West Nile Virus (WNV) is an RNA virus from the family Flaviviridae. It is transmitted by several genera of mosquitoes, with Cullex spp. as the main vectors identified in Europe and North America. Birds are amplifying agents and important to the transmission cycle, during the viremia period. Equines are considered dead-ends hosts and are recognized as sentinels of the virus in many countries.
Between 2016 and 2023, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the central region of Portugal in order to better understand the epidemiology and public health risks resulting from the handling and consumption of game animals infected with Brucella spp. The seroprevalence and risk factors for Brucella spp. seropositivity were evaluated. Antibodies against Brucella spp. were determined using a commercial enzyme-...
Brucella spp. seroprevalence in wild ungulates in Portugal.
West Nile Virus (WNV) is a vector-borne pathogen with zoonotic potential widely spread throughout the world. The transmission cycle is maintained by mosquitoes (mainly Culex spp.) and wild birds. Human, equines and other mammals are incidental hosts, whichare unable to amplify the agent in their blood circulation. Two lineages has been identified as disease-causing in humans and other animals: WNV-1 and WNV-2, ...
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is recognized as a zoonotic agent causing an emerging human viral disease in industrialized nations. HEV is primarily found in domestic pigs and wild boars, which serve as the primary animal host for the virus globally, but also camels and deers, which serve as reservoirs. In order to investigate the importance of the wild red deer (Cervus elaphus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) in the epide...
Wildlife has been identified as important sentinels for the surveillance of zoonotic pathogens such Brucella infection. Systematic brucellosis monitoring in wildlife is not demanded by regulatory acts, but several studies have reported the presence of this infection in European countries. In order to investigate the importance of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the epidemiology of Brucella infection in Portugal, a...
Various species of the genus Brucella are highly virulent zoonotic agents. Brucella melitensis, B. abortus, and B. suis area broadly spread worldwide and animal brucellosis has a significant economic impact. This zoonotic disease affects both domestic pigs and wild pigs such as wild boar (Sus scrofa) In order to investigate the importance of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in the epidemiology of Brucella infection in Po...
Animal tuberculosis (TB) is a zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution that can cause serious animal infections with economic and public health concerns. In its turn, human TB is currently one of the leading causes of death in the world due to a curable disease. Although the diagnosis demands microbiological culture confirmation, anatomopathological diagnosis of suggestive lesions often provides a presumpti...
Tuberculosis (TB) has been a disease for centuries with various challenges [1]. Like other places where challenges and opportunities come together, TB challenges were the inspiration for the scientific community to mobilize different groups for the purpose of interest. For example, with the emergence of drug resistance, there has been a huge volume of research on the discovery of new medicines and drug delivery...
Q fever is caused by the pathogen Coxiella burnetii and is a zoonosis that naturally infects goats, sheep, and cats, but can also infect humans, birds, reptiles, or arthropods. A survey was conducted for the detection of antibodies against C. burnetii in a sample of 617 free-ranging wild ruminants, 358 wild boar (Sus scrofa) and 259 red deer (Cervus elaphus), in east–central Portugal during the 2016–2022 huntin...