Streptococcus suis: a re-emerging pathogen associated with occupational exposure to pigs or pork products. Part II - Pathogenesis.

is a re-emerging zoonotic pathogen that may cause severe disease, mostly meningitis, in pigs and in humans having occupational contact with pigs and pork, such as farmers, slaughterhose workers and butchers. The first stage of the pathogenic process, similar in pigs and humans, is adherence to and colonisation of mucosal and/or epithelial surface(s) of the host. The second stage is invasion into deeper tissue and extracellular translocation of bacterium in the bloodstream, either free in circulation or attached to the surface of monocytes.

Streptococcus suis: a re-emerging pathogen associated with occupational exposure to pigs or pork products. Part I - Epidemiology.

(ex Elliot 1966, Kilpper-Bälz & Schleifer 1987) is a facultatively anaerobic Gram-positive ovoid or coccal bacterium surrounded by a polysaccharide capsule. Based on the antigenic diversity of the capsule, strains are classified serologically into 35 serotypes. is a commensal of pigs, commonly colonizing their tonsils and nasal cavities, mostly in weaning piglets between 4-10 weeks of age.

Prevalence of infections and co-infections with 6 pathogens in Dermacentor reticulatus ticks collected in eastern Poland.

Occurrence of co-infections with various pathogens in ixodid ticks creates a risk of increased severity of tick-borne diseases in humans and animals exposed to bite of the ticks carrying multiple pathogens. Accordingly, co-infections in ticks were subject of numerous analyses, but almost exclusively with regard to Ixodes ricinus complex whereas potential tick vectors belonging to other genera were much less studied. Taking into consideration the role of Dermacentor reticulatus in the transmission of various pathogens, we carried out for the first time the comprehensive statistical analysis of co-infections occurring in this tick species.

Presence of Pathogenic Rickettsiae and Protozoan in Samples of Raw Milk from Cows, Goats, and Sheep.

Objective: The aim of the present work was to determine the presence of various rickettsiae and protozoan in raw milk and the assessment the potential, milk-borne route in the spread of selected zoonotic pathogens.

Materials: A total of 119 raw milk samples collected randomly from 63 cows, 29 goats, and 27 sheep bred on 34 farms situated on eight communities in eastern Poland were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for the presence of pathogenic rickettsiae (Coxiella burnetii, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Rickettsia spp.) and protozoan (Toxoplasma gondii).

Comparison of the efficiency of two commercial kits - ELFA and Western blot in estimating the phase of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women.

Sera of 89 pregnant women were selected according to the results of ELFA IgM, IgG and avidity IgG, and tested with commercial tests IgM, IgG and avidity IgG Western Blot (WB) to compare the efficacy of both techniques in determining the phase of T. gondii infection. In total, 81 of 89 tested sera (91.