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Snakes of the genus Bothrops inhabit tropical forests in Central and South America and are important for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries because of the chemical properties of their venom. They serve as either definitive or intermediate hosts for many parasitic helminths. The Marajó Island (Brazil) is the natural habitat of venomous snakes, Bothrops atrox and Bothrops marajoensis, which are often found around rural and peri-urban areas and are known to bite humans. Samples of helminths parasitizing the oral cavity, subcutaneous tissues, coelomic cavity, and intestine of four B. atrox from Marajó Island (Pará-Brazil) were collected. The specimens studied were taxonomically classified as trematodes of the species Stycholecitha serpentis, nematodes of the genera Eustrongylides and Camallanus and cystacanths of an acanthocephalan of the genus Centrorhynchus. The aims of the present study were: to record helminths found in B. atrox from the Marajó Island; to discuss their role as definitive, intermediate, or paratenic hosts; and to compile a list of helminths that have been recorded in snakes of the genus Bothrops of the Neotropical region., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study reports the presence of high parasitic load by Myzobdella lugubris Leidy, 1851 in the swimming crab Callinectes bocourti A. Milne-Edwards, 1879 from Amazon mangrove. We sampled the swimming crabs using a baited trap, between January and June 2023, in Santa Maria River, located in the municipality of Curuçá, state of Pará, Brazil (geographical coordinates 0°40'3.705"S, 047°54'43.405"W). After sampling, each swimming crab was individually placed in plastic containers for the count of leeches per individual. In the laboratory, the specimens were sexed, measured (parasite and host) and fixed in 70% alcohol. For the leech species identification, macroscopic techniques were combined with light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We examined 86 specimens of C. bocourti (75 males and 11 females) in a ratio of 1 M:0.14 F, all infested with leeches. In total, 186 leech specimens were collected, ranging from 1 to 21 leeches per host. Leeches oviposited the cocoons in greater quantities in ventral area of swimming crab carapace (32%), followed by dorsal area of carapace (29.09%), chelipeds (24.34%) and ambulatory legs (14.57%). The presence of M. lugubris is a risk to the health of the host, once it may transmit a range of diseases to aquatic organisms, and subsequently risk to human health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence this study., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We investigated the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum antibodies in pigs raised in the Northeast of Pará, Brazil. At Study I, convenience sampled 151 pigs at two slaughterhouses, with and without state inspection; and Study II, which assessed 159 pigs with probabilistic sampling from nine pig farms. Serological analysis was performed using indirect fluorescent antibody test for T. gondii and N. caninum with a cutoff of 64 and 50, respectively. Overall, 6.77% pigs were seropositive for T. gondii and 5.16% for N. caninum. In Study I, pigs slaughtered with and without state inspection presented similar occurrence for both coccidia (p>0.05). Study II found an association between N. caninum seropositivity and sludge discarded into the soil, feeding pigs with animal-based protein, subsistence system, and absence of nipple drinkers. No association was found for T. gondii. Pigs from Pará are a potential source of T. gondii infection to humans. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to report anti-N. caninum antibodies in the serum of pigs in Pará State, Brazilian Amazon.

Based on ethnopharmacological studies, a lot of plants, as well as its compounds, have been investigated for the potential use as wound healing agents. In Brazil, Curatella americana is traditionally used by local people to treat wounds, ulcers and inflammations. However, to the best of our knowledge, its traditional use in the treatment of wounds has not been validated by a scientific study. Here, some compounds, many of them flavonoids, were identified in the hydroethanolic extract from the leaves of C. americana (HECA) by LC-HRMS and LC-MS/MS. Besides that, solutions containing different concentrations of HECA and a gel produced with this extract were evaluated for its antimicrobial, coagulant and wound healing activities on an excision mouse wound model as well as its acute dermal safety. A total of thirteen compounds were identified in HECA, mainly quercetin, kaempferol and glucoside derivatives of both, besides catechin and epicatechin known as wound healing agents. The group treated with 1% of HECA exhibited highest wound healing activity and best rate of wound contraction confirmed by histopathology results. The present study provides scientific evidence of, this extract (HECA) possess remarkable wound healing activity, thereby, supporting the traditional use., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Mycobacterium bovis is the main causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) being among the animal-adapted Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Herds can also be infected with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) causing a negative effect on the economy and on animal and human health through zoonotic infections. Molecular tools are required for mycobacteria identification; thus, it is laborious to determine the epidemiological information of mycobacteria among herds. We aimed to describe the mycobacterial pathogens associated with cases of suspected bTB lesions in cattle/buffaloes slaughtered for consumption and to investigate bTB transmission. We evaluated 74 lesion samples from 48 animals (27 bovine/21 buffaloes) from 16 mapped farms. Positives samples from nested-PCR were cultured in Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ), 2% pyruvate (LJ + P), and 2% glycerol (LJ + G) media, followed by Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining technique and partial gene sequencing (hsp65, rpoB, and 16S-rRNA). Spoligotyping and 24-MIRU-VNTR were performed. The LJ + P increased the chance of obtaining bacilli. The respiratory tract and the oral cavity were the most important infection route. In addition, the calcified part of the lesions suggested chronic bTB. Spoligotypes of M. bovis (SIT986/SB0885) differed from others found in South America, and the MIRU-VNTR 24 loci suggested that bTB was associated to highly related strains. The NTM species found are of clinical importance in humans., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)