Dora Romero-Salas

Universidad Veracruzana | UV · Academia de Medicina Veterinaria

The presence of Eimeria in livestock farms implies significant economic losses, compromising the welfare and animal health of affected bovines. The objectives of this study were to obtain the molecular identification of Eimeria species and to create the phylogeny for analysis. Fecal samples were collected from 930 animals distributed in 62 cattle f...

Las infecciones parasitarias representan un problema emergente en ungulados silvestres, sin embargo, existen pocos estudios sobre las infecciones parasitarias en estos animales. Se realizo un estudio para conocer los géneros de parásitos gastrointestinales que infectan a ungulados silvestres de febrero a septiembre de 2021 en una Unidad de Manejo p...

Cattle raising is the most important livestock activity in Mexico, highlighting the fact that the Country is eight place worldwide in the production of bovine meat. However, cattle can be affected by leptospirosis (a bacterial disease caused by 17 species of spirochetes of the genus Leptospira), which cause reproductive problems that translate into...

Introducción as garrapatas (Acari: Ixodoidae) del género Amblyomma son artrópodos hematófagos y parásitos de varias especies de mamíferos (incluido el hombre), aves y reptiles. Se encuentran distribuidas en diversas regiones geográficas y, debido a sus hábitos alimenticios, son capaces de transmitir patógenos (e.g., bacterias, virus, protozoos, hel...

Objective: To identify the taxonomy of lice of the family Trichodectidae present in a captive population of M. temama.Methodology: Lice were collected from 15 red brocket (Temazate) deer (M. temama) in captivity at the Unit for the Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use of Wildlife El Pochote, Ixtaczoquiltan, Veracruz, Mexico. The deer were s...

Ticks are obligate ectoparasites associated with a wide range of vertebrate hosts, including domestic animals. Moreover, ticks are capable of transmitting many pathogens such as Coxiella. To date, Coxiella burnetii, the etiological agent of coxiellosis or Q fever, is the only valid species of the genera. Nevertheless, a wide range of agents denomin...

Rhipicephalus ( Boophilus ) microplus tick infestation is a major problem for cattle industry in tropical and subtropical regions. Chemical products are commonly applied to control it; however, their indiscriminate use has resulted in the appearance of resistant lineages. Plants have been used as an alternative to conventional acaricidal drugs. Rec...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Ethnopharmacological relevance: The population of southern Mexico has traditionally prepared an alcoholic beverage of Randia aculeata fruit known as “crucetillo" used as antivenom; it is also used as remedial of several chronic diseases. In a previous study, we demonstrated that hydroethanolic extract from R. aculeat...

Background: Rhipicephalus microplus and Amblyomma mixtum are the most important tick species affecting livestock in tropical areas. They can have a direct harmful effect on cattle and humans due to transmission of pathogens of tick-borne diseases (TBD). Entomopathogenic fungi have an important role in crop pest control. However, data concerning the...

A dog that shared habitat with domestic animals in a cattle farm and that was exposed to wildlife was taken to a private practitioner for clinical examination. The analyses conducted on the patient revealed the presence of Babesia bigemina by a molecular test. Clinical signs such as lethargy, anorexia and hyperthermia > 39 °C, pale mucous membranes...

The objectives of the present study were: (1) to determine the prevalence of Eimeria spp. sporulated oocysts in calves from 26 Municipalities in the Central Zone of the State of Veracruz, Mexico, (2) to identify the Eimeria spp. infecting calves, and (3) to identify the risk factors associated with the presence of Eimeria spp. in tropical cattle. A...

Zoological gardens represent specialised centres for the preservation of biological inventories and genetic diversity, allowing the recognition of multiple species in critical conservation categories. However, the close coexistence of multiple species of vertebrates that may be associated with various species of ectoparasites may be the cause of th...

Bovine leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects cattle herds, causing economic losses due to reproductive problems which require expensive treatments. The main source of transmission for cattle is still uncertain, but rodents and bats can play an important role in the transmission cycle by being maintenance hosts for the pathogenic species...

The black-handed spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) is a platyrrhine primate distributed in southern Mexico, Central America, and part of South America. Two subspecies inhabit Mexico: Ateles geoffroyi vellerosus and Ateles geoffroyi yucatanensis, both threatened with extinction. Serological evidence of exposure of spider monkeys to various groups of...

The southern cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus is a major problem for the cattle industry in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. Chemical products are commonly applied to control it; however, their indiscriminate use has resulted in the appearance of resistant lineages. In the last decades, plants have been used as an alternative to convent...

The water buffalo (B. bubalis) is an alternative to cattle ranching in several regions of southern Mexico. Here we report seroprevalence and risk factors associated with the protozoan parasite, Neospora caninum, in water buffaloes in six buffalo production units, in municipalities from central and southern Veracruz, Mexico. Antibodies to N. caninum...

The record of endoparasitic nematode species in turtles Trachemys venusta venusta from urban and captivity water bodies was evaluated in Xalapa and Poza Rica Veracruz cities. Four water bodies, 2 urban (Tecajetes´s ecological park and CAD-UV) and 2 in captivity (private homes) with at least 5 individuals of the Trachemys venusta venusta species wer...

Amblyomma mixtum is a Neotropical generalist tick of medical and veterinary importance which is widely distributed from United States of America to Ecuador. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the geographic projections of the ecological niche models of A. mixtum in climate change scenarios in America. We constructed a database of publ...

Objective: To estimate the hematological and biochemical reference values inMAteles geoffroyi individuals in captivity. Methodology: Eleven males and 23 females were captured. We collected blood,from the coccygian vein; conventional techniques were used to analyze thesamples.Results: mean corpuscular volume (MCV; P < 0.03), platelets (PLT; P < 0.04...

Bovine leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects cattle herds, causing economic losses due to reproductive problems, which require expensive treatments. The main source of transmission for cattle is still uncertain, but it has been described that rodents and bats can play an important role in the transmission cycle by being maintenance host...

Active epidemiological surveillance of infectious agents represents a fundamental tool for understanding the transmission dynamics of pathogens and establishing public policies that can reduce or limit their expansion. Epidemiological surveillance of emerging agents, such as the recently recognized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (S...

Tick-borne rickettsioses represent a severe public health problem that has increased in recent decades by several activities that place human populations in contact with a wide range of vectors. In particular, Rickettsia parkeri, an eschar-associated spotted fever agent, represents an emerging pathogen that has been gradually identified throughout...

Objetivo. Determinar la frecuencia de Neospora caninum en dos Unidades de Producción Pecuaria con sistema búfalo/bovino de la zona central del estado de Veracruz, México. Materiales y Métodos. Fue un estudio de tipo transversal con muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia. Se incluyeron dos Unidades de Producción Pecuaria (UPP), ambas con poblac...

The tick Amblyomma mixtum is an ectoparasite of veterinary and public health importance because of its role as a vector of zoonotic pathogens. However, little is known about A. mixtum intraspecific variability and if morphological differentiation exists between populations across its geographic range. This study aimed to determine by electron micro...

Equine piroplasmosis is a tropical parasitic disease caused by several intraerythrocytic members of the genera Babesia and Theileria. These pathogens are transmitted by multiple tick species and are considered as important exotic microorganisms in several countries. Equine piroplasmosis causes significant economic losses due to abortions, decreased...

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) represent a component of the ectoparasite fauna associated with large sized mammals as deers. However, the diversity of chewing louse species infesting deer remains to be fully characterized in the Neotropics. Little is known about the chewing lice infesting the extant fourteen subspecies of white-...

The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is an Asian species of bovine which was introduced in Mexico in 1992, as an alternative for milk and meat production. However, little is known about its associated ectoparasites, in particular about their lice. As a part of a project to identify the diversity and prevalence of Anaplasma in cattle and water buffal...

Zoonotic tick-borne diseases, including those caused by Rickettsia species, continue to have serious consequences for public health worldwide. One such disease that has emerged as a major problem in several countries of the American continent is the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii. Several tick spec...

Leptospirosis is the most common zoonotic disease worldwide and is considered endemic in countries with tropical climates. It is caused by 10 species of the Leptospira genus and by more than 275 serovars which can affect a wide range of vertebrates. In the Americas, 122 species of four classes of vertebrates have been reported to be infected or exp...

The reptile-associated Borrelia represent a monophyletic group of bacteria transmitted by several species of hard ticks, which has been reported to only infect amphibians and reptiles in Eurasia and Middle East, however, this bacterial group has not been studied in North America. The aim of this study was to assess the presence of Borrelia spiroche...

El estudio de la parasitología de animales silvestres de importancia económica en cautiverio es relevante, ya que la parasitosis se traduce en pérdidas por disminución de productividad, aumento de gastos veterinarios, infecciones secundarias y pérdida de ejemplares. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar la prevalencia y abundancia de la divers...

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the resistance of Amblyomma mixtum and Rhipicephalus microplus ticks from co-infested bovines from the Veracruz region in Mexico to different acaricide families and to demonstrate the viability of the packet test on different A. mixtum instars. The following acaricide families were used: a combination (...

The genus Leptospira encompasses ten species of spirochetes capable of infecting mammals, particularly rodents. In México, studies focused on the detection of Leptospira sp. in rodents are scarce, all of them restricted to three states of the Gulf of México. For this reason, this work aimed to identify the diversity of Leptospira species associated...

Ticks are obligate haematophagous ectoparasites that are associated with a wide range of vertebrate hosts, among them also reptiles and amphibians. They have dynamic ecological interactions with multiple microorganisms, ranging from endosymbionts to pathogens, such as the members of the genus Rickettsia. The aim of this work was to detect Rickettsi...

This study, carried out in 13 sheep flocks of central-western Mexico, aimed to identify the prevalence of anti-N. caninum antibodies, to develop a risk analysis of the infection and to estimate the prevalence of parasite DNA in blood. A total of 368 serum and blood samples were subjected to ELISA and PCR tests, respectively, and the association bet...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of cryopreserved equine semen in the presence of trehalose-loaded liposomes on the integrity and function of sperm cells. Six ejaculations of five stallions collected with an artificial vagina were used. The ejaculates were diluted with INRA 96 ® 2:1 v/v and transported at 22 °C to the laboratory. Bef...

The genus Leptospira encompass 22 species of spirochaetes, with ten pathogenic species that have been recorded in more than 160 mammals worldwide. In the last two decades, the numbers of records of these agents associated with bats have increased exponentially, particularly in America. Although order Chiroptera repre- sents the second most diverse...

The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is an Asian species of bovine that was introduced in Mexico in 1992 as an alternative for milk and meat production. To date, no surveys have been conducted to identify ticks acquired by water buffaloes since their arrival in the country. Here we report, for the first time, the presence of Amblyomma mixtum, a n...

We determined the seropositive percentage and the determinants of Leptospira exposure in domestic donkeys presented for slaughter in the State of Durango, Mexico. We examined 194 donkeys in 4 gathering premises. Sera of donkeys were analyzed for anti-Leptospira IgG antibodies using a microscopic agglutination assay with a panel of 7 Leptospira anti...

Amblyomma mixtum Koch, 1844 parasitizes livestock, humans, and wildlife in Mexico. However, information on population genetics for this tick species in the country is missing. Tick samples were collected from livestock in ten regions across the state of Veracruz (22°28'N, 17°09'S, 93°36'E, 98°39'W) to analyze the genetic structure of A. mixtum popu...

Purpose This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence and correlates of Leptospira IgG antibodies in backyard pigs in the northern Mexican state of Durango. We performed a cross-sectional study of 305 backyard pigs. Anti-Leptospira IgG antibodies were detected using microscopic agglutination assay (MAT) with a panel of 12 Leptospira antigens. R...

Water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) were introduced to Mexico at the end of the last century. In Mexico, buffaloes are commonly pastured together with cattle; however few studies have been done on buffalo herd health in Mexico. We hypothesized that a better knowledge of the epidemiology of infections shared between cattle and buffaloes may improve he...

The genus Leptospira encompass 22 species of spirochaetes, with ten pathogenic species that have been recorded in more than 160 mammals worldwide. In the last two decades, the numbers of records of these agents associated with bats have increased exponentially, particularly in America. Although order Chiroptera represents the second most diverse or...

We aimed to determine the seroprevalence of infection with Neospora caninum, Leptospira, and bovine herpesvirus type 1 and risk factors associated with these infections in water buffaloes in Veracruz State, Mexico. Through a cross-sectional study, 144 water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) raised in 5 ranches of Veracruz were examined for anti-N. caninu...

Here, economic losses caused by cattle parasites in Mexico were estimated on an annual basis. The main factors taken into consideration for this assessment included the total number of animals at risk, potential detrimental effects of parasitism on milk production or weight gain, and records of condemnation on livestock byproducts. Estimates in US...

Serum samples from 18 axis deer (Axis axis) and 19 fallow deer (Dama dama) were analyzed with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for Neospora caninum antibodies. Two axis (11%) and two fallow deer (11%) were positive for N. caninum antibodies.

Cuando se realizan actividades ganaderas, uno de los problemas más recurrentes es la infestación del ganado por parásitos gastrointestinales, pulmonares y ectoparásitos. Por lo anterior una práctica común es el uso de productos desparasitantes, ya sea antes de que infesten al animal, a manera de prevención o bien, si ya presentan cuadros clín...

Background Cryptosporidiosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium spp. that can affect domestic animal and human populations. In newborn ruminants, cryptosporidiosis is characterized by outbreaks of diarrhea, which can result in high morbidity and economic impact. The aim of the present study was to determine the p...

Haematobia irritans es un insecto hematófago que afecta al ganado bovino en climas tropicales y ocasionalmente en templados. Para alimentarse, este díptero hace picaduras que dañan la piel del animal causando molestias que disminuyen el tiempo de alimentación y la ganancia de peso; además, puede transmitir patógenos causantes de enfermedades como l...

The aim of this study is to determine the use of streptolysin O (SLO), to open pores on the plasmatic membrane of the swine sperm, to see the effect on the viability, functional status and integrity of nuclear chromatin. 30 ejaculates were used; immediately after collection, semen was diluted in a solution of BTS (2:1, v/v preheated to 35ºC). Two a...

The aim of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of Gastrointestinal Nematodes in cattle in ten production units of Hidalgotitlan, Veracruz, Mexico. To perform this work, an epidemiological cross-sectional study from November 2012 to January 2013 was conducted. A total of 214 animal fecal samples were taken and placed in plastic bags....

Transboundary zoonotic diseases, several of which are vector borne, can maintain a dynamic focus and have pathogens circulating in geographic regions encircling multiple geopolitical boundaries. Global change is intensifying transboundary problems, including the spatial variation of the risk and incidence of zoonotic diseases.The complexity of thes...

Objective: To determine the prevalence of infection with intestinal parasites in 101 dogs in an animal shelter in Veracruz, Mexico, and investigate whether any general characteristics of the dogs were associated with infections. Methods: Parasitological examination of fecal samples from the dogs was performed by means of centrifuge-flotation using...

Transboundary zoonotic diseases, several of which are vector borne, can maintain a dynamic focus and have pathogens circulating in geographic regions encircling multiple geopoliti-cal boundaries. Global change is intensifying transboundary problems, including the spatial variation of the risk and incidence of zoonotic diseases. The complexity of th...

La mosca del cuerno (Haematobia irritans) es un ectoparásito hematófago del ganado bovino, que afecta al ganado de pastoreo principalmente. Es transmisor de enfermedades, causa estrés y daña los cueros. En altas infestaciones disminuye la producción de leche y carne. El control de mosca se realiza con productos químicos principalmente, de los cuale...

Background Infection with Toxoplasma gondii in water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) is of epidemiological importance because of the risk for transmission to humans. We sought to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in 339 water buffaloes in Veracruz State, Mexico using the modified agglutination test (MAT, cut off 1:25). Seroprevalence...

El búfalo de agua Asiático (Bubalus bubalis) y el búfalo Africano (Synceruscaffer) son las dos especies principales de búfalos en el mundo. Además de ser una especie domesticada, el búfalo de agua es un ungulado que por pertenecer a la familia Bovidae está relacionado con el ganado vacuno. El búfalo de rio y el búfalo de pantano son dos subespecies...

Background Little is known concerning the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in dogs in Mexico. Here, we investigated antibodies to T. gondii and associated risk factors in 101 dogs from an animal shelter in Veracruz State, Mexico. Canine sera were assayed for T. gondii IgG antibodies by using the modified agglutination test (MAT, cut off 1:...

BACKGROUND: The southern cattle fever tick (SCFT), Rhipicephalus microplus, is considered the most economically important external parasite of livestock worldwide. SCFT populations resistant to acaricides complicate efforts to enhance the productivity of livestock. Here, acaricide resistance is summarized and integrated approaches in the Americas t...

Toxoplasma gondii infection in pigs has epidemiological concern for its contributing role in human infections. We determined seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in 402 domestic pigs raised in backyards in Veracruz State, Mexico using the modified agglutination test (MAT; cut off 1:25); 182 (45.3 %) of the 402 pigs were seropositive with MAT titer...

Toxoplasma gondii infection in pigs has epidemio-logical concern for its contributing role in human infections. We determined seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in 402 domestic pigs raised in backyards in Veracruz State, Mexico using the modified agglutination test (MAT; cut off 1:25); 182 (45.3 %) of the 402 pigs were seropositive with MAT tite...

Activation of the growth hormone (GH) secretagogue receptor (GHS-R) by synthetic GH releasing peptides (GHRP) or its endogenous ligand (Ghrelin) stimulates GH release. Though much is known about the signal transduction underlying short-term regulation, there is far less information on the mechanisms that produce long-term effects. In the current re...

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (bovine herpesvirus-1 [BHV-1]) in unvaccinated cattle in southern Veracruz, Mexico. The study was conducted from September 2007 to March 2009. A total of 968 serum samples from 83 herds were analyzed through ELISA...

The aim of this study was to identify Mycobacterium bovis presence in fresh cheese sold at markets in the Veracruz-Boca del Rio metropolitan area, Mexico and to determine the associated risk factors, using a cross-sectional study. A sample size of 30 was calculated with the program Win Episcope Ver 2.0. Samples were collected in two occasions, duri...

The objective of this study was to analyze the possible relationship between certain climatic variables and temporal variation in the presence of vesicular stomatitis (VS) in bovine in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, from January 1996 to December 2002. The information on VS outbreaks was obtained from the data base of the World Organization for Anim...