Research Publications (Food Safety)

The presence of Cryptosporidium species in faecal samples of 32 sheep (Aries bovis), 10 goats (Capra circus), 1 blunt nose viper (Macrovipera lebetina lebetina), 3 Kotschy’s geckos (Mediodactylus kotschyi) and 6 wild stellagamas (Stellagama stellio cypriaca) in Cyprus were investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing.

In the age of big data an important question is how to ensure we make the most out of the resources we generate. In this review, we discuss the major methods used in Apicomplexan and Kinetoplastid research to produce big datasets and advance our understanding of Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania biology.

Parasite Immunology, Accepted Article. Until now, no completely effective parasite-specific drugs or vaccines have been approved for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis. Through the separation and identification of the sporozoite membrane protein of Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum), 20 related proteins were obtained.

Infection and Immunity, Ahead of Print. Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of moderate-to-severe diarrhea in children, which is one of the major causes of death in children under 5 years old. Nitazoxanide is the only FDA-approved treatment for cryptosporidiosis. However, it has limited efficacy in immunosuppressed patients and malnourished children. Therefore, it is urgent to develop novel therapies against this parasite.

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile genetic elements found in the majority of eukaryotic genomes. Genomic studies of protozoan parasites from the phylum Apicomplexa have only reported a handful of TEs in some species and a complete absence in others.

We identified an unusual subtype of a Cryptosporidium sp. horse genotype as the cause of cryptosporidiosis in a 13-year-old girl in Poland who was undergoing immunosuppressive treatment for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. The same subtype was identified in a horse the girl had ridden.

Conventional wastewater treatment plants do not effectively remove parasitic protozoa resulting in their presence in wastewater effluent. Therefore, agricultural reuse of wastewater effluent could be a route of Cryptosporidium transmission into the food chain.

Pectobacterium parvum is an emerging bacterial pathogen that causes aerial stem rot in potato plants. To date, genomes of a few P. parvum isolates have been sequenced and characterized, but the assemblies still remain highly fragmented. Here, we present the first complete, high-quality genome of P. parvum FN20211, which was isolated from a potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plant showing symptoms of aerial stem rot.

In recent years, massive attention has been attracted to the development and application of machine learning (ML) in the field of infectious diseases, not only serving as a catalyst for academic studies but also as a key means of detecting pathogenic microorganisms, implementing public health surveillance, exploring host-pathogen interactions, discovering drug and vaccine candidates, and so forth.

Parasitic infections caused by protozoans that infect the mucosal surfaces are widely neglected worldwide. Collectively, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium spp. and Trichomonas vaginalis infect more than a billion people in the world, being a public health problem mainly in developing countries. However, the exact incidence and prevalence data depend on the population examined.

Cryptosporidium spp. can cause diarrhea and even death in humans and animals. Host microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the post-transcriptional regulation of the innate immune response to Cryptosporidium infection. To study host miRNA activity in the innate immune response to C. parvum infection, we examined the expression of miR-181d in HCT-8 cells infected with C.

by Ambachew W. Hailu, Abraham Degarege, Beyene Petros, Damien Costa, Yonas Yimam Ayene, Ven-ceslas Villier, Abdelmounaim Mouhajir, Loic Favennec, Romy Razakandrainibe, Haileeysus Adamu Non-Human Primates (NHPs) harbor Cryptosporidium genotypes that can infect humans and vice versa.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 278-285, March 2022. Cryptosporidium parvum is a major zoonotic pathogen responsible for outbreaks of severe diarrhoea in humans and calves. Almost all investigations of cryptosporidiosis outbreaks caused by C. parvum have focused on its IIa subtype family in industrialized nations.

The intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium is a significant cause of severe diarrhoeal disease that can have long term effects. Therapeutic options remain limited despite a significant impact on public health, partly due to various challenges in the field of Cryptosporidium research, including the availability of genomic and transcriptomic data from environmental and clinical isolates.

Human and animal feces are one of the main pollutants in drinking water systems (DWS). Both sources of fecal pollution are related to environmental conditions, such as poor land use management and little micro-basin protection. Cryptosporidium sp. and Giardia sp. are zoonotic protozoan water and foodborne transmitted parasitic pathogens and a frequent cause of diarrhea in children in low- and middle-income countries.

Ready-to-eat (RTE) salads and berries are increasingly consumed in industrialized countries. These products can be contaminated by pathogenic parasites that have been responsible for foodborne outbreaks worldwide. In Italy, there are few data on contamination of RTE salads and berries with parasite transmission stages and this requires more-in-depth investigations.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. The role of species-specific immunity in infection patterns of Cryptosporidium spp. in humans and farm animals is not well understood. In the present study, the dynamics of Cryptosporidium infections in a natural cryptosporidiosis model was examined using genotyping, subtyping and whole genome sequencing tools. In a cross-sectional survey of Cryptosporidium spp.

Bacillus cereus is a major food poisoning pathogen that generates spores and biofilms, allowing it to survive in varied food systems. This study revealed the incidence, virulence toxin gene profiling, multi-drug resistance of B.

Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis are opportunistic zoonotic protozoa transmitted through several routes. In this study, a total of 604 fecal samples were collected from pet dogs in Xinjiang, China to detect the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. and G. duodenalis by PCR amplification of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene. The incidence rate of Cryptosporidium spp. or G. duodenalis was 5.3% (32/604).

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Diarrhea is one of the most important syndromes in neonatal calves. In industrialized nations with intensive animal farming, Cryptosporidium spp. and rotavirus are primary causes of calf diarrhea, but the role of these and other enteric pathogens is not clear in China.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Volume 132, Issue 3, Page 2464-2474, March 2022. Aims The study of microbial inactivation rates in aquifer systems has most often been determined in aerobic and oxidized systems. This study examined the inactivation (i.e.

Background Cryptosporidiosis is a parasitic disease associated with potentially fatal diarrhea. The most used method in Cryptosporidium subtyping is based on the glycoprotein gene gp60. Each infection can represent a parasite population, and it is important to investigate the influence on transmission and virulence, as well as any impact on public health investigations. However, an easy-to-use method for detection is lacking.

Zoonoses and Public Health, EarlyView. Cryptosporidium parvum is a parasitic zoonotic pathogen responsible for diarrheal illness in humans and animals worldwide. We report an investigation of a cryptosporidiosis outbreak in raccoons and wildlife rehabilitation workers at a Virginia facility. Fifteen (31%) of 49 facility personnel experienced symptoms meeting the case definition, including four laboratory-confirmed cases.

The number of reports associated with wood dieback caused by fungi in the Botryosphaeriaceae in numerous perennial crops worldwide has significantly increased in the past years. In this study, we investigated the interactions between the canker pathogen Neofusicoccum parvum and the almond tree host (Prunus dulcis), with an emphasis on varietal resistance and host response at the cell wall biochemical and histological levels.

by Xuke Yang, Xiaoyan Yin, Jiaojiao Liu, Zhipeng Niu, Jichao Yang, Bang Shen Many biosynthetic pathways produce pyrophosphate (PPi) as a by-product, which is cytotoxic if accumulated at high levels. Pyrophosphatases play pivotal roles in PPi detoxification by converting PPi to inorganic phosphate.