Babesia caballi (Nuttal, 1910) is one of the causative agents of equine piroplasmosis which causes economic losses to horse industry in China. There is an urgent need for rapid detection method for B. caballi infection in Xinjiang Province, China. To prepare monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Bc48 gene of B. caballi (Xinjiang local strains) and establish colloidal gold-immunochromatographic (ICT) assay for diagnosis of the disease, recombinant Bc48 was expressed and purified from Escherichia coli. With purified Bc48 as immunogen in mice, three hybridoma cells named 11F4, 1H2 and 7F4 secreting mAbs against Bc48 of B. caballi were obtained, which showed strong reaction with recombinant Bc48 and Bc48 gene transfected cells. Furthermore, colloidal gold labelled ICT assay based on purified Bc48 recombinant antigen and its mAb was developed. The ICT assay showed high sensitivity and specificity and no cross-reaction with Theileria equi (Laveran, 1901). Total of 56 horse serum samples collected from Xinjiang were tested by ICT and compared with the detection by commercial ELISA kit. The results showed that 32 out of 56 serum samples were positive by ICT and 33 were positive by ELISA. ICT assay had high coincidence (98%) to the reference ELISA kit. mAbs and ICT developed in this study could be provided as an efficient diagnosis tool for infection with B. caballi in horse in Xinjiang area., Panju Wang, Jingjing Song, Ruiqi Song, Mengyuan Zhang, Lijiang Wu, Fangxin Li, Yan Yan, Jiyong Zhou, Bayin Chahan, Min Liao., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Sonic booms or disruptive explosions cause differing response in wildlife. In May 2021, when missiles were fired at urban areas in Israel, we observed the responses of breeding common swifts (Apus apus). In both nests, the initial boom resulted in a startled awakening of the swifts. In one case, a parent engaged in displacement behaviour of feeding the young while in the second case a parent tried to clamber up the walls. Our data support earlier studies that although auditory booms are disruptive, they do not result in nest abandonment or nest failure.
A neotype is designated for Joryma brachysoma (Pillai, 1964). The general morphology and appendages of the female and male stages are illustrated and re-described based on the neotype and several additional fresh specimens collected from the type host Pellona brachysoma Bleeker (=Sardinella brachysoma Bleeker) from nearby the type locality. The present redescription and neotype designation further resolves the taxonomic ambiguity regarding the species identification and conserves the name of J. brachysoma.
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease resulting from infection with the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908), one of the world's most common parasites in warm-blooded animals, including humans. Sources of infection can be exposed to infected cat faeces, mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy, and notably, the consumption of undercooked contaminated meat of intermediate hosts. In Thailand, water buffaloes are highly valued for rice cultivation, traditional culture and meat production. Like several other mammalian species, these animals play a role as reservoirs of T. gondii, thus representing a threat to human health. The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in swamp buffaloes was examined in southern and northeastern Thailand. In total, serum samples of 721 water buffaloes were collected from seven provinces (Ubon Ratchathani, Roi Et, Si Sa Ket, Surin, Buri Ram, Sakon Nakhon, and Songkhla) and examined for the presence of T. gondii infection using commercial latex agglutination test kits (TOXOCHECK-MT, Eiken Chemical Co., Tokyo, Japan). Of the 721 animals analysed, 49 (6.8%) were positive for T. gondii. Songkhla province had the highest seroprevalence (14.7%) among the seven provinces covered in this survey. There was a potential risk to local citizens of T. gondii infection identified by the present study, notably in northeastern Thailand, where despite lower seroprevalence consuming raw buffalo meat salad should be restricted to avoid the risk of zoonotic infections.
Endemic Sicilian pond turtles Emys trinacris Fritz, Fattizzo, Guicking, Tripepi, Pennisi, Lenk, Joger et Wink were examined for the presence of haemogregarine parasites. The presence of haemogregarines, occurring mainly in the microgametocyte stage (13.2 ± 0.12 μm in length and 6.4 ± 0.52 μm in width), was observed in approximately 9% of the sampled E. trinacris. Based on the observed morphology and on the sequencing of nuclear 18S rDNA, we identified the parasite as Haemogregarina stepanowi Danilewsky, 1885. Morphometric study of uninfected and infected red blood cells has shown that H. stepanowi induces different changes in erythrocyte shape depending on the infective stage. The differential count of leukocytes in specimens infected with H. stepanowi showed no significant difference compared with healthy specimens. However, considering the health problems which might be induced by H. stepanowi in the closely related European pond turtle Emys orbicularis (Linneaus), monitoring of the health status of the infected Sicilian populations of E. trinacris is desirable. The restricted distribution of populations of Emys infected with haemogregarines in Sicily is quite puzzling and the possible human-mediated introduction of the parasite in Sicily is briefly discussed., Vincenzo Arizza, Francesco Sacco, Debora Russo, Rita Scardino, Marco Arculeo, Melita Vamberger, Federico Marrone., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Several studies have investigated the association between infection with Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908), pregnancy and fertility, but the results of studies focused on the fertility are rather ambiguous. Here we report results of four new cross-sectional studies. The studies were performed in the General University Hospital, Prague (study A with n = 1 165, and study C with n = 317), in private clinics of the Centre of Reproductive Medicine, Prague (study B with n = 1 016), and in a population of Czech and Slovak volunteers from the Facebook page 'Guinea Pigs' willing to participate in various basic science studies (study D with n = 524). In studies A and B, the clinical records were used to assess the fertility problems, whereas in studies C and D, the women were asked to rate their fertility problems using a six-point scale. Pregnant T. gondii-infected women were older than T. gondii-free women (study A: 33.1 vs 31.2, P < 0.001; study B: 30.6 vs 29.6, P = 0.012) and more often used assisted reproductive technology to conceive (study A: 17.2% vs 12.4%, P = 0.041; study B: 13.4% vs 9.2%, P = 0.317). Pregnant T. gondii-infected primiparous women were older than T. gondii-free primiparas (study A: 31.1 vs 29.5, P < 0.001; study B: 29.7 vs 28.9, P = 0.064) and more often used assisted reproductive technology to conceive (study A: 24.7% vs 14.4%, P = 0.010; study B: 15.9% vs 15.5%, P = 0.888). T. gondii-infected women reported to take a longer time to conceive than T. gondii-free women (P = 0.015). They also claimed to have more fertility problems than T. gondii-free women (P < 0.0001). Our results suggest that 'asymptomatic' latent toxoplasmosis could be a more serious source of fertility problems and health-associated burden than more severe but far rarer congenital toxoplasmosis., Šárka Kaňková, Jaroslav Flegr, Pavel Calda., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The distribution, variability and host specificity of species of Babesia Starcovici, 1893 were studied in questing ticks collected on the northwestern edge of the Pannonian Basin in the south-easternmost part of the Czech Republic and in western Slovakia. The area is characterised by relatively natural floodplain habitats and the sympatric occurrence of three tick species possessing wide host spectra, namely Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus), Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius) and Haemaphysalis concinna Koch. Analysis was carried out on 1,408 I. ricinus, 2,999 D. reticulatus and 150 H. concinna altogether, collected from 59 localities. We documented the presence of Babesia spp. not only in I. ricinus but also in H. concinna in the Czech Republic. Two isolates from I. ricinus were classified as B. venatorum Herwaldt, Cacciò, Gherlinzoni, Aspöck, Slemenda, Piccaluga, Martinelli, Edelhofer, Hollenstein, Poletti, Pampiglione, Löschenberger, Tura et Pieniazek, 2003 (formerly determined as Babesia sp. EU1), which is a zoonotic parasite and can cause human babesiosis. The rest of our amplicons were very similar to B. canis (Piana et Galli-Valerio, 1895), which is usually transmitted by D. reticulatus. Despite the huge amount of examined samples, all D. reticulatus ticks were Babesia-free. Due to this finding, we did not consider our obtained isolates to be B. canis, but other closely related species possessing a similar sequence of the studied portion of 18S rDNA. Although this genetic marker is most frequently used in PCR-based diagnostic methods of babesias, its low variability compromises its reliability in studies based only on this marker., Markéta Rybářová, Michaela Honsová, Ivo Papoušek, Pavel Široký., and Obsahuje bibliografii