rome and Zoonoses

Protecting animals from infection is a major obligation of every veterinarian's work in order to preserve animal welfare while assuring human health. Highly infectious animal diseases can reduce the performances of food producing animals and may have a great economical impact on many industries. Some animal diseases can be transmitted to humans, and control of these types of diseases, is beneficial to public health. In the wild, animal populations reduced by disease can dramatically affect the ecological balance of an area. Vaccination is one part of an effective health program as it helps to prevent disease and, in most cases, is more cost-effective than treating sick animals. Veterinarians have succeeded in greatly reducing the incidence of important diseases by taking advantage from improved technologies in vaccines production and by planning vaccination schedules based on the different characteristics of available products. Today, veterinarians can recommend and plan to use vaccines designed for a specific herd or flock or class of animals and even for individual treatments.

Topics: Animal Diseases; Animals; Animals, Domestic; Animals, Wild; Humans; Public Health; Reference Standards; Rome; Vaccination; Veterinary Medicine; Zoonoses

Monoxenous parasites may easily infect animals in captivity, and nematodes belonging to the genus Trichuris are commonly reported in zoological gardens worldwide. Infections in captive animals should be accurately monitored and the characterization of pathogens is highly advisable, as a tool to infer possible routes of intra- and interspecific transmission pathways and to assess the related zoonotic potential. Whipworms are usually identified on the basis of few morphological features of adults males and eggs and by an host-affiliation criterion. Given the strong morphological convergence of adaptive traits and the possible occurrence of hybridization and/or cross-infections events, the use of molecular methods is of great utility. Here, we analysed two partial mitochondrial loci, the cytochrome c oxidase I and the cytochrome b regions, in Trichuris spp. infecting four animal species hosted in the Bioparco Zoological Garden of Rome. Results from molecular systematics, compared to previous data, suggested that the five Trichuris taxa recovered were well separated, showing a significant degree of host affiliation (herbivorous, primates/swine and rodents/canids). The screw horn antelopes and the camels were infected with two variants of Trichuris ovis; Trichuris sp. similar to those observed in rodents from South America was infecting the Patagonian maras. Moreover, Trichuris from the ring-tailed lemur showed a great similarity to Trichuris infecting the Japanese macaque previously analysed from the same zoological garden, and clustering together with Trichuris trichiura, posing a potential zoonotic threat for visitors and workers.

Topics: Animals; Animals, Zoo; Cytochromes b; Electron Transport Complex IV; Female; Helminth Proteins; Male; Mammals; Rome; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Trichuriasis; Trichuris; Zoonoses