Gerardo Nava Morales

INTRODUCTION Salmonella is an important pathogen transmitted through food, water or direct contact with animals. Recently, it was estimated that this pathogen causes more than 20 million disease episodes and 144,000 worldwide deaths annually.1 In order to prevent infections, veterinary and human health laboratories have stablished national Salmonella surveillance programs oriented to monitor preva ...

1. BackgroundSalmonella is an important pathogen transmitted through food, water or direct contact with animals. Most Salmonella surveillance programs rely on polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays for rapid and accurate detection (1, 2). Among these molecular tools, the invA-PCR assay has been accepted as the conventional method for Salmonella detection (2-4). This PCR protocol amplifies a ...

BackgroundControl and eradication of intestinal infections caused by protozoa are important biotechnological and medical challenges worldwide. The coccidial parasites Eimeria, Toxoplasma, Neospora and Cryptosporidium are the cause of serious diseases in humans and animals. Many of these intracellular protozoa affect the small intestine and produce devastating effects on immune compromised subjects ...

FindingsAvian influenza virus (AIV) is a member of the Orthomyxoviridae family, Influenzavirus A genus. AIV is characterized by its ability to undergo constant antigenic changes [1]. AIV envelope contains two major glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) [2]. The HA/NA proteins play a key role during cellular infection. Different HA/NA combinations allow AIV subtype discrimination ...

FindingsThe recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus in numerous countries in Asia and Africa and the increase in human cases demonstrate that influenza A viruses remain a global pandemic threat [1,2]. Worldwide, natural migrations of birds and commercialization of poultry product are considered two of the most important mechanisms of disease dispersion [3]. Due to the h ...

 BackgroundAvian Influenza (AI) virus belongs to the Orthomyxoviridae family, Influenzavirus A genus. This virus possesses eight segments of single-stranded RNA genome. Two of these segments encode for two important membrane glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) [1], that play a key role during cellular infection. These two proteins are used for virus subtype classification ...