Role of Goats in the Epidemiology of .

Since its first description in the late 1930s, Q fever has raised many questions. , the causative agent, is a zoonotic pathogen affecting a wide range of hosts. This airborne organism leads to an obligate, intracellular lifecycle, during which it multiplies in the mononuclear cells of the immune system and in the trophoblasts of the placenta in pregnant females.

Gastrointestinal Parasitism in Miranda Donkeys: Epidemiology and Selective Control of Strongyles Infection in the Northeast of Portugal.

In Portugal, equine parasitism in pasture animals is characterized by high parasitic burden and high helminthic biodiversity; both factors are potentially pathogenic for their hosts. The decrease in the number of donkeys over the last years in Portugal, their importance in rural lowland and mountain ecosystems and pastures and the scarce information regarding their parasitism led to this research, which aimed to evaluate the parasitological status of a Miranda donkey breed population, a native breed mainly located in the northeast of Portugal. This study provides better knowledge of their gastrointestinal parasitism, particularly strongyles, and the assessment of a targeted selective treatment (TST) as an alternative control approach of their parasitism.

First Molecular Characterization of Hypoderma actaeon in Cattle and Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) in Portugal.

Hypoderma spp. larvae cause subcutaneous myiasis in several animal species. The objective of the present investigation was to identify and characterize morphologically and molecularly the larvae of Hypoderma spp.

Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii antibodies in Portuguese dairy cattle herds.

Q fever is an important zoonotic disease which has been recently diagnosed, mainly in sheep and goats, in Portugal. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of bovine Coxiella burnetii antibodies in dairy farms from the northwest of Portugal. Bulk tank milk samples were randomly obtained, on November 2013, from 90 dairy farms and assayed using an ELISA kit.

Feline thelaziosis caused by Thelazia callipaeda in Portugal.

Thelazia callipaeda (Spirurida, Thelaziidae) is a nematode that lives in the conjunctival sac of domestic and wild carnivores, rabbits and humans causing mild to severe symptoms (e.g., conjunctivitis, lacrimation, epiphora, blepharospasm, keratitis and even corneal ulceration) in infected animals.