Momentum programme

A broader understanding of health and disease demands a unity of approach achievable only through a consilience of human, domestic animal and wildlife health. Any disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans and vice-versa is classified as a zoonosis. Our research projects focus on the following zoonotic bacterial agents: Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of the highly contagious zoonotic disease, tularemia - primarily a disease of the orders Lagomorpha and Rodentia; Brucella species, the causative agent of brucellosis - it manifests in abortion in females and in epididymitis, orchitis and inflammation of accessory genital glands in males of different domestic and wild animal species; Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q fever - occurs worldwide and had been associated mostly with late-term abortion and reproductive disorders in wild and domestic ruminants; Chlamydiales species - causing ornithosis in avian species and abortion in mammals; and Borrelia species, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis - the most prevalent vector-borne human disease in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Our other research field is mycoplasmosis. Mycoplasmas are the smallest self-replicating organisms known. They have a worldwide distribution as free-living saprophytes or as facultative-pathogen parasites of humans, animals and plants. Our research involves the examination of different Mycoplasma species infecting domestic and wild animals.