Irene Bertoletti

Bartonella henselae is the major etiological agent of Cat Scratch Disease in humans. Cats act as the natural reservoir of B. henselae and can transmit the infection to humans by bite or scratch. The diffusion of B. henselae was evaluated by seroprevalence and bacteremic status in different stray cat populations located in nine areas of Northern Italy. A total of 1585 cats were tested by blood culture and 361 (23%) resulted bacteremic; 1416 out off 1585 cats were also tested for Bartonella henselae antibodies and 553 (39%) resulted seropositive. The molecular typing of the isolates showed that 26% of bacteremic cats were infected with B. henselae type I, 52% with B. henselae type II, 16% were co-infected with both and 5% infected with B. Clarridgeiae. Moreover 165 domestic cats were tested by blood culture and serological test (IFA test cut-off: 1:64). 35 cats (21%) resulted bacteremic and 49 (43.5%) were seropositive. The molecular typing of the Bartonella isolates of the domestic c...

Citation: Indagini sanitarie su camosci (Rupicapra rupicapra) abbattuti durante la stagione venatoria 2006 in Provincia di Sondrio/I. Bertoletti, A. Bianchi, E. Andreoli, S. Mattiello (ISTISAN congressi; 07/C5).-In: Epidemiologia Veterinaria: nuovi strumenti per lo studio ...

Piano di monitoraggio sanitario della fauna selvatica dell'arco alpino lombardo e presenza di agenti zoonosici su carcasse conferite alle Sezioni Diagnostiche IZSLER delle province di Bergamo, Brescia, Como-Varese e Sondrio-Lecco / I. Bertoletti, A. Bianchi, S. Mattiello, E. ...

Sanitary survey of wild red deer (Cervus elaphus) hunted in Sondrio Province (Italy) / I. Bertoletti, A. Bianchi, E. Andreoli, S. Mattiello. - In: Abstracts of the 1. International Conference on Genus Cervus". - Trento : Effe e Erre, 2007. - p. 71-71. ((Intervento presentato al 1. ...

Staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) is one of the most important foodborne diseases. This work describes a SFP event linked to the consumption of alm cheese and involved three people belonging to the same family. Leftovers of the consumed cheese, samples from the grocery store and the producing alm were collected and tested for Coagulase positive staphylococci (CPS) enumeration and for the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs). Isolates were typed with MLST, spa typing, and tested for SEs and methicillin resistance genes. An in vitro test evaluated SEs production in relation to bacterial growth. The presence of CPS and SEs was detected in all cheese samples and all isolates belonged to the same methicillin sensitive ST8/t13296 strain harbouring sed, ser and sej genes. The in vitro test showed the production of enterotoxins started from 105 CFU/mL. The farmer was prescribed with corrective actions that led to eradication of the contaminating strain.

... considerata un “campanello di allarme” ai fini di una ripetizione della stessa sui campioni che verranno raccolti nelle prossime stagio-ni venatorie ... Bibliografia Badiola JJ, Bakker D, Garcia Marin JF, Gilot P, Hermon-Taylor J, Sharp JM, Schivananda S, Thorel MF, Vuitton D (2000 ...

Fresh (frozen/thawed) muscle samples from four 2-12-year-old roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) from the Sondrio province in north-eastern Italy were examined under a dissecting microscope, and about 180 sarcocysts were isolated and identified to morphological type in wet mounts by light microscopy (LM). Seventy-seven of these sarcocysts were subsequently examined by molecular methods, comprising polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequencing of the partial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (cox1) of all isolates, as well as PCR amplification, cloning and sequencing of the complete18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene of two isolates of each species found. By LM, three major sarcocyst types were recognised: spindle-shaped sarcocysts, 0.5-3 mm long, either with no clearly recognisable protrusions (thin-walled) or with finger-like protrusions (thick-walled); and slender, thread-like sarcocysts, 2-3 mm long, with hair-like protrusions. Sequencing of cox1 revealed that the sarcocysts belonged to four different species. Those with no visible protrusions either belonged to Sarcocystis gracilis (n = 24) or to a Sarcocystis taeniata-like species (n = 19), whereas those with finger- and hair-like protrusions belonged to Sarcocystis silva (n = 27) and Sarcocystis capreolicanis (n = 7), respectively. The 19 cox1 sequences of the S. taeniata-like species, comprising five haplotypes, differed from each other at 0-16 of 1038 nucleotide positions (98.5-100% identity). They differed from 25 previous cox1 sequences of S. taeniata from moose and sika deer (with 98.0-100% intraspecific identity), at 33-43 nucleotide positions (95.9-96.8% interspecific identity), and there were 20 fixed nucleotide differences between the two populations. In the phylogenetic analysis based on cox1 sequences, the two populations formed two separate monophyletic clusters. The S. taeniata-like species in roe deer was therefore considered to represent a separate species, which was named Sarcocystis linearis n. sp. At the 18S rRNA gene, however, the two species could not be clearly separated from each other. Thus, there was considerable intraspecific sequence variation in the 18S rRNA gene of S. linearis (98.1-99.9% identity between 24 sequences), which was similar both in magnitude and nature to the variation previously found in this gene of S. taeniata. The new 18S rRNA gene sequences of S. linearis shared an identity of 97.9-99.6% with those of S. taeniata (overlap between intra- and interspecific identity), and in the phylogenetic tree, sequences of the two species were interspersed. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the sarcocysts of S. linearis were found to possess regularly spaced, thin and narrow ribbon-like cyst wall protrusions (about 2.8-3.2 μm long, 0.3-0.4 μm wide and about 0.02-0.03 μm thick), terminating in a plate-like structure of the same thickness but with an elliptic outline (about 0.3-0.4 μm wide and 0.7-0.9 μm long). The terminal plates were connected in the middle with the band-like portion of the protrusions like the board of a seesaw (tilting board). The terminal plates of adjacent protrusions were neatly arranged in a hexagonal pattern resembling tiles on a roof. Together, they formed an outer roof-like layer facing the surrounding cytoplasm of the host cell and completely covering the band-like proximal portion of the protrusions, which overlapped and were stacked in three to four layers close to the cyst surface. The sarcocyst morphology of S. linearis was consistent with that of an unnamed Sarcocystis sp. in roe deer previously found by transmission electron microscopy in several countries, including Italy. A few sarcocysts of S. gracilis and S. silva were also examined by SEM, confirming the presence of regularly distributed, short knob-like protrusions in S. gracilis (as seen in previous SEM studies) and revealing tightly packed, erect 6-7-μm-long villus-like protrusions having regularly distributed round depressions on their surface in S. silva. The sequencing of cox1 of 7, 24 and 27 new isolates of S. capreolicanis, S. gracilis and S. silva, respectively, recovered 7, 11 and 10 new haplotypes from each of the three species and expanded our knowledge on the intraspecific sequence variation at this marker. Similarly, the study revealed a more extensive intragenomic sequence variation at the 18S rRNA gene of S. capreolicanis and S. silva than known from previous studies and confirmed a near absence of such variation in the 18S rRNA gene of S. gracilis.

Canine distemper (CD) is a fatal, highly contagious disease of wild and domestic carnivores. In the Alpine territory, several outbreaks have occurred in the past few decades within wild populations. This study investigated the presence of canine distemper virus (CDV) infections in wild carnivores in Lombardy, relating to the different circulating genotypes. From 2018 to 2020, foxes, badgers, and martens collected during passive surveillance were subjected to necropsy and histological examination, showing classical signs and microscopic lesions related to CDV. Pools of viscera from each animal were analysed by molecular methods and immunoelectron microscopy. Total prevalences of 39.7%, 52.6%, and 14.3% were recorded in foxes, badgers, and stone martens, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis showed that the sequences obtained belonged to the European 1 lineage and were divided into two different clades (a and b) according to the geographical conformation of alpine valleys included in ...