Garcia-Sanchez, PaulaRomero-Trancón, DavidFalces-Romero, IkerNavarro Carrera, PaulaRuiz-Carrascoso, GuillermoCarmena, DavidCasares Jiménez, MaríaRivero-Juarez, AntonioMoya, LauraRodón, JaumeEsperón, FernandoPérez-Hernando, BelénSánchez-León, RocíoHurtado-Gallego, JaraAlcolea, SoniaSainz, TaliaCalvo, CristinaMéndez-Echevarría, Ana2025-03-312025-03-312024Garcia-Sanchez P, Romero-Trancón D, Falces-Romero I, Navarro Carrera P, Ruiz-Carrascoso G, Carmena D, Casares Jiménez M, Rivero-Juárez A, Moya L, Rodón J, Esperón F, Pérez-Hernando B, Sánchez-León R, Hurtado-Gallego J, Alcolea S, Sainz T, Calvo C, Méndez-Echevarría A. Zoonosis screening in Spanish immunocompromised children and their pets. Front Vet Sci. 2024 Jul 23;11:1425870.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/26596Introduction: 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.engVoRhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ChildrenColonizationEmerging pathogensImmunocompromisedInfectionPetsZoonosesAttribution 4.0 International3910934911142587010.3389/fvets.2024.14258702297-1769Frontiers in veterinary scienceopen access