Publications by authors named "Gema Alvarez-Garcia"

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.

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  • * A study conducted in South Africa found an overall seroprevalence of 2.3% among dairy cattle, with significant variations across provinces; KwaZulu-Natal had the highest rate at 7.5%.
  • * Factors influencing seropositivity included higher odds in Holstein-Friesian breeds, increased risk linked to cows left on pasture, and the purchase of replacement animals, while good hygiene practices served as a protective factor.
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The clinical consequences of toxoplasmosis are greatly dependent on the strain causing the infection. To better understand its epidemiology and design appropriate control strategies, it is important to determine the strain present in infected animals. Serotyping methods are based on the detection of antibodies that react against segments of antigenic proteins presenting strain-specific polymorphic variations, offering a cost-effective, sensitive, and non-invasive alternative to genotyping techniques.

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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.

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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.

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Toxoplasmosis has a major impact on animal and public health. Information regarding the seroprevalence of human infections from a European perspective has not yet been compiled to date. Thus, the present review summarized available resident data from the period 2000-2020.

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Toxoplasma gondii is a major foodborne zoonotic pathogen that can be transmitted through the consumption of raw or undercooked meat of small ruminants, among others. Serology has been suggested as an epidemiological indicator and several tests are available nowadays. However, there is no comparative study with the most used ones.

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The intake of Toxoplasma gondii tissue cysts through raw or undercooked pork meat is one of the main infection sources for humans. Thus, surveillance is recommended to control and prevent infection in domestic pigs. However, the lack of comparative studies hampers the updating of their performance and the comparison of seroprevalence data.

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Besnoitia besnoiti-infected bulls may develop severe systemic clinical signs and orchitis that may ultimately cause sterility during the acute infection. Macrophages might play a relevant role in pathogenesis of the disease and the immune response raised against B. besnoiti infection.

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  • COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, can spread from humans to pets, prompting the need for effective monitoring and diagnostic tests for pets.
  • A comparative study evaluated six novel tests and two commercial serological tests for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in cats and dogs using a well-defined serum panel.
  • ELISA tests based on the spike protein showed high sensitivity and specificity, particularly for cats, while tests based on the nucleoprotein had more cross-reactivity, indicating they may be less reliable.
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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.

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  • A study investigates a zoonotic parasite affecting both human and animal health, identifying infected meat as a significant source of human infections particularly in Europe.
  • The research utilized a systematic review of 226 publications and applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate regional seroprevalence in various animal species, showing significant variation based on species, regions, and rearing conditions.
  • Findings revealed that seroprevalence was highest in Eastern Europe and lowest in Northern Europe, with outdoor-kept sheep showing the highest infection rate, emphasizing the need for better data and source attribution to address human infection risks.
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Besnoitia besnoiti is an apicomplexan parasite whose life cycle is not completely understood. It is assumed that this parasite might have an indirect life cycle with a carnivore as a definitive host able to shed oocysts after the ingestion of mature cysts in tissues of an infected intermediate host. Cattle and wild cervids on the Iberian Peninsula can act as intermediate hosts of B.

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Bovine besnoitiosis (BB) is a chronic and debilitating parasitic disease in cattle caused by the protozoan parasite . South European countries are affected and have reported clinical cases of BB. However, BB is considered as emerging in other countries/regions of central, eastern and northern Europe.

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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.

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is a major foodborne pathogen capable of infecting all warm-blooded animals, including humans. Although oocyst-associated toxoplasmosis outbreaks have been documented, the relevance of the environmental transmission route remains poorly investigated. Thus, we carried out an extensive systematic review on oocyst contamination of soil, water, fresh produce, and mollusk bivalves, following the PRISMA guidelines.

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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.

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The apicomplexan zoonotic parasite has three infective stages: sporozoites in sporulated oocysts, which are shed in unsporulated form into the environment by infected felids; tissue cysts containing bradyzoites, and fast replicating tachyzoites that are responsible for acute toxoplasmosis. The contribution of oocysts to infections in both humans and animals is understudied despite being highly relevant. Only a few diagnostic antigens have been described to be capable of discriminating which parasite stage has caused an infection.

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is an apicomplexan parasite that can cause abortions and perinatal mortality in sheep. Although ovine neosporosis has been described worldwide, there is a lack of information about the relationship between serostatus and the reproductive performance. In this study, we described the infection dynamics in a dairy sheep flock with an abortion rate up to 25% and a seroprevalence of 32%.

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  • 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.
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Breeding bulls infected with Besnoitia besnoiti may develop sterility during either acute or chronic infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular pathogenesis of B. besnoiti infection with prognosis value in bull sterility.

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Numerous studies have unsuccessfully tried to unravel the definitive host of the coccidian parasite Besnoitia besnoiti. Cattle infections by B. besnoiti cause a chronic and debilitating condition called bovine besnoitiosis that has emerged in Europe during the last two decades, mainly due to limitations in its control associated with the absence of vaccines and therapeutical tools.

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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.

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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).

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Besnoitiosis is an emerging parasitic disease of equids. Italy is one of the few European countries where the circulation of Besnoitia spp. antibodies was demonstrated.

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