Publications by authors named "Rudi Cassini"

The opportunistic diet of loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, their long life-span and migratory behavior contribute to shaping the diversity of the gastrointestinal helminthic community. Heteroxenous helminths are also sentinels of marine environmental health, reflecting any perturbation of the trophic chain and, indirectly, of abiotic components of the ecosystem. With the aim of studying the helminth community of a top predator such as the loggerhead sea turtle C.

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Gastrointestinal nematode infections are due to a wide number of helminthic genera and species, representing a major concern in goat and sheep farming and leading to different health issues and a general economic loss. Traditional diagnostic tools do not allow for a specific identification and, although a shift towards molecular diagnostic techniques is ongoing, species or genus-specific diagnosis is still poorly implemented. This study describes the development of a novel real-time PCR method for diagnosing sp.

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Background: The worldwide increment of cat populations has increased the risk of ectoparasite infestation and feline vector-borne pathogen (VBP) transmission. In low-income countries, such as Ethiopia, favorable climatic conditions and the absence of preventive measures against ectoparasites contribute to broadening VBP circulation. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of protozoal (i.

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Although the rate of emerging infectious diseases that originate in wildlife has been increasing globally in recent decades, there is currently a lack of epidemiological data from wild animals. We used serology to determine prior exposure to foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), spp., and and used genetic testing to detect blood-borne parasitic infections in the genera , , , and from wildlife in two national parks, Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, and Etosha National Park (ENP), Namibia.

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Communal grazing is the predominant farming system in Ethiopia and the livelihood of millions of people depend on it. Gastrointestinal nematodes represent a serious threat to the sustainability of these systems, and there is further concern due to the worldwide spread of anthelmintic resistance (AR). This study aimed to assess nematode control practices and anthelmintic efficacy in three districts of central Ethiopia, where sheep, goats and cattle are reared together by resource-poor farmers.

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Background: Anthelmintic resistance (AR) is a global threat to grazing livestock farming. In Italy, anthelmintic efficacy remains high compared to other European countries, but many parts of the country haven't been investigated yet. Local veterinary practitioners from Trentino and Veneto regions reported suspected inefficacy towards anthelmintic drugs in some of their farms, prompting a study on AR in sheep and goat farms of northern Italy.

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Background: Ectoparasites of dogs and cats are implicated to be responsible for life-threatening anaemia, allergic dermatitis and pruritic and non-pruritic skin disorders. In Ethiopia, few studies have been conducted on the arthropods of dogs and cats.

Objectives: In order to shed light on some of these aspects, a survey was conducted to investigate the presence of ectoparasites in dogs and cats living in sympatry in the urban and rural areas of Gamo Zone, Ethiopia.

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The faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) is the most widely used method to assess treatment efficacy against gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN). Information on genera composition of the GIN community is not available with this test and it is commonly obtained by identifying cultured third-stage larvae (L3) or through molecular assays in the post-treatment survey, but results provided are usually only qualitative or semi-quantitative. The updated WAAVP guidelines now recommend assessing anthelmintic efficacy for each GIN genus/species separately (genus-specific FECRT), but this approach is poorly employed in Europe and in goats especially.

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Founded in 1959, the Italian Society of Parasitology (SoIPa) includes nearly 200 researchers and professionals in the fields of medicine, veterinary medicine, biotechnology, epidemiology and environmental sciences. The diversity of its members, in a historical and continuous collaboration with other international scientific societies, embodies a broad and multidisciplinary field such as parasitology. Since 1959, SoIPa has organized a biennial congress, covering all aspects of general parasitology with participants from all over Italy, Europe and beyond, involved in a dynamic and multi-faceted scientific framework of contributions and symposia.

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Background: Vector-borne zoonotic diseases are a concerning issue in Europe. Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) have been reported in several countries with a large impact on public health; other emerging pathogens, such as Rickettsiales, and mosquito-borne flaviviruses have been increasingly reported. All these pathogens are linked to wild ungulates playing roles as tick feeders, spreaders, and sentinels for pathogen circulation.

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Background: Despite the expansion of modernized poultry farming in Ethiopia, the presence of high prevalence of Eimeria species is the bottleneck in the sector causing high morbidity and mortality rate in poultry.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence and identify Eimeria species and investigate the major risk factors.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020 in East Gojjam Zone, North West Ethiopia.

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Monitoring endoparasite burden (FEC) and treatment efficacy (FECR) is a key element of sustainable parasite control. However, the costs of the analysis often discourage their implementation by farmers and veterinary practitioners. Pooling samples is considered to be a good alternative to reduce time and monetary costs, but limited data are available on the use of pooled samples in small ruminants, especially for goats.

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Helminth infections are ubiquitous in grazing ruminants and cause significant costs due to production losses. Moreover, anthelmintic resistance (AR) in parasites is now widespread throughout Europe and poses a major threat to the sustainability of modern ruminant livestock farming. Epidemiological data on the prevalence and distribution of gastrointestinal nematodes, cestodes and liver- and rumen-flukes in Italian small ruminants are outdated and fragmentary.

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In Africa, ticks continue to be a major hindrance to the improvement of the livestock industry due to tick-borne pathogens that include , and species. A systemic review and meta-analysis were conducted here and highlighted the distribution and prevalence of these tick-borne pathogens in African ticks. Relevant publications were searched in five electronic databases and selected using inclusion/exclusion criteria, resulting in 138 and 78 papers included in the qualitative and quantitative analysis, respectively.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated tick-borne pathogens in dogs from various districts in Ethiopia, highlighting a significant gap in knowledge about these diseases in low-income tropical regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The most prevalent pathogen found was identified as (53.8%), with several other pathogens also detected, some of which have zoonotic potential and were noteworthy for their unexpected presence.
  • Results indicated that dogs in rural areas are more susceptible to these pathogens, likely due to interactions with wild canids, underscoring the need for further research on both the pathogens and their vectors for public health awareness.
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  • The study investigates the effectiveness of different copromicroscopic techniques for detecting gastrointestinal helminths in red foxes, focusing on the comparison between scraping, filtration and counting (SFCT) and simpler methods like flotation (FT) and multiplex PCR (CMPCR).
  • Researchers isolated helminths from 150 red foxes in Italy, identifying three types of nematodes and five types of cestodes, with FT showing low sensitivity compared to SFCT, especially for Taeniidae species.
  • The findings suggest that traditional copromicroscopic methods often underestimate helminth prevalence, particularly in high-prevalence situations for cestodes, due to irregular egg shedding and sample handling issues, highlighting the need for more
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Article Synopsis
  • Parasitic diseases significantly hinder livestock production globally, particularly in low-income countries where knowledge about gastrointestinal parasites remains limited.
  • An epidemiological study conducted in central Ethiopia analyzed 691 cattle samples to assess the prevalence and types of gastrointestinal parasites, revealing high prevalence rates for gastrointestinal strongyles (GIS) and specific other parasites.
  • The research highlighted that factors like body condition score, season, and agroecology influence parasite prevalence, suggesting targeted treatment approaches to manage infections and mitigate risks of anthelmintic resistance, especially in regions with minimal diagnostic services.
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Gymnophallids of the genus Parvatrema are small trematodes infecting waterbirds in their adult stage. Several species of clams and mussels have been found to act as first and second intermediate hosts, in which the trematode larval stages induce the formation of pearls. In this study, a wild population of Mytilus galloprovincialis was sampled along the Northwestern coast of the Adriatic Sea to evaluate the origin and extent of visible pearls.

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is a mosquito-borne nematode, causing heartworm (HW) disease in wild and domestic canids. HW can also affect felids with different clinical patterns from asymptomatic pictures to sudden death, making the monitoring and diagnosis complicated. Canine HW is endemic in North-eastern Italy; however, very little information has been recorded for felids.

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Tick and tick-borne pathogens constitute a growing veterinary and public health concern around the world. Ticks are considered natural reservoirs for tick-borne related pathogens and are equally responsible for the spread of infections in animals as well as humans. In this study, the presence of Rickettsia, Bartonella, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum was investigated in hard ticks collected from reptiles, birds, and wild mammalian animals.

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Since 1995, the Alpine chamois () population of the Dolomites has been affected by sarcoptic mange with considerable management concerns. In this study, 15 years (2006-2020) of passive surveillance and demographic data were analyzed in order to describe a mange outbreak. Furthermore, an enhanced passive surveillance protocol was implemented in order to evaluate the efficiency of ordinary vs.

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Free-ranging cetaceans are considered sentinels for the marine ecosystem's health. New and non-invasive methods have been set up for the collection of fecal samples from free-ranging big whales at sea, permitting to gain an excellent epidemiological picture of parasitic infections in wild populations. To select the best protocol to be used for copromicroscopic examination in cetaceans stool samples, we evaluated the sensitivity of two commonly used techniques, i.

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Surveillance of Echinococcus multilocularis at the edge of its range is hindered by fragmented distributional patterns and low prevalence in definitive hosts. Thus, tests with adequate levels of sensitivity are especially important for discriminating between infected and non-infected areas. In this study we reassessed the prevalence of E.

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Tick-borne rickettsiae are emerging pathogens that are becoming widespread in Europe. Rickettsiae are endemic in Italy, but epidemiological data are currently scarce. This study aimed to improve our knowledge about rickettsial infections in tick and wild boar populations.

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