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The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Spanish Pediatrics Association (AEP) 2021 Research Grant, by the MAPFRE Foundation ("Research grants by Ignacio H. de Larramendi 2021"), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation - Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and Fondos FEDER of the UE, Grant N degrees PI23/00917 and PI22/01098 [Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Spanish Health Research Fund (ISCIII)] and, TS has been funded by a Springboard Award 2023 by the European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID). BP-H has been funded by CIBERINFEC. RS-L has been funded by Programa Investigo 2022 (reference A113), Community of Madrid Government (Spain). AR-J is supported by a contract from the Spanish Junta de Andalucia (Nicolas Monardes program: C1-0001-2023). MC is the recipient of a PFIS predoctoral grant (FI22/00180) from the Carlos III Health Institute and co-funded by Fondos FEDER of the European Union. The funding bodies did not have a role in the design or conduct of the study, the analysis and interpretation of the results, the writing of the report, or the decision to publish. DAS:The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Analysis of institutional authors

Garcia-Sanchez P.AuthorSainz T.AuthorCalvo C.AuthorMéndez-Echevarría A.Author

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August 18, 2024
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Zoonosis screening in Spanish immunocompromised children and their pets

Publicated to:Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 11 1425870- - 2024-07-23 11(), DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1425870

Authors: Garcia-Sanchez, P; Romero-Trancón, D; Sánchez-León, R; Hurtado-Gallego, J; Alcolea, S; Sainz, T; Calvo, C; Méndez-Echevarría, A; Falces-Romero, I; Carrera, PN; Ruiz-Carrascoso, G; Carmena, D; Jiménez, MC; Rivero-Juárez, A; Pérez-Hernando, B; Moya, L; Rodón, J; Esperón, F

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Abstract

Introduction Although pets provide several social-emotional benefits for children, the risk of zoonosis must be considered among immunocompromised individuals.Methods A prospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital including immunocompromised patients younger than 20 years owning dogs and/or cats. Colonization and/or infection was evaluated by stool studies, bacterial swabs, blood polymerase chain reaction and serological studies in both patients and their pets, to evaluate potential zoonotic transmission occurrence.Results We included 74 patients and their 92 pets (63 dogs, 29 cats). Up to 44.6% of the patients and 31.5% of the pets had at least 1 positive result. Up to 18.4% of pets' fecal samples were positive (bacteria, parasites or hepatitis E virus). No helminths were observed despite the high frequency of incorrect intestinal deworming practices. Among children, gastrointestinal microorganisms were found in 37.3% (primarily Clostridium difficile). Colonization by Staphylococcus pseudintermedius was common among pets (8.0%) but not among children (0.0%). No shared colonization between owners and pets was observed, except in one case (Blastocystis in both patient and pet feces). Among patients, serologies were positive for Strongyloides stercoralis (14.8%), Toxocara canis (3.2%), Bartonella henselae (19.1%) and hepatitis E (5.6%). Serology was positive for Rickettsia spp. (22.6%) and Babesia spp. (6.5%) in dogs and for Leishmania spp. (14.3%) and Toxoplasma spp. (14.3%) in cats.Conclusion Exposure to zoonotic agents was detected in both patients and pets; however, shared colonization events were almost nonexistent. In our cohort, dogs and cats do not appear to entail high zoonosis transmission risk for immunocompromised patients.

Keywords

CatsChildrenColonizationCryptosporidium spp.DogsEmerging pathogensGiardia-duodenalisHealthImmunocompromisedInfectionOwnershiPetsTransmissionZoonoseZoonoses

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 22/167, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Veterinary Sciences.

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-16:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 21.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 25 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 7 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (GARCIA SANCHEZ, PABLO) .