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Research Publications (Food Safety)

This page tracks research articles published in national and international peer-reviewed journals. Recent articles are available ahead of print and searchable by Journal, Article Title, and Category. Research publications are tracked across six categories: Bacterial Pathogens, Chemical Contaminants, Natural Toxins, Parasites, Produce Safety, and Viruses. Articles produced by USDA Grant Funding Agencies (requires login) and FDA Grant Funding Agencies (requires login) are also tracked in Scopus.

Displaying 26 - 50 of 243

  1. Molecular characterization of Giardia duodenalis and evidence for cross‐species transmission in Northern Argentina

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 4, Page 2209-2218, July 2022. Anthropogenic activities, such as human population expansion and land-use change, create ecological overlap between humans, domesticated animals, and wildlife and can exacerbate the zoonotic transmission of parasites.

      • Parasites
      • Giardia lamblia
  2. Evolutionary history and spatiotemporal dynamic of GIII norovirus: From emergence to classification in four genotypes

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 4, Page 1872-1879, July 2022. Noroviruses belong to a genetically diverse group of viruses infecting a wide range of mammalian host species, and those detected in cattle and sheep are classified within genogroup III (GIII).

      • Viruses
      • Norovirus
  3. A pilot study revealing host‐associated genetic signatures for source attribution of sporadic Campylobacter jejuni infection in Egypt

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 4, Page 1847-1861, July 2022. Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), is considered among the most common bacterial causes of human bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. The epidemiology and the transmission dynamics of campylobacteriosis in Egypt remain poorly defined due to the limited use of high-resolution typing methods.

      • Bacterial pathogens
      • Campylobacter
  4. Molecular characterization of Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor strains in Malaysia revealed genetically diverse variant lineages

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 4, Page e693-e703, July 2022. Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor variants have been the major causative agents of cholera worldwide since their emergence in the 2000s. Cholera remains endemic in some regions in Malaysia. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the genetic characteristics of the V.

      • Bacterial pathogens
      • Vibrio
  5. Genetic characterization of hepatitis E virus from wild boar in China

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Hepatitis E virus (HEV), the causative agent of hepatitis E (HE), is classified into four major genotypes (1–4), with wild boar being the main natural reservoir for genotypes 3 and 4. However, little is known about the prevalence of HEV infection in wild boars in China.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  6. Low prevalence of hepatitis E virus in the liver of Corsican pigs slaughtered after 12 months despite high antibody seroprevalence

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection can be acute and benign or evolve to chronic hepatitis with rapid progression toward cirrhosis or liver failure in humans. Hence, Hepatitis E (HE) disease is a major public health concern. In countries where pig populations are highly contaminated with HEV, human cases of HE are mainly foodborne, occurring frequently after consumption of raw or undercooked pork products or liver.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  7. Hepatitis E virus in the endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen in Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, wild boar (Sus scrofa) is considered the main wildlife reservoir of HEV. This wild ungulate shares habitat and resources with other potential HEV carriers in Iberian Mediterranean ecosystems, although information about the role of such sympatric species in the HEV epidemiological cycle is still very limited.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  8. Isolation of 15 hepatitis E virus strains lacking ORF1 rearrangements from wild boar and pig organ samples and efficient replication in cell culture

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. As a zoonotic pathogen, the hepatitis E virus (HEV) leads to numerous infections in humans with different clinical manifestations. Especially genotype 3, as causative agent of a foodborne zoonosis, is transmitted to humans by ingestion of undercooked or raw meat containing liver from HEV infected animals.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  9. Novel subtypes and unexpected heterogeneity of hepatitis E viral strains in wild boar captured in a small area in Central Italy

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Wild boar is the main sylvatic reservoir of the genotype 3 of hepatitis E virus (HEV). The occurrence of HEV-3 human cases has been linked to the consumption of raw or undercooked pig and wild boar meat and liver. The zoonotic transmission of HEV-3 has been confirmed by sequencing identical or strictly related viral strains in humans, wild boar, and derived food.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  10. Genomic characteristics and recombination patterns of swine hepatitis E virus in China

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Zoonotic hepatitis E, mainly caused by swine hepatitis E virus (sHEV), is endemic in China, causing great economic disruption and public health threats. Although recombination is critical for the evolution of viruses, there is a limited assessment of its occurrence among sHEVs.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  11. Genetic diversity of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from rodents in the world: A systematic review

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 3, Page 943-957, May 2022. Toxoplasmosis is one of the most frequent food-borne infections in humans caused by an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. Rodents, as intermediate and reservoir hosts, play key role in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis; because they are the main source of infection for the Felidae family members and establish the parasite life cycle.

      • Parasites
      • Toxoplasma gondii
  12. Socioeconomic factors associated with infection by Toxoplasma gondii and Toxocara canis in children

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 3, Page 1589-1595, May 2022. The intense contact of children with domestic animals or environments contaminated with faeces of these animals, together with habits related to lack of hygiene, can facilitate infection by zoonoses. The study evaluated the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with toxoplasmosis and toxocariasis in schoolchildren in the city of Jataizinho, Paraná.

      • Parasites
      • Toxoplasma gondii
  13. Prevalence and molecular characterization of foodborne and human‐derived Salmonella strains for resistance to critically important antibiotics

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. The primary goals of this cross-sectional study were to screen various food/water, and human samples for the presence of Salmonella species, and to assess the phenotypic and genetic relationship between resistances found in food and human Salmonella isolates to critically important antibiotics.

      • Bacterial pathogens
      • Salmonella
  14. A novel Chaphamaparvovirus is the etiological agent of hepatitis outbreaks in pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) characterized by high mortality

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. In the present study, we report the occurrence of several outbreaks of hepatitis in flocks of young pheasants in France, between 2017 and 2021. The disease was characterized by prostration, apathy and a median cumulative mortality of 12%, with the birds presenting multifocal to coalescing necrotizing hepatitis on necropsy.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  15. Isolation, genotyping and virulence determination of a Toxoplasma gondii strain from non‐human primate from China

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 919-925, March 2022. Toxoplasma gondii infects almost all warm-blooded animals, including humans and non-human primates. Many cases of T. gondii infection in non-human primates have been reported worldwide. In this study, 15 monkeys were collected from zoos in Henan Province between 2016 and 2019.

      • Parasites
      • Toxoplasma gondii
  16. A type II variant of Toxoplasma gondii infects the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) in southern Italy

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 874-880, March 2022. Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, is a widespread zoonosis capable to affect a wide range of warm-blooded vertebrates. In the past two decades, T. gondii emerged as a significant aquatic pathogen with some pathogenic atypical genotypes isolated and characterized from stranded marine mammals.

      • Parasites
      • Toxoplasma gondii
  17. Natural co‐infection of divergent hepatitis B and C virus homologues in carnivores

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 195-203, March 2022. In humans, co-infection of hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) is common and aggravates disease outcome. Infection-mediated disease aggravation is poorly understood, partly due to lack of suitable animal models. Carnivores are understudied for hepatitis virus homologues. We investigated Mexican carnivores (ringtails, Bassariscus astutus) for HBV and HCV homologues.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  18. Serological prevalence and molecular characterization of hepatitis E virus in imported pigs in Singapore (2000–2019)

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 286-296, March 2022. Hepatitis E is a significant liver disease caused by infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV). The risk factors for hepatitis E in developed countries include blood transfusion and ingestion of undercooked meat or meat products derived from HEV-infected animals. Since 2000, there has been increased human hepatitis E incidence reported in Singapore.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  19. Cryptosporidiosis outbreak caused by Cryptosporidium parvum subtype IIdA20G1 in neonatal calves

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 2, Page 278-285, March 2022. Cryptosporidium parvum is a major zoonotic pathogen responsible for outbreaks of severe diarrhoea in humans and calves. Almost all investigations of cryptosporidiosis outbreaks caused by C. parvum have focused on its IIa subtype family in industrialized nations.

      • Parasites
      • Cryptosporidium parvum
  20. Phylogeny and spatio‐temporal dynamics of hepatitis E virus infections in wild boar and deer from six areas of Germany during 2013‐2017

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. The hepatitis E virus (HEV) can cause acute and chronic hepatitis in humans. Infections with the zoonotic HEV genotype 3, which can be transmitted from infected wild boar and deer to humans, are increasingly detected in Europe.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  21. Prevalence and characteristics of Campylobacter from the genital tract of primates and ruminants in Eastern China

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Campylobacter infection is an important cause of genital failure in ruminants in developed countries. Although historically Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus has been the main cause of abortion in sheep, C. jejuni is also increasingly associated with sheep abortions.

      • Bacterial pathogens
      • Campylobacter
  22. Campylobacter Positivity and Public Health Risks in Live Bird Markets, Busia, Kenya. A Value Chain Analysis

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Live bird markets (LBMs) provide integral hubs for 95% of poultry produced for food. Surveillance systems in LBMs serving smallholder farmers in sub-saharan Africa are often non-functional and data about public health risks and emerging pathogens are lacking. Studies in Kenya have reported 29% – 44% Campylobacter-prevalence in poultry.

      • Bacterial pathogens
      • Campylobacter
  23. Age and episode‐associated occurrence of Cryptosporidium species and subtypes in a birth‐cohort of dairy calves

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. The role of species-specific immunity in infection patterns of Cryptosporidium spp. in humans and farm animals is not well understood. In the present study, the dynamics of Cryptosporidium infections in a natural cryptosporidiosis model was examined using genotyping, subtyping and whole genome sequencing tools. In a cross-sectional survey of Cryptosporidium spp.

      • Parasites
      • Cryptosporidium parvum
  24. Survey of Staphylococcus aureus carriage by free‐living red deer (Cervus elaphus): evidence of human and domestic animal lineages

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen that can affect multiple host species. Evidence of transmission between humans and animals and among different animal species has been reported in recent years. In this study, we investigated 284 free-living red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the Central Italian Alps to assess the prevalence and molecular characteristics of S.

      • Bacterial pathogens
      • Staphylococcus aureus
  25. Diarrhea outbreak caused by coinfections of Cryptosporidium parvum subtype IIdA20G1 and rotavirus in pre‐weaned dairy calves

    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
    • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Diarrhea is one of the most important syndromes in neonatal calves. In industrialized nations with intensive animal farming, Cryptosporidium spp. and rotavirus are primary causes of calf diarrhea, but the role of these and other enteric pathogens is not clear in China.

      • Parasites
      • Cryptosporidium parvum