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One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environments. The main goal of this paper is to highlight the significance of the One Health concept in relation to the large group of diseases that transmits through arthropods and their worldwide distribution, with a closer look at the zoonoses. The importance of knowledge increases as the globalization and climate changes increases the likelihood of transmission, as both cause favourable conditions for transmission of bacteria and viruses. The increase in reservoir abundance, climate change, changing habitat structure, socio-political changes, and import of animals for welfare reasons, trade and traveling are considered to be potential factors for the pathogen and vector introductions to new areas. This article highlights the selected agents of bacterial zoonoses as sources of human and animal diseases and shows the number of cases of Lyme disease, which is the most common bacterial tick-borne disease in humans in Slovakia and Norway, and the trend in incidence over the past twelve years.

Purpose: Free-roaming cats represent a potential reservoir of infectious diseases. The most common co-infections of free-roaming cats include mixed viral, bacterial, fungal, yeast and parasitic infections. This study focuses on the occurrence of Chlamydia spp. feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and their co-infections. The diseases accompanied by immune suppression, such as FIV, create favourable conditions for the onset of other diseases and co-infections. The result of co-infection may be a higher susceptibility for other pathogens, as well as the occurrence of more severe clinical symptoms., Patients and Methods: The study involved 168 (113♀ and 55♂) free-roaming adult cats during the years 2021-2022. All cats belonged to Slovak citizens with permanent residence in the Slovak Republic. Blood samples and swabs (Invasive EUROTUBO ® Collection sterile swab, Deltalab O8191 Rubí, Spain) from the conjunctival sac were taken from 168 cats to be later tested by PCR and ELISA methods. Statistical analysis was also performed., Results: The overall prevalence of Chlamydia spp. was 17.26%, of FIV 15.48%, and 5.95% of FeLV. The most significant finding in our study was 3.57% co-infection of FIV and Chlamydia spp. in tested cats., Conclusion: The observed prevalence of Chlamydia spp. FIV and FeLV indicates that the presence of these pathogens in populations of free-roaming cats is endemic., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work. Animal rights statement: The study was performed in accordance with the institutional guidelines for animal welfare issued by the Ethical Committee of the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice. Informed consent was obtained from all the animals’ owners., (© 2024 Vojtek et al.)

In central Europe, at least three flaviviruses circulate among vectors and vertebrate hosts. West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are mosquito-borne viruses maintained in the nature by enzootic cycle between mosquitoes and birds. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a flavivirus causing annual human cases in Slovakia. The aim of this study is the prevalence assessment of flavivirus infections in horses (n = 145) and birds (n = 109) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and confirmation by neutralization test (VNT). WNV antibodies have been detected in 11.7% of tested horses and 11.9% of tested birds and confirmed in 6.9% of horse and 9.2% of bird samples. None of the WNV seropositive or dubious horses had WNV IgM (ELISA), and none of the tested horses had USUV neutralizing antibodies. Autochthonous WNV infections have been confirmed in 16.7% of horses without international travelling history. Most of them were from western Slovakia with known endemic WNV transmission. An autochthonous WNV infection in a horse from highland area of Kremnické vrchy (central Slovakia) with unknown data of WNV circulation and without travelling history was detected. TBEV antibody was detected in 6.2% of horses and in 3.4% has been confirmed. In two horses, WNV and TBEV infection could not be distinguished. Confirmed WNV seropositive were eight raptors showing nonspecific signs or suffering from trauma, one white stork, and one house sparrow. The sparrow was caught in a locality in eastern Slovakia, where WNV RNA had been previously detected in sparrows. USUV neutralizing antibodies were present in pooled sample from four Eurasian great tits. Because of insufficient volume, TBEV VNT was not carried out in birds. Results further prove the endemicity of WNV and other vector-borne flaviviruses in natural and accidental hosts in Slovakia, giving better insight in flavivirus epidemiology in European countries in general.