Gastrointestinal nematodes resistant to anthelmintics have been reported in several regions of Brazil, and they may be associated with economic losses for the cattle industry. This study aimed to evaluate the resistance status of gastrointestinal nematodes from naturally infected beef cattle to several commercially available anthelmintics, as well as to test the efficacy of combinations of anthelmintics against multi-resistant gastrointestinal nematodes. Ten farms located in Rio Grande do Sul state were selected by: farmers' consent; extensive raising system; availability of calves aged from 7 to 9 months naturally infected by gastrointestinal nematodes; absence of anthelmintic treatment for 60 days before the study; and presence of 70–100 calves or more of both genders with ≥200 eggs per gram of feces (EPG) (sensitivity of 50 EPG). These calves were distributed into 10 groups (of 7–10 animals) per farm and treated with ivermectin, doramectin, eprinomectin, fenbendazole, closantel, nitroxynil, disophenol, levamisole, albendazole, or moxidectin. Feces were collected 2 days before treatment and 14 days after treatment. Additional groups of 7–10 calves were used to test six different two-drug combinations at four of the studied farms. In general terms, fenbendazole was the most effective drug, followed by levamisole, disophenol, and moxidectin. However, parasite resistance to multiple drugs was found in all herds, especially in the genera Cooperia spp., Trichostrongylus spp., and Haemonchus spp.. Some of the two-drug combinations were effective against nematode populations identified as resistant to the same compounds when used as single drugs. The most effective combinations were moxidectin + levamisole, doramectin + fenbendazole, and levamisole + closantel. In this study, parasites resistant to the main commercially available anthelmintics were found in all herds, and some combinations of two active components belonging to different chemical groups were effective against multi-drug resistant gastrointestinal nematodes.

Toxoplasma gondii-a protozoan belonging to the subphylum Apicomplexa (Adl et al., 2012) and family Sarcocystidae-is the causal agent of toxoplasmosis, an important and widespread zoonotic disease. The protozoan life cycle involves domestic and wild felids as definitive hosts and a number of mammals, including humans, as intermediate hosts. Modes of T. gondii transmission to human include (a) ingestion of sporulated oocysts present in contaminated water or food; (b) ingestion of bradyzoite-containing cysts present

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Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan that has great genetic diversity and is prevalent worldwide. In 2018, an outbreak of toxoplasmosis occurred in Santa Maria, Brazil, which was considered the largest outbreak ever described in the world. This paper describes the isolation and molecular characterization of Toxoplasma gondii from the placenta of two pregnant women with acute toxoplasmosis who had live births and were receiving treatment for toxoplasmosis during the outbreak. For this, placental tissue samples from two patients underwent isolation by mice bioassay, conventional PCR and genotyping using PCR-RFLP with twelve markers. Both samples were positive in isolation in mice. The isolate was lethal to mice, suggesting high virulence. In addition, the samples were positive in conventional PCR and isolates submitted to PCR-RFLP genotyping presented an atypical genotype, which had never been described before. This research contributes to the elucidation of this great outbreak in Brazil.

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Molecular detection of Sarcocystis spp. in tissue samples can be useful for experimental and diagnostic purposes. However, the parasite spreads unevenly through tissues, forming tissue cysts, and the cystic wall is an obstacle in DNA extraction protocols. Therefore, adequate sampling and effective disruption of the cysts are essential to improve the accuracy of DNA detection by PCR. The aims of this study were to evaluate the suitability of four protocols for DNA extraction from cysts of Sarcocystis spp. present in bovine myocardium samples or after their harvest in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution as well as determine the effects of single or multiple sampling on the accuracy of molecular diagnosis of sarcocystosis in cattle hearts. Cysts and myocardium samples from nine bovine hearts were randomly distributed to four DNA extraction protocols: kit, kit with modification, DNAzol, and cetyl-trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). Samples were submitted to DNA extraction and PCR as replicates of each heart (simplicate, duplicate, and triplicate), and the probability of a true positive diagnostic was calculated. Among the protocols tested, the kit with modification was determined to be the most suitable for DNA extraction from cysts in PBS solution (92.6 % of DNA detection by PCR); DNAzol resulted in higher DNA detection frequency from bovine myocardium samples (48.1 %). Multiple sampling improved the molecular diagnosis of Sarcocystis spp. infection in cattle hearts, increasing at 22.2 % the rate of true positive diagnostic.