Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), a globally prevalent pathogen, causes zoonotic tuberculosis (zTB) in humans and bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle; with significant public, animal welfare and economic impact. While efficient control measures in cattle in some countries rely on test and cull, the field under-performance of diagnostics is a significant challenge. We screened a panel of host...
The Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC), a large genus of globally distributed filamentous fungi found predominantly in soil, decomposed organic matter and plants, are well known for causing invasive diseases in humans (fusariosis) and severe economic losses of crops (e.g. cereal, cacao, oil palms). They occur as trans-kingdom pathogens and are listed as fungal priority pathogens by the...
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), closely related to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, emerged on the Arabian Peninsula in 2012 provoking severe respiratory diseases and multi-organ failure in humans. It reproductively circulates in dromedary camels as natural reservoir with recurrent spill over into human population. As classical One Health concept, broad vaccination of the...
Yersinia pestis, as the causative agent of plague, poses a potential threat to national security and public health and is therefore classified by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the highest alarming level, a so-called Category A organism. The pathogen has been the subject of research in various bioweapons programs since World War II. A deliberate aerosol release of *Y....
Over the past years, bats have gained increasing attention as hosts for several emerging viruses of zoonotic concern, including Marburg, Ebola, SARS and MERS coronaviruses. Paradoxically, however, bats have long been neglected as a potential reservoir for influenza A viruses (IAVs). In 2017, a novel H9N2 IAV was isolated from fruit bats in Egypt. In the following years, similar viral sequences...
