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Microorganisms in Animal and Human Health and Environmental Spaces

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (7 April 2023) | Viewed by 5330

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giulia Simonato

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Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health, University of Padua, Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (Padua), Italy
Interests: veterinary parasitology; vector-borne diseases; zoonotic helminths; cardio-pulmonary nematodes; zoonotic protozoa; arthropod surveillance; control measures; epidemiology; diagnosis; pet animals; human-animal interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Daniela Pasotto

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Department of Animal Medicine Production and Health, University of Padova, viale dell’Università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Interests: epidemiology of infectious diseases; emerging zoonotic agents; vector-borne diseases; antimicrobial resistance; pets and farm animals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

From a global perspective, zoonotic diseases are of growing interest for the Scientific Community for their ongoing spreading and the affecting of human health. Many factors contribute to this phenomenon; for instance, the close contact with pet animals in daily life or during pet-therapy activities exposes humans to potential risks of infection, just as the attending areas polluted by animal faeces; also the animal migration and adoption favour the movements of pathogens from endemic areas to non-endemic ones; the actual phenomenon of “rurbanization” and its consequent approach of wildlife to the suburbs of urban centres are drivers that favour the spread and the establishment of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. A huge range of pathogens is causative agents of zoonotic diseases from infective agents (e.g. bacteria, viruses) to parasitic ones (e.g. fungi, helminths, protozoa). It is worthy of note that animals could be a source of infections for humans directly through the close-contact or indirectly by the environmental contamination (e.g. giardiasis, toxoplasmosis, salmonellosis, etc.); vice versa unhealthy humans could infect animals. Recently, SARS-CoV 2 is the most famous viral agent that can be transmitted from infective humans to dogs and ferrets; methicillin-resistant staphylococci are an emerging bacterial infection affecting human patients and animals involved in pet therapy and attending health facilities could become potential carriers. Thus, the continuous monitoring of the animal population, the adoption of surveillance strategies and animals’ management protocols including appropriate diagnosis, therapy and prevention are strongly requested to face emerging and re-emerging zoonotic pathogens to guarantee both animal and human health.

Dr. Giulia Simonato
Dr. Daniela Pasotto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

zoonoses
animals
human health
health risks
diagnosis
prevention
infectious diseases
parasitic diseases
epidemiology

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1338 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome Analysis of Acinetobacter baumannii in Rapid Response to Subinhibitory Concentration of Minocycline

by Lili Gao and Xiaochun Ma

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 16095; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316095 - 1 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1496

Abstract

The increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii brings great threats to public health. Minocycline is a kind of semisynthetic derivative of the antibacterial drug tetracycline and is often used to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant A. baumannii with other antibiotics. However, minocycline-resistant A. baumannii appears constantly. To rapidly explore the response of A. baumannii to minocycline stress, RNA-seq was carried out to compare the difference in the transcriptome of A. baumannii ATCC19606 in the presence or absence of minocycline. The results showed that 25 genes were differentially expressed, including 10 downregulated genes and 15 upregulated genes, and 24 sRNA were upregulated and 24 were downregulated based on the filter criteria (Log2FC > 1 or <−1 and FDR < 0.05). RtcB family protein and ABC transporter ATP-binding protein were upregulated by 2.6- and 11.3-fold, and molecular chaperone GroES, chaperonin GroL, class C beta-lactamase ADC-158, amino acid ABC transporter permease, and APC family permease were downregulated by at least two-fold in the presence of half-MIC minocycline. The differentially expressed genes are mainly involved in the stress response, the GroES/GroEL chaperonin system, and transport metabolic pathways. sRNA 1248 was significantly upregulated, and sRNA 1767, 5182, and 6984 were downregulated in a rapid response to minocycline. These results provide insights into the adaptive mechanism of A. baumannii to minocycline. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microorganisms in Animal and Human Health and Environmental Spaces)

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16 pages, 4412 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exposure of Buffalo Milkers to Pathogenic Bacteria and Characterization of Isolated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus spp.

by Federica Carraturo, Maria Chiara Alterisio, Jacopo Guccione, Valeria Cerullo, Michela Salamone, Michela Morelli, Giovanni Libralato, Ernesto Russo, Raffaele d’Angelo, Paolo Ciaramella, Antonio Di Loria and Marco Guida

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(7), 4353; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074353 - 5 Apr 2022

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Abstract

The research was focused on the surveillance of the exposure of buffalo milkers in contact with both animals and potentially contaminated equipment, pointing attention on the diffusion of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus spp. The monitoring was performed for 12 months, allowing the collection of 600 raw milk and buffalo udder surface samples, 192 milking lanes, 400 milking clusters, 160 personal protective equipment (PPEs) and electronic devices surface samples in contact with the workers of four milking parlors located in Southern Italy. The analysis of the milk samples evidenced the highest exposure to the bacteria considered (and mainly to S. aureus) from late winter–spring seasons onward. The possible risk arising from buffalo udder, milking clusters, and lines were instead considered rather stable along the entire period of sampling. The PPEs turned out to be a source of contamination for milkers mainly during the spring and summer periods. The analysis for oxacillin/methicillin resistance revealed in all the farms enrolled an overall amount of 37.5% of Staphylococci strains (belonging to S. aureus, S. haemolyticus, S. pseudintermedius, S. chromogenes species) resistant both to methicillin and oxacillin. The investigation demonstrated that the potential transfer of pathogenic bacteria to humans would have a better chance to occur at milk resumption time (since late winter–spring onward) when the number of animals to be milked is greater and the activity in the milking parlor is more challenging. At the same time, the findings seem to point out that the potential risk may be worsened by a significant presence of oxacillin/methicillin-resistant Staphylococci, potentially resulting from irrational use of antibiotics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microorganisms in Animal and Human Health and Environmental Spaces)

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Review

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16 pages, 575 KiB

Open AccessReview

Plague and Trace Metals in Natural Systems

by Michael Kosoy and Dean Biggins

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 9979; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169979 - 12 Aug 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1465

Abstract

All pathogenic organisms are exposed to abiotic influences such as the microclimates and chemical constituents of their environments. Even those pathogens that exist primarily within their hosts or vectors can be influenced directly or indirectly. Yersinia pestis, the flea-borne bacterium causing plague, is influenced by climate and its survival in soil suggests a potentially strong influence of soil chemistry. We summarize a series of controlled studies conducted over four decades in Russia by Dr. Evgeny Rotshild and his colleagues that investigated correlations between trace metals in soils, plants, and insects, and the detection of plague in free-ranging small mammals. Trace metal concentrations in plots where plague was detected were up to 20-fold higher or lower compared to associated control plots, and these differences were >2-fold in 22 of 38 comparisons. The results were statistically supported in eight studies involving seven host species in three families and two orders of small mammals. Plague tended to be positively associated with manganese and cobalt, and the plague association was negative for copper, zinc, and molybdenum. In additional studies, these investigators detected similar connections between pasturellosis and concentrations of some chemical elements. A One Health narrative should recognize that the chemistry of soil and water may facilitate or impede epidemics in humans and epizootics in non-human animals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microorganisms in Animal and Human Health and Environmental Spaces)

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