Leptospirosis is an infectious disease widely reported in veterinary practice and a worldwide zoonosis. In Northeastern Italy, different serogroups and genotypes of Leptospira have been described in ill dogs, the most commonly detected being Icterohaemorragiae (ICT) ST 17, Australis (AUS) ST 24 and ST 198, Pomona (POM) ST 117 and ST 289, and Sejroe (SEJ) ST 155. However, there is little information available on the environmental exposure to Leptospira of wild and synanthropic animals. The aim of this study was to identify the circulating genotypes in potential reservoirs to fill this gap of knowledge. Between 2015 and 2022, 681 animal carcasses collected by the Public Veterinary Service were analyzed for Leptospira with a real-time PCR-based screening test, while positive samples were genotyped by multi-locus sequence typing analysis. To carry out our study, we tested 330 hedgehogs, 105 red foxes, 108 Norway rats, 79 mice, 22 coypus, 10 bank voles, 13 grey wolves, 5 common shrews and 9 greater mouse-eared bats. Five sequence types (STs) common in dogs were also found in wild animals: ST 24, ST 198, ST 17 and ST 155 in hedgehogs, ST 17 and ST 24 in foxes, ST 17 in rats, ST 17 and ST 155 in mice, and ST 117 in a wolf. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first Italian report of SEJ ST 197 in a bank vole. Furthermore, this study described a previous survey conducted in 2009 on coypus (30 animals from the province of Trento and 41 from the province of Padua), referring to a serological positivity (L. Bratislava) without any molecular detection of Leptospira. This study on Leptospira in synanthropic and wild animals highlighted the importance of increasing our epidemiological knowledge of leptospirosis and its zoonotic risks.

This surveillance study aimed to estimate the proportion of antimicrobial resistant strains and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profiles of E. coli isolates detected from the intestinal contents of veal and dairy calves in the Veneto Region, Northeaster Italy. Additionally, we investigated the differences in AMR profiles between dairy and veal calves over the period 2017–2022. Overall 1150 E. coli isolates were tested from calves exhibiting enteric disease, with 868 from dairy and 282 from veal calves. The percentage of resistant isolates to nine antimicrobials was notably higher in veal calves compared to dairy calves, except for ampicillin. Throughout the study period, we observed a significant increase in the proportion of resistant isolates to florfenicol, gentamycin, paromomycin, tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole in dairy calves, while we did not detect any significant increase in the proportion of resistant isolates among veal calves. A substantial proportion (75.9%) of the isolated E. coli exhibited multi-drug resistance (MDR). The proportion of multi-drug resistant isolates was significantly higher in veal calves (91.7%) compared to dairy calves (74.3%) all through the surveillance period (2017–2022), with no significant variation in MDR proportion among veal calves between 2017 and 2022 but a significant increase among dairy calves.

A 16-year-old captive male puma (Puma concolor) presented with progressive weight loss and acute mild gastrointestinal symptoms. Clinical examination, and diagnostic imaging revealed abdominal, pleural, and pericardial effusion and nodular masses in multiple organs. Due to the clinical condition, multiple organ involvement, and a poor prognosis, compassionate euthanasia was chosen. Necropsy revealed abundant cavitary effusions and multiple yellow–white neoplastic masses involving the left hepatic lobes. Metastatic nodules were observed throughout the peritoneum, pericardium, kidney, spleen, and spermatic cord. Histologically, the tumor was characterized by tubular and acinar structures embedded in a desmoplastic stroma. Neoplastic cells were positive for pan-cytokeratins (CKs), CK7, and, to a lesser extent, CK20. The gross, histologic, and immunohistochemical findings were consistent with intrahepatic metastatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Reducing antimicrobial use in dairy cattle requires practical methods to identify cows that need antimicrobial treatment at dry-off. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a classification model using on-farm indirect indicators as a first step toward identifying cows with intramammary infection (IMI) at dry-off. The study was conducted on a single commercial dairy farm and included 301 cows. Quarter milk samples were collected before dry-off and used as the reference method to define IMI. Cow-level predictors included somatic cell count (SCC) history, clinical mastitis history, parity, teat health score, and genetic values for SCC, which were combined in a multivariable logistic regression model internally validated using a 75/25 training-testing split. Overall, 1190 quarters were examined, and 129 cows were classified as infected with at least one major mammary pathogen at dry-off. The best-performing model included genetic value for SCC, linear score at selected test days, and clinical mastitis history, reaching an accuracy of 0.75 (0.64–0.84), a sensitivity of 0.80 (0.63–0.92), a specificity of 0.71 (0.55–0.84), and an AUC of 0.76 (0.65–0.87). These results suggest that combining indirect cow-level indicators may support treatment allocation at dry-off, although external validation across multiple herds is required.