Q fever is an important zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii. There are few reliable data about C. burnetii infection available. The aim of this study was to assess the importance and potential infectious sources of Q fever in Hungary. A total of 215 milk samples (10 individual samples from each herd and 1 bulk tank milk sample from each cattle herd), and 400 serum samples (20 from each herd) were tested from 15 dairy cattle herds and 5 sheep flocks located in different parts of Hungary. The study found 19.3% (58/300) and 38.0% (57/150) seropositivity in cattle, and 0% (0/100) and 6.0% (3/50) seropositivity in sheep, by complement fixation test (CFT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. C. burnetii DNA was detected by IS1111 element-based TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 8.7% (13/150) of individual dairy cow milk samples, 4.0% (2/50) of individual sheep milk samples, and 66.7% (10/15) of dairy bulk tank milk samples. Samples taken from nine different commercially-available pasteurized cow milk products from different Hungarian producers were also tested for the presence of C. burnetii DNA, and eight of these samples were found to be positive (88.9%). The real-time PCR examination of 5402 ixodid ticks collected from different parts of the country yielded negative results. Knowledge of the true prevalence of Q fever is crucial for policymakers involved in evidence-based decision making.

The antimicrobial susceptibility of 19 Bordetella avium and 36 Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale strains was tested by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method, and the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of amoxicillin, doxycycline and erythromycin were also determined. Most O. rhinotracheale strains were resistant to nalidixic acid, sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim and gentamicin, and were susceptible to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, spectinomycin and tilmicosin. All B. avium strains were resistant to ceftiofur and lincomycin and susceptible to doxycycline, gentamicin, polymyxin B, spectinomycin and sulphonamides. The MICs ranged widely for all three antibiotics tested against O. rhinotracheale strains, from 0.12 µg/ml to 32 µg/ml for amoxicillin and erythromycin, and from 0.6 µg/ml to 32 µg/ml for doxycycline. For B. avium isolates, the MIC values ranged from ≤ 0.03 µg/ml to 1 µg/ml for amoxicillin, from ≤ 0.03 µg/ml to 0.12 µg/ml for doxycycline and from 8 µg/ml to 16 µg/ml for erythromycin. These findings support the idea that the use of antibiotics in a region or a farm may affect antimicrobial resistance and underline the need for prudent application of antibiotic therapy based on proper antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

The diversity of mechanisms and capacity for regeneration across the Metazoa present an intriguing challenge in evolutionary biology, impacting on the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine. Broad taxonomic sampling is essential to improve our understanding of regeneration, and studies outside of the traditional model organisms have proved extremely informative. Within the historically understudied Spiralia, the Annelida have an impressive variety of tractable regenerative systems. The biomeralizing, blastema-less regeneration of the head appendage (operculum) of the serpulid polychaete keelworm Spirobranchus (formerly Pomatoceros) lamarcki is one such system. To profile potential regulatory mechanisms, we classified the homeobox gene content of opercular regeneration transcriptomes. As a result of retrieving several difficult-to-classify homeobox sequences, we performed an extensive search and phylogenetic analysis of the TALE and PRD-class homeobox gene content of a broad selection of lophotrochozoan genomes. These analyses contribute to our increasing understanding of the diversity, taxonomic extent, rapid evolution, and radical flexibility of these recently discovered homeobox gene radiations. Our expansion and integration of previous nomenclature systems helps to clarify their cryptic orthology. We also describe an unusual divergent S. lamarcki Antp gene, a previously unclassified lophotrochozoan orphan gene family (Lopx), and a number of novel Nk class orphan genes. The expression and potential involvement of many of these lineage- and clade-restricted homeobox genes in S. lamarcki operculum regeneration provides an example of diversity in regenerative mechanisms, as well as significantly improving our understanding of homeobox gene evolution.