Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Slovakian wildlife.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of infectious enteritis called paratuberculosis that has a high economic impact on the worldwide livestock production. A central important question arises: Can wildlife animals serve as a reservoir for transmission of MAP to domestic ruminants? With this in mind, we devised a study to detect MAP in various Slovakian wildlife species found in the areas where paratuberculosis had been documented in domestic ruminants. The samples of parenchymatous organs (intestines, ileocecal valve and mesenteric lymphatic nodes) from 83 wildlife animals representing 13 species, inclu- ding 7 herbivorous, 5 carnivorous and 1 omnivorous species were collected during a four-year period. The clinical and pathological examinations failed to demonstrate any manifestations of paratuberculosis in any of the wildlife samples. The detection of MAP was done by widely used tests, i.e. cultivation and the PCR analysis. The bacterial cultures revealed the growth of Mycobacterium spp. colonies in 58 (70%) of all of the wild animals, but the PCR testing demonstrated paratuberculosis only in one (7.69%) of the roe deer population.

The First Description of Setaria Tundra (Issaitshikoff & Rajewskaya, 1928) in Roe Deer from Croatia.

Genus Setaria, Viborg 1795, comprises 46 species that parasitize in the peritoneal cavity of Artiodactyla, Perissodactyla and Hyracoidea. The majority of these infections pass unnoticed, but occasionally they can induce severe peritonitis or neurological signs in aberrant hosts and, rarely, even in humans. In this paper we describe for the first time the finding of Setaria tundra in roe deer in Croatia. We examined 45 roe deer and determined the presence of Setaria nematodes in 24.4% of samples, which were subsequently diagnosed as Setaria tundra using molecular methods.

Monitoring of humans and animals for the presence of various Rickettsiae and Coxiella burnetii by serological methods.

Serological examination of humans in Slovakia suspected of having rickettsial infections revealed the presence of antibodies to spotted fever group rickettsiae (R. conorii, R. slovaca, and R. typhi). Of interest is the finding of serological positivity to the newly recognized "IRS" agent. Antibodies to these rickettsiae and to C. burnetii were demonstrated also in domestic and hunting dogs and pet animals. These results confirm the occurrence and possible circulation of these rickettsiae and C. burnetii in the Slovak Republic.

Protein A/G dependent ELISA a promising diagnostic tool in Lyme disease seroprevalence in game animals and hunting dogs.

One of the major problems in serodiagnosis in wild animals is unavailability of specific antiglobulin conjugate. Our study focuses on validation of Protein A/G dependent ELISA in game animals like deer and mouflons as well as in hunting dogs. Binding ability of Protein A/G-conjugate to antibodies was the highest in dogs followed by fallow deer and mouflons. Three different whole cell Borrelia antigens were used to evaluate antigen dependent variation. In new Protein A/G-ELISA the highest sensitivities (90.50%, deer; 85.37%, mouflon & 94.29%, dog) were obtained by B. garinii antigen, with no statistically significant variation (chi(2), P>0.05) among all other antigens used. Average seroprevalences observed in deer, mouflons and dogs were 44.90%, 29.41% and 30.43%, respectively. Marked influence of age on seroprevalence was noticed. Protein A/G-ELISA proved to be sensitive and promising diagnostic tool in serodiagnosis of Lyme disease in game ungulates and it can be used effectively for serosurvey in different wild mammals.