Leptospirosis is one of the most extended zoonosis worldwide and humans become infected most commonly through contact with the urine of carrier animals, either directly or via contaminated water or soil. The aim in this study was to analyse the epidemiological behaviour of Leptospira spp., from domestic animals around the sites of human leptospirosis cases in Nicaragua, from 2007 through 2013. We report the results of a cross-sectional epidemiological study with a non-probability sampling of blood (n=3050) and urine (n=299) from Domestic Animals (DA) around the sites of human leptospirosis cases in Nicaragua. We analysed data obtained through Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT), in-vitro culture, real time PCR and sequencing of lfb1 locus. Frequencies of 30.31% (95% CI: 28.66-31.95) and 15.38% (95% CI: 11.12-19.64) were obtained from serological test and from in-vitro culture, respectively. Although similar frequencies from serology test (P≥0.05) were found in DA species, in-vitro culture frequencies were significantly higher from bovine, equine and sheep (P<0.05) in comparison with swine and canine species. Ten serogroups of pathogenic Leptospira spp. were encountered, with the highest presence of Icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup 34.65% (95% CI: 29.35-39.94). We identified 7 samples homologous to L. interrogans species Pyrogenes serovar and 3 samples as L. noguchii Louisiana or Panama serovars by analysis of lfb1 sequences. We were able to establish a temporal and spatial correlation from DA and cumulative incidence of human cases. Therefore an effective epidemiological surveillance should be implemented with a specific control program toward DA in order to reduce human leptospirosis incidence.

Psittacine beak and feather disease virus (PBFDV) and avian polyomavirus (APV) are the most common viral diseases in psittacine birds, both affecting feathers and physical appearance of birds. Between 2005 and 2009, a total of 269 samples were collected from birds presented at veterinary clinics, shelters and rescue centers of wildlife in Costa Rica. They belonged to 19 species of psittacine birds. The most representative species in the sample were Ara macao (157), Ara ambigua (37), Amazona autumnalis (24), Amazon ochrocephala (21) and Ara ararauna (8). A prevalence of 19.7% (53/269) for PBFDV and 4.8% (13/269) for APV was determined using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). In 3.3% (9/269) of the birds mixed infections were detected. Statistical analysis determined that psittacines living in shelters and rescue centers had a greater risk to be positive to PBFDV and APV than birds that were presented at veterinary clinics, while only for PBFDV it was determined, that it is more likely to detect it in feathers than in blood. Finally, birds infected with PBFDV had 6.24 times more probability to become infected with APV, than non-infected birds. This is the first report of prevalence of PBFDV and APV in captive psittacines from Costa Rica.

Oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs from 117 captive psittacine birds presented at veterinary clinics (88) and from shelters/rescue centers of wildlife (29) were collected to determine the prevalence of C. psittaci in captive birds in Costa Rica. Samples were collected during 2009 from a total of 19 different species of parrots, with Ara macao (33), Amazona autumnalis (24), Amazona ochrocephala (21), and Ara ararauna (8) being the most representative species sampled. C. psittaci was detected in four (3.4%) birds using molecular detection (PCR). The positive samples belonged to birds presented at veterinary clinics; three of them were Ara macao and one Amazona ochrocephala. Three birds were adults; all positive birds showed no symptoms of illness and lived in homes with other birds, two in San José and two in Heredia. Sequencing was used to confirm the PCR positive results, showing that two samples of C. psittaci belonged to genotype A, representing the first report of the presence of this genotype in Costa Rica. The detection of this bacterium in captive psittacine birds shows that there is a potential risk for people living or having contact with them and that there is a possibility of infecting other birds.

phenotypic variability in prion diseases, such as scrapie, is associated to the existence of prion strains, which are different pathogenic prion protein (PrP Sc) conformations with distinct pathobiological properties. to faithfully study scrapie strain variability in natural sheep isolates, transgenic mice expressing sheep cellular prion protein (PrP c) are used. in this study, we used two of such models to bioassay 20 scrapie isolates from the Spain-France-Andorra transboundary territory. Animals were intracerebrally inoculated and survival periods, proteinase K-resistant PrP (PrP res) banding patterns, lesion profiles and PrP Sc distribution were studied. inocula showed a remarkable homogeneity on banding patterns, all of them but one showing 19-kDa PrP res. However, a number of isolates caused accumulation of 21-kDa PrP res in TgShp XI. A different subgroup of isolates caused long survival periods and presence of 21-kDa PrP res in Tg338 mice. It seemed that one major 19-kDa prion isoform and two distinct 21-kDa variants coexisted in source inocula, and that they could be separated by bioassay in each transgenic model. The reason why each model favours a specific component of the mixture is unknown, although prp c expression level may play a role. our results indicate that coinfection with more than one substrain is more frequent than infection with a single component. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), also known as prion diseases, are a group of rare, fatal and progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both animals and human beings. TSEs are caused by non-conventional etiologic agents called prions. According to the widely accepted prion hypothesis 1 , prions consist exclusively of a pathogenic protein conformer, termed PrP Sc , that derives from the physiological, host-encoded cellular prion protein (PrP C) 1-3 via a post-translational conformational change that is triggered by PrP Sc itself in a feedback manner 4. PrP Sc accumulates in nervous tissue 5 and through a yet unclarified mechanism gives rise to neuronal death, neuron loss and vacuolization 6,7 , together with astrogliosis, microgliosis 8-10 and other neuroinflammatory phenomena 11. This progressive degeneration of the central nervous system manifests as a set of neurological signs appearing after long incubation periods. Although, according to the protein-only model 1 , the agent responsible for these disorders lacks nucleic acids, the existence of several phenotypic variants has been proved for different TSEs. This was first described for scrapie when two different clinical syndromes were observed in scrapie-infected goats, which were reproducible by intracerebral inoculation 12. Prion variants associated to these different phenotypes were termed "strains", by analogy with other infectious agents. Further demonstration of the existence of scrapie strains was addressed by studies in wild type mice 13,14 , which also established a methodology to discriminate them according to survival periods and lesion profiles 15-17 .

In Nicaragua, there are ideal environmental conditions for leptospirosis. The objective of this investigation was to detect pathogenic and saprophytic leptospires in water and soil samples from leptospirosis-endemic areas in Nicaragua. Seventy-eight water and 42 soil samples were collected from houses and rivers close to confirmed human cases. Leptospira spp was isolated in Ellinghausen–McCullough–Johnson–Harris (EMJH) culture medium with 5-fluororacil and positive samples were analyzed through PCR for the LipL32 gene, specific for pathogenic leptospires (P1 clade). There were 73 positive cultures from 120 samples, however only six of these (5% of all collected samples) were confirmed to be pathogenic, based on the presence of the LipL32 gene (P1 clade). Of these six pathogenic isolates, four were from Leon and two from Chinandega. Four pathogenic isolates were obtained from water and two from soil. This study proved the contamination of water and soil with pathogenic leptospires, which represents a potential risk for public health.

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RESUMEN Objetivo El objetivo de este estudio fue conocer las características epidemiológicas de la leptospirosis en animales domésticos y en los casos de leptospirosis humana en áreas peridomésticas en Nicaragua entre 2014 y 2016. Métodos Las muestras se extrajeron en áreas donde se confirmaron casos en humanos utilizando un muestreo no probabilístico en 10 de los 17 departamentos del país. Se incluyeron 112 muestras de orina de animales domésticos, 129 muestras de agua y 69 de tierra para aislar leptospiras en medio Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-Harris (EMJH). Además, se aplicó la prueba de microaglutinación (MAT) en 263 muestras de suero de animales y 88 aislados se analizaron mediante PCR. Resultados En 32,6% (101/310) de las muestras se aislaron espiroquetas, 23,2% (26/112) se aislaron en la orina de animales domésticos, 47,3% (61/129), en las muestras de agua y 20,3 % (14/69), en las de tierra. El análisis de aislamiento mostró diferencias significativas (P < 0,05) entre los departamentos para los diferentes tipos de muestras, y el aislamiento fue más frecuente en agua que en tierra (OR = 3,49; IC95%: 1,56-7,80). El 14,1% (37/263) de los animales fueron reactores en la prueba de microaglutinación. El serogrupo más frecuente fue Icterohaemorrhagiae (40%). En el análisis con la PCR para identificar leptospiras de las especies patógenas 10,2% (9/88) de los aislamientos fueron positivos. Conclusiones Esta investigación demuestra que los animales domésticos y el ambiente desempeñan un papel importante en la aparición de brotes de la leptospirosis y confirma el comportamiento endémico de la enfermedad en Nicaragua.

Background The black spiny‐tailed iguana (Ctenosaura similis) is an endemic animal in Mesoamerica, whose meat is consumed by the local population. Objectives Because the black spiny‐tailed iguana may be potential reservoirs of pathogens, this study aimed to isolate and characterise Salmonella spp. in their meat commercialised in markets of the city of León, Nicaragua. Methods Thirteen specimens were analysed for the isolation of Salmonella spp., as well as their antimicrobial resistance patterns, including the presence of genes encoding extended‐spectrum β‐lactamases. Results Salmonella spp. isolates were found in eight out of 13 samples, with S. enterica serovar Enteritidis being found in six out of eight samples. Moreover, eight Salmonella spp. isolates were resistant to amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid and cephalexin, but sensitive to other tested antibiotics. The blaSHV gene was detected in seven out of eight Salmonella spp. isolates, followed by the blaTEM (two out of eight) and blaCXT‐M (one out of eight) genes. Conclusions These findings represent an important contribution to the implementation of appropriate strategies to prevent foodborne diseases.