Tania Ayllón

• Doctor in Veterinary Medicine
• Professor (Associate) at Complutense University of Madrid

BACKGROUND The Atlantic Forest harbours a rich mosquito assemblage, including vectors for diverse arbovirus. Mosquito species adapt to urban-forest landscape changes, acting as bridge vectors for pathogens. OBJECTIVES This study evaluated different collection methods for immature and adult mosquitoes combined with improving field personnel qualifi...

Managing infections caused by multidrug‐resistant Gram‐negative bacilli is a major public health concern, particularly in hospitals where surfaces can act as reservoirs for resistant microorganisms. Identifying these bacteria in hospital environments is crucial for improving healthcare safety. This study aimed to analyse environmental samples from...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRS) bacteria, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius (MRSP), pose a significant threat in veterinary medicine, given their potential for zoonotic transmission and their implications for companion animals and humans’ health. This study aimed to assess the prevale...

Simple Summary West Nile virus (WNV) is a flavivirus that circulates among birds and mosquitoes and can cause outbreaks in people and horses, sometimes leading to serious brain-related illness and death. This study aimed to investigate WNV circulation in birds and horses in Madrid, Spain. Through serological testing (cELISA), a proportion of birds...

West Nile virus (WNV) is a re-emerging flavivirus, primarily circulating among avian hosts and mosquito vectors, causing periodic outbreaks in humans and horses, often leading to neuroinvasive disease and mortality. Spain has reported several outbreaks, most notably in 2020 with seventy-seven human cases and eight fatalities. WNV has been serologic...

Simple Summary The rise of drug-resistant bacteria, particularly in animals, poses a major challenge in veterinary medicine. Antibiotic development lags behind the increasing resistance. To tackle this, alternative therapies have been explored, such as the use of natural products and plant extracts. This study evaluates the laboratory efficacy of p...

Simple Summary Inappropriate use of antimicrobials during surgeries in small animals can lead to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, increased costs and disruption of natural microorganisms. To address this issue, a survey was conducted among Spanish veterinarians to evaluate their current practices regarding antimicrobial use in perioperativ...

Appropriate use of perioperative antimicrobials can significantly reduce the risk of postoperative infections. However, inappropriate antimicrobial use can result in the creation of multidrug resistant bacteria, increased costs, host flora disruption, side effects, and increased risk of hospital-acquired infections This survey evaluated the current...

Dengue (DENV), chikungunya (CHIKV), and Zika (ZIKV) virus infections are widespread throughout the Rio de Janeiro state. The co-circulation of these emergent arboviruses constitutes a serious public health problem, resulting in outbreaks that can spatially and temporally overlap. Environmental conditions favor the presence, maintenance, and expansi...

Special Issue for Submission: Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of Drug-Resistant Bacteria of Companion Animals

The last 10 years have seen a progressive increase in antibiotic resistance rates in bacteria isolated from companion animals. Exposure of individuals to resistant bacteria from companion animals, such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase- (ESBL) and carbapenemase- (CPE) producing Enterobacteriaceae, can be propitiated. Few studies evaluate the inci...

Simultaneous spatial circulation of urban arboviral diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, is a major challenge. In this ecological study of urban arboviruses performed from 2015 to 2019, we analyzed the spatial and temporal dynamics of these arboviruses in all 92 municipalities and nine health regions of Rio de Janeiro state. Annual cumu...

Using collection methods for Aedes adults as surveillance tools provides reliable indices and arbovirus detection possibilities. This study compared the effectiveness of different methods for collecting Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus and detecting arboviruses circulating in field-caught female specimens. Collection sites were defined in urban, peri...

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to human and animal health. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus spp. (MRS) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. (VRE) are of increasing importance in hospital and/or nosocomial infections and represent a potential risk of transmission to humans from infected or colonized companion animals....

Aedes spp. are considered the main vectors of dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses in the world. Arbovirus detection in Aedes mosquitoes can alert authorities to possible outbreaks, reducing the impact of these diseases. The purpose of this study was to perform an operational strategy for virological surveillance of DENV, ZIKV...

A comprehensive cohort study including an entomological surveillance component can contribute to our knowledge of clinical aspects and transmission patterns of arbovirosis. This article describes the implementation of a populational-based birth cohort study that included an entomological surveillance component, and its associated challenges in a lo...

Many RNA viruses have recently emerged, threatening humans and causing harm to animals and plants. Bunyaviruses represent one of the largest groups of RNA viruses and are able to infect a wide range of hosts (invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants). Recently, new insect-specific viruses have been isolated from mosquitoes and phlebotomine sandflies...

Aedes albopictus, originally considered as a secondary vector for arbovirus transmission, especially in areas where this species co-exist with Aedes aegypti, has been described in most regions of the world. Dispersion and domiciliation of Ae. albopictus in a complex of densely urbanized slums in Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil, was evidenced. I...

Excel file containing the original data used for Tables 1 and 2. The table contains the number of Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes collected during the study period and the distances, in meters, to the nearest green border. (XLSX)

Background Infection rate associated with intravenous (IV) catheter placement is emerging as an important issue in small animal veterinary medicine, mostly because of the economic costs associated with these infections. Identification of possible associated factors may provide useful information for the surveillance and prevention of such infection...

Background: Hemotropic mycoplasmas (hemoplasmas) have been found infecting cats worldwide. However, studies about feline hemoplasma infections in Spain are scarce. Therefore, the purpose of the research was to evaluate the prevalence of feline hemotropic mycoplasmas and to characterize risk factors and clinical findings associated with these infec...

Bayesian maximum clade credibility tree representing the time-scale phylogeny of the Zika virus outbreaks in the Americas.

During 2014–2016, we conducted mosquito-based Zika virus surveillance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Results suggest that Zika virus was probably introduced into the area during May–November 2013 via multiple in-country sources. Furthermore, our results strengthen the hypothesis that Zika virus in the Americas originated in Brazil during October 2012–M...

Background Different species of apicomplexan protozoans of the genera Hepatozoon and Cytauxzoon can infect domestic cats, but their epidemiology and clinical relevance are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to assess the molecular prevalence of Hepatozoon spp. and Cytauxzoon spp. and to identify associated risk factors and clinical and...

Culicoides spp. play an important role in the transmission of several vector-borne pathogens such as Bluetongue and Schmallenberg virus in Europe. To better understand the biology of local Culicoides species, a study divided into three parts was performed in northeast Germany to elucidate the feeding activity patterns (study A), preferential landin...

The role of various vector-borne pathogens as a cause of disease in cats has not been clearly determined. The current study evaluated risk factors, clinical and laboratory abnormalities associated with Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., Neorickettsia spp., Leishmania spp., and Bartonella spp. infection or exposure in 680 client-owned and stray cats fr...

Infection by different Leishmania spp. in cats has been reported in many countries. In Spain, since the first Leishmania infection described in 1933, sporadic clinical cases in cats have been reported. Various serologic studies performed in other areas of Spain have shown seroprevalences ranging between 1.7 and 60%. The aim of the present study was...

An indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test is usually performed to detect antibodies in dogs naturally infected by Ehrlichia canis. In this work, results obtained using three different E. canis strains as antigen (a commercial antigen, the E. canis Oklahoma strain and the E. canis Madrid strain) were compared. One hundred and forty-nine serum samp...