Abstract: Wild birds are important in the maintenance and transmission of many zoonotic pathogens. With increasing urbanization and the resulting emergence of zoonotic diseases, it is critical to understand the relationships among birds, vectors, zoonotic pathogens, and the urban landscape. Here, we use wild birds as sentinels across a gradient of urbanization to understand the relative risk of diseases caused by three types of zoonotic pathogens: Salmonella pathogens, mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) and tick-borne pathogens, including the agents of Lyme disease and human anaplasmosis. Wild birds were captured using mist nets at five sites throughout greater Chicago, Illinois, and blood, faecal and ectoparasite samples were collected for diagnostic testing. A total of 289 birds were captured across all sites. A total of 2.8% of birds harboured Ixodes scapularis- the blacklegged tick – of which 54.5% were infected with the agent of Lyme disease, and none were infected with the agent of human anaplasmosis. All infested birds were from a single site that was relatively less urban. A single bird, captured at the only field site in which supplemental bird feeding was practised within the mist netting zone, was infected with Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica. While no birds harboured WNV in their blood, 3.5% of birds were seropositive, and birds from more urban sites had higher exposure to the virus than those from less urban sites. Our results demonstrate the presence of multiple bird-borne zoonotic pathogens across a gradient of urbanization and provide an assessment of potential public health risks to the high-density human populations within the area.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To establish new criteria of antibody detection for the diagnosis of cerebral cysticercosis in combining with imaging examinations for reducing the missed and neglected diagnosis of the disease. METHODS: 1,160 cases with adequate clinical data were collected for the study, among them all cases received antibody detection and computerized tomography(CT), 538 cases were examined by magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). Following the locations that cysticerci parasitized, the cases were grouped in four types of cerebral cysticercosis: 1,087 cases in brain parenchyma (93.7%), 42 cases in brain ventricles (3.6%), 22 cases in brain meninges (1.9%), and 9 mixed cases (0.8%). According to the number of cysticerci showed by imaging analysis, cases involving parenchyma were further divided as subgroups of slight, moderate, and heavy infection with 1-2, 3-9 and over 10 parasites, with 552 cases(50.8%), 443 cases (39.8%) and 102 cases (9.4%) respectively. IHA and ELISA were used for detecting antibodies in the sera. RESULTS: 635 cases showed an IHA titer of 1:8 and above (54.7%), 700 cases (60.3%) showed positive ELISA and 460 cases (39.7%) showed weak positive. In the group of light infection (552 cases), 94.7% showed an IHA titer of less than 1:8, only 29 cases (5.3%) with a titer of 1:8 and above; 94 cases (17%) showed positive ELISA and 458 cases (83%) were weak positive. In the groups of moderate and heavy infections, all cases showed IHA titer of 1:8 and over, and positive or weak positive ELISA. CONCLUSION: Antibody titers are positively relevant to the intensity of Cysticercus infection. Most cases with light infection showed a low IHA titer (less than 1:8) and a weak positive ELISA, a fact that these cases would have been missed by the immunological tests. Therefore, an integrated analysis of the results with immunological test and clinical imaging technique is important in diagnosing cerebral cysticercosis.