Research Publications (Food Safety)

In recent years, global concern over increasing multidrug resistance (MDR) among various Salmonella serotypes has grown significantly. However, reports on MDR Salmonella Paratyphi B remain scarce, let alone the extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains.

Cryptosporidium is an important water-borne and food-borne parasite with a high burden of disease. This organism has been shown to contaminate various leafy vegetables; however, studies assessing the presence of Cryptosporidium spp in pre-washed and ready-to-eat vegetables are limited. Routine surveillance in the UK revealed a nationwide exceedance of human cases of Cryptosporidium.

Abstract

We investigated the therapeutic effects of EDTA application for 14 and 28 days on cadmium (Cd) induced pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis (Linnaeus, 1758). The sublethal concentration of cadmium (63.4 mg/l Cd) caused tissue damages to the snail after an exposure for 28 days.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination is a food safety issue threatening human health globally. Biodegradation is an effective method for overcoming this problem, and many microorganisms have been identified as AFB1-degrading strains. However, the response mechanisms of these microbes to AFB1 remain unclear. More degrading enzymes, especially of new types, need to be discovered. In this study, a novel AFB1-degrading strain, DDC-4, was isolated using coumarin as the sole carbon source.

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major hepatotropic virus that affects humans with increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. The bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) causes abortion, calf mortality and poor reproductive performance in cattle. Due the difficulties of in vitro cultivation for HCV, BVDV has been used as surrogate for in vitro assessment of the efficacy of antivirals. Essential oils (EOs) display antiviral and virucidal activity on several viral pathogens.

Border disease virus (BDV), a member of the Pestivirus genus within the Flaviviridae family, is known to inflict significant economic losses on livestock farms due to its association with reproductive disorders and persistent infections in sheep and goats. However, comprehensive epidemiological investigations of BDV in China are scarce.

The continued worldwide increase in pet ownership has significantly boosted the growth of the pet food industry accompanied by new food safety risks and challenges. This study was designed to determine the occurrence and molecularly characterize multidrug‐resistant (MDR) Enterobacterales in pet food. Eighty‐six (86) packages of dry and wet pet food purchased in different retail stores were screened for carbapenem‐resistant Enterobacterales (CRE).

In December 2021, a wildlife conservation base in Hunan, China, reported illness and death among its captive Myocastor coypus population. A gram‐positive pathogen was isolated from the affected animals. The 16S rDNA sequence of the isolated strain was approximately 1,500 bp long and exhibited 98.4% homogeneity with Staphylococcus cohnii found in sea cucumbers. Interestingly, the biochemical reactions of the isolated strain were consistent with the characteristics of S. cohnii.

Atlantic menhaden are a highly migratory marine species in the Eastern United States that suffer from seasonal chronic mortality. Affected fish show neurologic signs referred to as spinning disease, including circling at the surface and erratic corkscrew swimming before death. We investigated three similar menhaden mortality events consistent with spinning disease in coastal New Jersey and New York between 2020 and 2021 to understand the cause.

Salmonellosis is one of the important bacterial infectious diseases affecting the health of pigeons. Heretofore, the epidemiological characteristics of Salmonella in pigeon populations in China remain largely unclear. The present study investigated the antimicrobial resistance and genomic characteristics of Salmonella isolates in pigeons in different regions of China from 2022 to 2023.

Calcium (Ca2+) can regulate the swarming motility and virulence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus BB22. However, the effects of Ca2+ on the physiology of V. parahaemolyticus RIMD2210633, whose genomic composition is quite different with that of BB22, have not been investigated. In this study, the results of phenotypic assays showed that the biofilm formation, c-di-GMP production, swimming motility, zebrafish survival rate, cytoxicity against HeLa cells, and adherence activity to HeLa cells of V.

Giardia duodenalis is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that causes gastrointestinal illness in humans and livestock. We studied the genetic diversity of G. duodenalis in children and calves from Bangladesh to determine its zoonotic potential. Fecal samples collected from children (299) and calves (699) were screened with nested PCR with primers targeting the ssu rRNA gene for G. duodenalis.

Livestock‐Associated Methicillin‐ResistantStaphylococcus aureus (LA‐MRSA) strains of clonal complex (CC) 398 are widely disseminated in pigs and are considered emerging pathogens in human medicine. To investigate the prevalence, genetic characteristics, and zoonotic potential of the pathogen in pig production settings, dust samples were collected from 40 pig operations in Hungary, along with nasal swabs of attending veterinarians and other swine professionals (n = 27) in 2019.

Outbreaks of hepatitis‐hydropericardium syndrome (HHS) caused by fowl adenovirus serotype 4 (FAdV‐4) and inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) related to FAdV‐8b and FAdV‐11 have been increased in chickens in China since 2015. Clinical concurrent infections of FAdV‐4, FAdV‐8b, and FAdV‐11 are quite common, yet there are no commercially available trivalent vaccines against infection by these three serotypes.

Bushpigs (Potamochoerus larvatus) play a major role in the socio‐ecosystem of Madagascar, particularly in rural areas. They are largely hunted by rural populations as a major source of income and protein. They can also represent a potential source of pathogens for domestic animals and people. For example, it is hypothesized that bushpigs might compromise African swine fever (ASF) eradication programs by sporadically transmitting the virus to domestic pigs.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen in Europe. Even though swine species are considered the main host of the zoonotic HEV‐3 genotype, rabbits are recognized as the main reservoir of the divergent HEV‐3ra subtype. However, the role of wild lagomorphs in the epidemiology of this virus in Mediterranean ecosystems is under debate.

Novel duck orthoreovirus can infect various hosts, mainly causing spleen necrosis and hemorrhagic necrotizing hepatitis, leading to immunosuppression and growth impairment. Infectious diseases characterized by swollen hock joints, movement disorders, and impaired growths have recently occurred in significant duck breeding areas in China. Infected ducks from Shandong Province were selected, and N‐DRV‐LY20 was isolated from the swollen joints.

Bovine kobuvirus (BKV) is an infectious agent associated with neonatal calf diarrhoea (NCD), causing important economic losses to dairy and beef cattle herds worldwide. Here, we present the detection rate and characterize the genome of BKV isolated from diarrhoeic calves from a Central Italy herd. From January to December 2021, we collected blood samples and nasal and rectal swabs from 66 calves with severe NCD between 3 and 20 days of age.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important human pathogen and, in developed countries, most human infections are due to a zoonotic cycle, mainly maintained by domestic and wild suids. In European countries several genotype 3 strains have been found to circulate in human population and animal reservoirs, with human infections being related mostly to pork or wild boar meat consumption.