreak of mastitis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae, or group B Streptococcus, in a northern Italy (Lombardy Region) free stall dairy farm. This outbreak was unusual because it occurred in a closed dairy herd and proved to be extremely difficult to resolve even after the application of the classical control procedures, which are specifically focused on the contagious nature of S. agalactiae.

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American Foulbrood (AFB) is a contagious and severe brood disease of honey bees caused by the spore-forming bacterium . The identification of honey bee colonies infected by is crucial for the effective control of AFB. We studied the possibility of identifying the infection levels by in honey bee colonies through the examination of powdered sugar samples collected in the hives.

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  • Surveillance of human leishmaniasis in Europe is mainly limited to specific countries, focusing on local infections, and lacks integrated analysis across different nations until now.
  • This study aimed to provide a broader viewpoint by analyzing cases of autochthonous and imported leishmaniasis from 15 medical centers across 11 European countries over a five-year period.
  • Results showed 1,142 diagnosed cases, with a majority being cutaneous leishmaniasis imported from outside Europe, emphasizing the need for collaborative data collection to monitor changing patterns of the disease.
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The host preference of hematophagous insects is important in determining the cycle of pathogens that they potentially transmit; for example, sand flies are competent vectors of Leishmania parasites. In this work, we evaluated the host preference of sand flies collected in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy in 2018 and 2019 in an area in which Leishmania infantum circulates actively. Out of about 30,000 sampled sand flies, we obtained 252 engorged females, which were processed to identify the sources of blood meals.

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American foulbrood (AFB) is a dangerous disease of honeybees () caused by the spore-forming bacterium . According to the ERIC (enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus) classification, five genotypes are distinguished, i.e.

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Sand flies transmit , which is responsible for causing leishmaniasis, as well as many phleboviruses, including the human pathogenic Toscana virus. We screened sand flies collected from a single site between 2017 and 2020 for the presence of both phleboviruses and . The sand flies were sampled with attractive carbon dioxide traps and CDC light traps between May and October.

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West Nile (WNV) and Usutu (USUV) viruses are mosquito-borne flaviviruses. Thanks to their importance as zoonotic diseases, a regional plan for surveillance of Arboviruses was implemented in Emilia-Romagna in 2009. The province of Ferrara belongs to the Emilia-Romagna region, and it is an endemic territory for these viruses, with favorable ecological conditions for abundance of mosquitoes and wild birds.

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(group B , GBS) is one of the most important agents of bovine mastitis and causes remarkable direct and indirect economic losses to the livestock sector. Moreover, this species can cause severe human diseases in susceptible individuals. To investigate the zoonotic potential of , 203 sympatric isolates from both humans and cattle, isolated in the same time frame (2018) and in the same geographic area (Emilia Romagna region, Northern Italy), were characterized by molecular capsular typing (MCT), pilus island typing (PI), and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST).

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  • An outbreak of canine distemper virus (CDV) was reported among stone martens in Northern Italy after six individuals were rescued and monitored at a wildlife rescue center from April to June 2018.
  • Two of the six martens died, while only one of the remaining four showed symptoms of the disease.
  • After 11 months of testing, the other martens were found to have developed neutralizing antibodies and tested negative for CDV, confirming the presence of the Wildlife-Europe CDV genetic subgroup in Italian wildlife.
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  • Listeria monocytogenes contamination in raw pork and ready-to-eat foods poses a food safety risk, particularly due to the rise of antimicrobial-resistant strains.
  • A study monitoring L. monocytogenes occurrences in two meat processing plants found an 8.7% positivity rate, with higher contamination rates observed in the trimming areas of the processing chain.
  • Results indicated significant levels of antimicrobial resistance in L. monocytogenes, particularly to clindamycin, and highlighted the environmental contamination during processing as a major contributor to meat contamination.
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Mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) is a rare clinical variant of tegumentary leishmaniasis in Mediterranean Europe. Here we report on three autochthonous cases of head and neck ML in patients living in Northeastern Italy. Patients presented with non-specific, long-standing symptoms of upper respiratory tract involvement, mimicking other diseases.

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Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by is a public health threat in the Emilia-Romagna region, northeastern Italy, but its epidemiology has not been fully elucidated in this area. The objective of this study was to characterize infection in sand flies collected in a re-emerging focus of VL in the Bologna province. During the summer of 2016, 6114 sand flies were collected, identified, and tested for detection.

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  • - This study investigates the gene expression differences in first episode psychosis patients compared to healthy controls, focusing on how these differences relate to psychosis symptoms.
  • - Using blood samples from 131 patients and 149 healthy individuals, researchers found that 978 genes were differently expressed, with significant pathways linked to immune functions and mitochondria.
  • - The findings reveal that positive symptoms of psychosis are related to immune function changes, while negative symptoms are tied to alterations in mitochondrial pathways, highlighting distinct biological processes involved in psychosis.
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We report the detection of canine adenovirus type 1 DNA by real-time PCR technique in an oral sample of an Italian wolf (). Genetic characterization of the virus revealed a strict relationship with viruses detected in dogs (), wolves, and red foxes (), suggesting that transmission between wild animals and dogs had occurred.

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The group includes several trypanosome species hardly distinguishable due to the lack of discriminating morphological characters. Trypanosomes belonging to this group have been isolated from different bovine, ovine, and cervids in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Americas. The principal vectors of the group are considered tabanid flies; however, is transmitted exclusively by sheep keds.

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Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania infantum is an ongoing health problem in southern Europe, where dogs are considered the main reservoirs of the disease. Current data point to a northward spread of VL and canine leishmaniasis (CanL) in Italy, with new foci in northern regions previously regarded as non-endemic.

Methodology/principal Findings: Multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) was performed to investigate genetic diversity and population structure of L.

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After separation or divorce, people generally experience a deterioration of health, not only in terms of physical well-being but also in terms of emotional and social well-being. In addition, when separated, individuals are parents as well and they are concerned with the well-being of their children. The main task for separated parents is to maintain a parental alliance (coparenting) for the sake of their children's well-being.

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Background and aimEpidemiology of human non-typhoid salmonellosis is characterised by recurrent emergence of new clones of the pathogen over time. Some clonal lines of have shaped epidemiology of the disease at global level, as happened for serotype Enteritidis or, more recently, for 4,[5],12:i:-, a monophasic variant of serotype Typhimurium. The same clonal behaviour is recognisable at sub-serotype level where single outbreaks or more generalised epidemics are attributable to defined clones.

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