About this Research Topic

Background

Bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites, among others, threaten the health and welfare of all terrestrial and aquatic animal species, including companion animals, livestock, fish and wildlife. This can lead to high rates of morbidity, mortality, increased economic costs, reduced food production and conservation risks. This situation is aggravated by the fact that many of these pathogens can also cause disease in humans, threatening global public health. In addition, recent decades have seen the emergence and spread of agents with new virulence characteristics, antimicrobial resistance and evasion of the immune response.
In a globalised world, the emergence and spread of pathogens is increasingly easy and expected, and can even cause large outbreaks. Therefore, knowledge of the molecular epidemiology of these pathogens, including geographical distribution, virulence, resistance determinants, genomic patterns, is essential to establish appropriate prevention and control measures, in an integrated and multidisciplinary manner, under the concept of One Health.

Genomic changes in infectious agents not only correspond to a phenomenon of microbial evolution, but in many cases involve changes in their pathogenicity, virulence, dissemination capacity, resistance to therapeutical and vaccinal alternatives, and challenge current diagnostic tools. This risk highlights the need to conduct epidemiological studies that describe the current situation of these pathogens and provide relevant information to establish updated prevention and control strategies.
Therefore, the goal of this research topic is to contribute to the update on the molecular epidemiology of pathogens that threaten animal health and that can also affect humans.
To this end, this article collection aims to collect articles describing molecular epidemiological patterns of various infectious agents both globally and locally, including recent advances in pathogenesis, dissemination of critical risk clones, molecular patterns of antimicrobial resistance, among others.

The goal of this Research Topic is to collect research that will inform molecular epidemiology of infectious agents under a “One Health” approach. We particularly welcome manuscripts and reviews focusing on, but not limited to:
-Advances in microbial pathogenesis of animal and zoonotic agents to improve understanding of their host-pathogen interaction..
-Genomic characterization of infectious agents, focusing on virulence determinants, antimicrobial resistance and identification of vaccine targets.
-New insights into geographic distribution of molecular markers of interest in pathogens, including dissemination of critical clones or highly relevant strains.
-Development or validation of rapid, specific and sensitive diagnostic techniques for the identification of new molecular patterns of interest.

Keywords: Zoonoses, pathogen, surveillance, molecular, epidemiology

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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