Faecal Escherichia coli isolates from suckling (n = 503) and weaning (n = 450) piglets with and without diarrhoea from 10 farms in Mexico were examined for identification and prevalence of virulence genes. E. coli isolates were tested further for enterotoxin (LT, STa, STb, Stx1, Stx2 and EAST1), fimbrial (F4, F5, F6, F17, F18 and F41) and eae adhesin genes by multiplex PCR. Of the 953 isolates of E. coli examined by multiplex PCR, 650 (68.2 %) isolates were positive for at least one adhesin gene. Among the isolates from diarrhoeic piglets, F41 (72 %) was the most prevalent adhesin followed by eae adhesin (27 %), F6 (12 %), F17 (9 %), F18 (9 %), F5 (8 %) and F4 (3 %). Enterotoxin genes were detected in 424 (44.5 %) of the isolates, of which EAST1 (38 %) and STa (30 %) were the most common, followed by STb (17 %), Stx2 (6 %) and LT (5 %). Twenty-three per cent of isolates from suckling piglets and 43 % of isolates from weaned piglets carried both enterotoxin and adhesin genes, the most common virotypes being F41 : STa, F41 : EAST1, EAST1 : eae, F41 : F6, F41 : STa : STb, F41 : eae and F17 : eae. The present study examined for the first time, to our knowledge, the prevalence of 13 virulence genes among E. coli strains isolated from piglets with and without diarrhoea in Mexico. The results suggested that there are a wide variety of virulence genes associated with diarrhoea in piglets. This study provides baseline information on the significance of specific virotypes associated with suckling and weaning periods in piglets in Mexico.

A lateral flow assay (LFA) for the diagnosis and monitoring of extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis, has been developed. The assay is based on the use of the monoclonal antibody HP10, and when applied to cerebrospinal fluid, correctly identified 34 cases of active extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis, but was negative with 26 samples from treated and cured neurocysticercosis patients and with 20 samples from unrelated neurological diseases. There was complete agreement between the HP10 Ag-ELISA results and the HP10-LFA. The HP10-LFA thus has utility for diagnosis and treatment of extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis, frequently a more dangerous form of the infection.

Extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis (EP-NC) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening disease that responds poorly to initial anthelmintic drug therapy. A depressed specific reactivity of peripheral lymphocytes and an increased level of specific Tregs accompanies EP-NC. The immune checkpoint pathway PD-1 and its ligand PD-L1 downregulates effector T cells, causing specific immune suppression in chronic diseases. This study explored whether their soluble forms, sPD-1/sPD-L1, are present in plasma among patients with EP-NC and if their levels could be associated with treatment response. A total of 21 patients with vesicular EP-NC and 22 healthy controls were included. Patients received standard treatment and were followed for six months to assess treatment response by assessing changes in cyst volume determined with 3D MRI. The presence of both sPD-1 and sPD-L1 was more frequently detected among patients with EP-NC than in healthy controls and had higher concentrations. Among patients, higher pre-treatment levels of both markers were associated with a poor treatment response, and the sensitivity and specificity of the sPD-1/sPD-L1 ratio for predicting any response to treatment were high. Our results are consistent with the presence of lymphocyte exhaustion and open new research perspectives to improve the prognosis of patients with this severe disease.