Background: In the last few decades, Romania has been considered one of the European countries most affected by animal rabies, but a combination of oral rabies vaccination (ORV) campaigns in foxes alongside mandatory vaccination of pets has substantially decreased the number of rabies cases in recent years. The objective of this study was to detect rabies antibodies in wild boar serum and thoracic fluid samples collected during the hunting season after ORV campaigns in north-eastern Romania in order to identify if wild boars are substantial competitors to foxes for ORV baits. Results: When the 312 wild boar samples were tested by ELISA (BioPro ELISA, Czech Republic), 42.31% (132/312) demonstrated rabies antibodies. In order to compare these wild boar results in terms of the percentage of immunisation, fox samples were also included in the study, and in this case only 28.40% (98/345) demonstrated rabies antibodies by ELISA. To check the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of this ELISA, those samples with a sufficient volume from both species that had tested either negative or positive with an initial ELISA were then tested with the Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralisation (FAVN) assay. The overall concordance between the BioPro ELISA and FAVN test was 74.26% (75/101) in wild boar samples and 65.66% (65/99) in fox samples, 140 out of 200 samples being correlated with the two methods, although no significant statistical difference (p = 0.218) between the two species was registered. We found a good agreement by both tests for the ELISA-positive samples (91.30%), however the situation was different for the ELISA-negative samples, where a low agreement was demonstrated (41.18%). Conclusions: This study reports for the first time the presence of rabies antibodies in wild boar samples collected during the hunting season in Romania after ORV campaigns in rabies endemic areas. It is also the first study to demonstrate that ELISA BioPro can be used on wild boar samples with satisfactory results compared to the FAVN test for this species.

Leishmaniasis, a vector-borne disease considered to be one of the twenty neglected diseases by the World Health Organization, represents one of the public health concerns in endemic countries. In humans, as well as in animal counterparts, the infection can evolve with different clinical localizations, such as those that are cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral. Romania has been traditionally considered a nonendemic country for Leishmania species infection and has had sporadic positive human cases; however, the climate change recorded in recent decades has created potentially optimal conditions for the preponderant vectors of Phlebotomus spp., which has lately been identified in various parts of country. Moreover, with people and dogs (the prevailing hosts) traveling in endemic countries, the disease was imported and diagnosed in both species, and became a medical concern. In this review, we focused on the: (1) epidemiological data of leishmaniasis cases, both in humans and animals, reported by Romania; (2) diagnostic tools available for confirmation since there is a lack of gold-standard laboratory methods for human and dog patients; and (3) conventional antileishmanial therapy.

Feline Panleukopenia (FPL) infection is caused by feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), and it is considered one of the most severe cat’s infectious diseases. Since there is no specific antiviral treatment for FPL, the therapeutic protocol usually is focused on fluid therapy and supportive care. However, filgrastim, a granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) used in human medicine to treat neutropenia and leukopenia, has been lately used in treating FPV disease, providing promising results. During January 2022 and September 2024, twenty-two cats diagnosed with feline panleukopenia virus were subjected to filgrastim (Zarzio^®, Sandoz, Kundl, Austria) administration at a dose of 6 µg/kg for 3 consecutive days. The 4th day was a break day, and in the 5th day, the complete blood count was repeated. White blood cells, lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils parameters improved after Zarzio^® administration, with a significant statistical difference (p < 0.01) when their values between day 1 (pre Zarzio^® administration) and day 5 (post Zarzio^® administration) were analysed. However, red blood cells, haemoglobin, haematocrit and platelets parameters registered a considerable reduction from day 1 to day 5 with a significant statistical difference (p < 0.01), considered as post-administration side effects. In our study, the survival rate following Zarzio^® administration was 100%, suggesting that the protocol involving three doses is effective in restoring the leukopenia and neutropenia.

Background: Rabies is the oldest fatal zoonotic disease recognised as a neglected tropical disease and is caused by an RNA virus belonging to the genus Lyssavirus, family Rhabdoviridae. Methodology/Principal findings: A deep molecular analysis was conducted on full-length nucleoprotein (N) gene and whole genome sequences of rabies virus from 37 animal brain samples collected between 2012 and 2017 to study the circulation of rabies virus (RABV) variants. The overall aim was to better understand their distribution in Moldova and north-eastern Romania. Both Sanger and high throughput sequencing on Ion Torrent and Illumina platforms were performed. Phylogenetic analysis of the RABV sequences from both Moldova and Romania revealed that all the samples (irrespective of the year of isolation and the species) belonged to a single phylogenetic group: north-eastern Europe (NEE), clustering into three assigned lineages: RO#5, RO#6 and RO#7. Conclusions/Significance: High throughput sequencing of RABV samples from domestic and wild animals was performed for the first time for both countries, providing new insights into virus evolution and epidemiology in this less studied region, expanding our understanding of the disease.

Climate directly impacts health through climatic extremes, air quality, sea-level rise, and multifaceted influences on food production systems and water resources. Climate also affects infectious diseases, which have played a significant role in human history, impacting the rise and fall of civilizations and facilitating the conquest of new territories. This review highlights significant regional changes in vector and pathogen distribution , changes that have been anticipated by scientists worldwide . Further future changes are likely if we fail to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Many key factors affect the spread and severity of human diseases, including mobility of people , animals , and goods; control measures in place; availability of effective drugs; quality of public health services; human behavior; and political stability and conflicts.

Oral and cutaneous lesions are often diagnosed in cats and are associated with various pathogens. The objective of this study is the histological characterization of the cutaneous and oral lesions in cats. During 2023-2024, 11 cutaneous and oral lesions were identified, collected and analyzed at the Infectious Diseases and Pathological Anatomy Clinic of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Iasi. The samples were collected from European breed cats, 6 female and 5 male cases. Lesions were more frequent in cats older than two years (n=7), followed by cats under 6 months of age (n=3) and cats aged between 6 months and 1,5 years (n= 1). At the same time, concurrent viral infections with Felin Parvovirus (n=5), Feline Calicivirus (n=3), Feline Herpesvirus (n=3),Feline Leukemia Virus (n=2) and one suspicion of Feline Perionitis Virus were associated prior the histopathological evaluation. Histopathologically, the inflammatory lesions were consisting in Gingivostomatits (necrotic and lymphoplasmacytic) (n=6) and in one case of cutaneous mastocytosis. Among neoplastic lesions, oral squamous cell carcinoma was the most common (n=2), followed by cutaneous cell carcinoma (n=1) and hemangiopericytoma (n=1). These results contribute to the understanding of feline cutaneous and oral pathology and show the importance of histopathological examination in their accurate diagnosis.