One Health fundamentally acknowledges that human health is linked to animal health and the environment. One of the pillars One Health is built on is zoonoses. Through the years, zoonotic infections have caused numerous outbreaks and pandemics, as well as millions of fatalities, with the COVID-19 pandemic being the latest one. Apart from the consequences to public health, zoonoses also affect society and the economy. Since its establishment, One Health has contributed significantly to the protection of humans, animals, and the environment, through preparedness, surveillance, and mitigation of such public dangers.

Between May 2017 and November 2018, Greece has experienced a severe measles outbreak with a total of 3258 cases reported, after reaching its goal of eliminating measles since 2014–2015. In this study, we aimed to investigate the origin and the dispersal patterns of the measles strains that circulated in Greece during this outbreak and to identify possible transmission patterns of measles virus (MeV) in the country. Of the 832 measles suspect cases referred to the National Measles and Rubella Reference Laboratory for MeV RNA detection, 131 randomly selected positive samples, representative of the temporal and spatial distribution of the laboratory-confirmed measles cases in Greece, were processed for genotypic identification by an RT-PCR amplification of a 598 bp fragment containing the 450 bp hypervariable region of the measles virus N gene. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out by the approximate maximum likelihood method (ML) under the generalized time-reversible (GTR + cat) model. All samples analyzed were found to belong to genotype B3. Comparative analysis with other European and reference measles strains revealed three separate major clusters and other multiple viruses circulating simultaneously in Greece. They were all isolated from three main community groups, Greek-Roma children, non-minority Greek nationals and immigrants/refugees, a finding that is in accordance with what was also observed in the last two measles outbreaks in 2005–2006 and 2010–2011. Notably, for one of the three clusters, no similarity was detected with previously reported prototype strains. Our results indicate the need for a more intensive vaccination program against measles amongst minority populations and in refugee hot-spots as well as the importance of molecular surveillance as a tool for monitoring measles outbreaks.

(1) Background: Surfaces have been implicated in the transmission of infections. We aimed to assess how effective an usnic-acid-containing self-decontaminating coating was on the surfaces of the Athens underground metro. (2) Methods: Two samples were collected from each of 60 surfaces of a station and a wagon before the application of the coating and 9 and 20 days after, and they were tested for bacteria, fungi, and SARS-CoV-2 using conventional microbiological and molecular methods. Bacteria and fungi growth were expressed in colony forming units (CFUs)/10²cm². (3) Results: Before the application of the coating, 50% of the samples tested positive for the targeted microbes: 91.7% for bacteria, 18.3% for fungi, and 8.3% for SARS-CoV-2. After nine days, 3.3% of the samples tested positive for bacteria and 6.6% after 20 days. The average amount of bacteria before the coating was applied was 8.5 CFU/10²cm² compared to 0 and 0 CFU/10²cm² after application (100% and 95% reduction); all samples collected after the application were negative for SARS-CoV-2 and fungi (100% reduction). (4) Conclusion: An usnic-acid-containing self-decontaminating coating was highly effective in eliminating bacterial, fungal, and SARS-CoV-2 contamination of surfaces in the underground metro.

Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases in Greece, causing a significant burden on both human and animal vitality as well as economic loss. The present study was conducted from 2015 to 2022 on 711,415 serum samples by determining the seroepidemiology of Brucellosis among livestock in 24 geographical areas in Greece using the Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and the complement fixation test (CFT) and further performing genetic analysis of Brucella spp. by species-specific real-time PCR and MLVA Brucella analysis. A total of 3086 serum samples from goats, sheep, and cattle showed positive results using the RBT and CFT, and only strongly positive samples (n = 800) were preserved in the Βlood Bank of the Veterinary Laboratory of Brucellosis. From these, 212 sera samples were randomly selected for molecular and genetic analysis. The results indicated that the incidence rate of Brucellosis is higher in cattle herds in comparison with other animal species. Overall, 48 samples tested positive by real-time PCR, of which forty-seven of them were B. abortus and one was B. melitensis. Genetic analysis of two B. abortus samples revealed a common pattern, indicating two Bruce04, two Bruce18, four Bruce07, two Bruce09, three Bruce16, and four Bruce30 for both samples, which, interestingly, were not identical with the known genotypes in the public MLVA Brucella database. Our findings substantiate that animal Brucellosis remains a health issue in Greece, with a stable but apparent incidence rate, and further investigation is needed to fully characterize the newly identified Brucella strains in Greece.