Francisella tularensis is a facultative intracellular bacterium causing the zoonosis tularemia in humans. Germany is a low incidence country with regard to tularemia in humans, bout 80 cases are annually reported since 2019, but showing an increase of notifications over the last 20 years. However, tularemia is assumed to be underdiagnosed and underreported in Germany. Among the notified cases,...
Wildlife and the environment are important hotspots for the accumulation of multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales (MDR-E). They not only harbor opportunistic but clinically relevant pathogens that are additionally often resistant to heavy metals (HM).
Here, we explore MDR-E in black-headed gulls from nature conservation areas in Western Pomerania and characterize their resistance and virulence...
Rotavirus A (RVA) is a non-enveloped virus with a segmented RNA genome, which can cause severe diarrhea in a broad range of hosts including wild animals, livestock and humans. In order to generate next generation vaccines against a broad range of RVA types, a reverse genetics system based on a simian rotavirus strain was utilized here to exchange the antigenic capsid proteins VP4, VP7 and VP6...
As climate and land use have a significant impact on the distribution of mosquitoes, the Mediterranean region may face major problems with vector-borne diseases in the future. The Mediterranean is considered a hotspot of climate change due to rising temperatures, a greater precipitation variability and, in some regions, reduced rainfall amounts. Especially the temperature increase within the...
Vaccination against TBEV has been shown to be highly effective. However, differences in the neutralization activity of antibodies have been observed in vaccinated individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the neutralizing capacity of vaccine-induced antibodies against 10 different TBE-virus strains after anti-TBEV IgG standardisation. 36 sera from participants were obtained and...
Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a foodborne pathogen of major concern for public health and the food industry. It can persist in processing environments, leading to recurring cross-contamination of food products. The biofilm lifestyle is considered to protect Lm, facilitating their survival even under harsh conditions. Various environmental stress factors influencing the biofilm forming ability...
Coxiella burnetii is a bacterium that causes Q fever. Ruminants are considered to be the main reservoir and they can excrete the pathogen via birth material and milk. Humans become infected by inhaling contaminated dust and aerosols. In a dairy goat herd with an acute Q fever outbreak, all goats were vaccinated with a C. burnetii vaccine (Coxevac®). In the following years, exclusively...
Globalization and climate change drive the global spread of invasive mosquitoes and pathogens, increasing the risk of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks in previously unaffected regions. Therefore, accurate identification of mosquito species and robust vector surveillance are crucial to allow appropriate response, e.g., control measurements. However, they often necessitate advanced training and...
Introduction: Even after the pandemic has subsided, monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 variants is necessary to respond rapidly to the emergence of possible new highly contagious forms of the virus. Rapid antigen tests (RATs), which proved their worth during the pandemic, are well suited for this purpose. However, this requires that they are also able to recognize variants with substitutions of...
Klebsiellae are nosocomial pathogens increasingly notified by public health services. Due to their high adaptability and their ability to acquire foreign DNAs, human infections with MDR-isolates are challenging to treat. In addition, environmental klebsiellae are also reliable indicators for the dynamics in resistance acquisition in ecosystems caused by pollutions forcing the adaption of these...
The risk of disease outbreaks caused by mosquito-borne arboviral infections is becoming increasingly problematic, even in so far temperate regions. This is due to climate change, globalization, and urbanization, which favour the spread of vectors and the pathogens they transmit. Vaccination or medical treatment is often not possible for arboviral diseases, making vector control essential for...
Mosquitoes are well known for their ability to transmit pathogens. These include a variety of arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) of medical and veterinary interest. Due to globalization and climate warming, the threat of (re)emerging arboviruses is increasing in Europe. This also applies to temperate regions, where the transmission of viruses is becoming possible due to an increase in...
An important countermeasure against infectious diseases is the development of protective and safe vaccines. This has been demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this context, the combination of different target proteins within a candidate vaccine seems to be an interesting approach to further improve vaccination...
Background and aims
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are considered as an invasive alien species (IAS) in Europe. Due to its omnivorous diet, adaptiveness and the lack of natural enemies, it has been spreading widely and will continue in the future.
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of raccoons on protected or endangered native species, as well as on the economy and animal...
Background
Raccoon dogs Nyctereutes procyonoides are native to Asia but increasingly occur in Europe. The introduction in Europe was caused by anthropogenic influence which classifies it as an invasive alien species. These IAS are known for having an impact on native ecosystems based on their role as vectors of parasites and pathogens as well as predation of native species. The aim of...
Seasonal field workers (FW) are an at-risk group for SARS-CoV-2 (SC2) infection. Outbreaks of SC2 among FW were reported in Germany (D). The study aimed to estimate prevalence of SC2-IgG (SC2-P) among FW and to assess perception of risk for SC2 to develop targeted public health measures.
In 2021 and 2022 sera from FW at two farms in Lower Saxony (LS) were tested for SC2 by ELISA. Data on...
In Germany, the first West Nile virus (WNV) infections were discovered in birds and horses in 2018 and since continue to be registered with distinct predominance in Eastern Germany. Additionally, 48 human infections were recorded between 2019/2022. In 2020 evidence was found that WNV is established in local mosquito populations (Culex pipiens complex).
While a number of wildlife bird species...
The octo-segmented, single-stranded RNA influenza A viruses can be differentiated into 18 HA and 11 NA subtypes. The majority of them can be found in water birds which constitute the natural reservoir of avian influenza viruses (AIV). Based on the type of host protease processing of the viral hemagglutinin glycoprotein, phenotypes of high (HP) and low (LP) pathogenicity can be distinguished...
Ticks are important parasites of economic and public health due to their ability to transmit zoonotic diseases. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a Flavivirus with five main subtypes of which three, the European (TBEV-EU), the Siberian (TBEV-Sib) and the Far Eastern subtypes (TBEV-FE) are supposed to circulate in Latvia. Several hard tick species are involved in TBEV circulation and...
The SARS-CoV-2 XBB variant has dominated the COVID-19 pandemic, with the vast majority of cases occurring in either the XBB.1.5 or XBB.1.16 sublineages globally. We used neutralizing antibodies used for COVID-19 therapy or patient plasma, cell lines, and rhabdoviral pseudovirus particles (pp) carrying SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) proteins to test the ability of XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16 to enter cells and...
The Selva Maya region and its protected areas (PAs) in Mexico face threats from ecosystem fragmentation and human encroachment, creating opportunities for zoonotic spillovers. An increase in wildlife-transmitted rabies has been observed in livestock, domestic animals, and humans, due to bites from bats, skunks, and cats. This study aimed to define the geographic distribution of animal...
Studies suggest that Campylobacter can enter a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state. The significance of this state form for a spread on farms is unclear. To investigate this, a PMA dye-supported viability qPCR approach was used to examine environmental matrices on culturable Campylobacter and “VBNC-Campylobacter” in broiler farm environment and in an experimental animal pen.
Seven visits...
The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is endemic in Africa and the Middle East. While MERS-CoV phylogenetic clade C strains circulate among African dromedary camels, clade B strains continuously cause human spillover in the Arabian Peninsula. To enable functional comparison, we used the transformation-associated recombination (TAR)-cloning methodology to clone the full...
The requirement of an efficient P. vivax vaccine is crucial as evidenced from reports of drug resistance globally. PvDBPII, a leading vaccine candidate for P. vivax, has cleared Phase I clinical trial and is reported to be highly polymorphic, which might be a major obstacle on the way of attaining a successful vaccine. India, a significant contributor to P. vivax malaria burden in the...
Rodents are the most speciose mammalian group, encompassing some ~2300 species. This great diversity is associated with a correspondingly significant pathogen diversity, including Seoul virus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), rat hepatitis E virus, Leptospira spp. and Streptobacillus moniliformis. Commensal rodent species such as Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and house mice...
Next to vector competence, blood host preference is a major factor determining the risk pathogen transmission by mosquitoes between different groups of vertebrates.
We analysed blood-fed mosquito females, collected throughout Germany from 2016 to 2022, for their bloodmeal origin. Two PCR protocols were used: if DNA amplification and sequencing of a conserved 16S rDNA region did not yield...
Taenia(T.) martis is a zoonotic tapeworm found in the small intestine of carnivores, mostly of the Martes genus. In zoos, T. martis eggs can find a comfortable shortcut to new (and old) hosts. We report an example of this in a white-headed lemur, which was found dead in a zoological park.
A 5-year-old female white-headed lemur without previous history of disease was unexpectedly found dead in...
Bacterial epidemiology requires understanding the spread of highly pathogenic bacteria like Bacillus anthracis, Brucella species, and Francisella tularensis. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) and genotyping are crucial for this purpose. While Illumina short-read sequencing is established, the suitability of Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) long-read sequencing remains unexplored.
This study...
Puumala orthohantavirus (PUUV) causes more than 80% of human hantavirus disease cases in Germany. The incidence of human cases depends on the abundance of the natural reservoir, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) and its PUUV prevalence. The objective of our study within the research consortium “RoBoPub” (Rodent-Borne-Pathogens-and-Public-Health) is a further characterization of the PUUV range...
Introduction: Data on COVID-19 is still lacking in many parts of Africa. To bridge these gaps, we studied the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Kumasi, Ghana from April to June 2022.
Methods: We sampled individuals visiting the Kwadaso SDA hospital COVID-19 Testing Center, Kumasi and collected data on socio-demography, clinical symptoms and vaccination status from 83 people. Nasopharyngeal swabs...
Genetic variability of the Prion Protein Gene (PRNP) influences disease susceptibility of certain Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, incl. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in cervids. We therefore analysed PRNP genotypes in German and Danish red deer (Cervus elaphus), German roe (Capreolus capreolus) and sika deer (Cervus nippon) and Polish moose (Alces alces) by sequencing the...
SARS-CoV-2 has developed substantial antigenic variability. As the majority of the population now has pre-existing immunity due to infection or vaccination, the use of experimentally immunized animal sera can be valuable for measuring antigenic differences between virus variants. Here we immunized Syrian golden hamsters by two subsequent infections with one of eight SARS-CoV-2 variants. Sera...
Infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae pose a major threat to wild great apes and humans, especially in developing countries, where limited surveillance results in a lack of data on circulating serotypes, virulence and resistance genes, which is needed for effective prevention and response measures.
Our study characterizes pneumococcal strains in humans and wild great apes in two remote...
Antibiotic resistance (AR) is a priority public health problem. Selection mechanisms for AR are well understood, while the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is a comparatively under- researched topic. Particularly, the links between molecular, genomic, bacterial community, and host community level are rarely analysed in an overarching manner. Given the importance of...
Non-native and native vector mosquito species in Europe are concerned with increasing health risks of mosquito-borne diseases in regions regarded as MBD-free under climate change. The role of mosquito diversity is unclear. For effective control strategies to prevent MBD, updating and predicting the distribution of MBD vectors in Europe under current and potential future climatic conditions is...
Shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are important food-borne pathogens. There are several Shigatoxin (Stx) subtypes known (Stx1a, c, d, Stx2a-o). These vary in their prevalence but can also vary in their toxic effect. For the subtype Stx2i only two isolates have been published until now. In 2020 and 2021 two further isolates have been identified as stx2i gene positive. These strains...
The zoonotic potential of this virus has been highlighted by recent transmission events of avian influenza viruses (AIV) circulating in wild and domestic birds to different mammalian species, and sporadic transmissions of swine influenza viruses (SIV) to humans. High mutation rates and reassortment of the segmented influenza viruses require yearly updates of human vaccines. In addition, rising...
