Life Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Transmission Of Toxoplasma Gondii: Oocysts In Water, Soil And Food, Karen Shapiro, Lillian Bahia-Oliveira, Brent Dixon, Aurélien Dumètre, Luz A. De Wit, Elizabeth Vanwormer, Isabelle Villena

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that can cause morbidity and mortality in humans, domestic animals, and terrestrial and aquatic wildlife. The environmentally robust oocyst stage of T. gondii is fundamentally critical to the parasite's success, both in terms of its worldwide distribution as well as the extensive range of infected intermediate hosts. Despite the limited definitive host species (domestic and wild felids), infections have been reported on every continent, and in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. The remarkable resistance of the oocyst wall enables dissemination of T. gondii through watersheds and ecosystems, and long-term persistence in diverse …

Serological Proteomic Screening And Evaluation Of A Recombinant Egg Antigen For The Diagnosis Of Low-Intensity Schistosoma Mansoni Infections In Endemic Area In Brazil, Vanessa Silva-Moraes, Lisa Marie Shollenberger, William Castro-Borges, Ana Lucia Teles Rabello, Donald A. Harn, Lia Carolina Soares Medeiros, Wander De Jesus Jeremias, Liliane Maria Vidal Siqueira, Caroline Stephane Salviano Pereira, Maria Luysa Camargos Pedrosa, Nathalie Bonatti Franco Almeida, Aureo Almeida, Jose Roberto Lambertucci, Nidia Francisca De Figueiredo Carneiro, Paulo Marcos Zech Coelho, Refaella Fortini Queiroz Grenfell

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Despite decades of use of control programs, schistosomiasis remains a global public health problem. To further reduce prevalence and intensity of infection, or to achieve the goal of elimination in low-endemic areas, there needs to be better diagnostic tools to detect low-intensity infections in low-endemic areas in Brazil. The rationale for development of new diagnostic tools is that the current standard test Kato-Katz (KK) is not sensitive enough to detect low-intensity infections in low-endemic areas. In order to develop new diagnostic tools, we employed a proteomics approach to identify biomarkers associated with schistosome-specific immune responses in hopes of developing …

A New Species Of Gordius (Phylum Nematomorpha) From Terrestrial Habitats In North America, Christina Anaya, Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa, Ben Hanelt, Matthew G. Bolek

Harold W. Manter Laboratory: Library Materials

Freshwater hairworms (class Gordiida) are members of the phylum Nematomorpha that use terrestrial arthropods as definitive hosts but reside as free-living adult worms in rivers, lakes, or streams. The genus Gordius consists of 90 described species, of which three species were described from freshwater habitats in North America. In this paper we describe a new species of Gordius from terrestrial habitats in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana, United States. Oddly, each year hundreds of adult free-living worms appear after bouts of heavy rain on streets, sidewalks, and lawns during the winter season, when terrestrial arthropod hosts are not active. The new …

The Effects Of Soil Ph And Composition On Blacklegged Tick Molting Success Avian Window Strike Mortality On Union College Campus, Kaleigh Ahern

Honors Theses

The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is the one of the most significant vectors of infectious disease in the world and most notorious for its ability to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Because both the range of the blacklegged tick and the annual incidence of Lyme disease have been increasing in North America over the past several decades, it is becoming increasingly important to better understand how environmental factors contribute to blacklegged tick survival. Past studies have shown that these factors include precipitation levels, extent of groundcover, plant and animal community composition, temperature, and soil type. Because …