Q fever (coxiellosis) is an infectious disease of animals and humans, caused by.C. burnetii and widely distributed throughout the world. It is known that people and animals acquire the disease predominantly.via inhalation of infectious aerosols. The possibility of transmission of the pathogen by the alimentary route is still a matter of debate and remains controversial. Therefore the aim of this study was to fill the gaps in knowledge of oral transmission of.C. burnetii by conducting biological tests on the guinea pig model. Guinea pigs, divided into five groups comprising a negative control and four experimental groups, received specified concentrations of.C. burnetii per os. To determine the presence of specific antibodies, blood samples were tested using CFT. Also, internal organs collected during necropsy were screened by a real-time PCR targeting I.1111. Additionally, histopathological evaluation of the tissues was performed. The presence of antibodies and pathogen DNA in caecum was confirmed in one guinea pig from experimental group IV..C. burnetii was also detected in testicular tissue collected from one animal of experimental group II. The presence of pathogen DNA in the testicular tissue indicates that infection spreads haematogenously. In the majority of experimental animals specific antibodies and genetic material of.C. burnetii were not detected. This fact suggests that development of infection depends on many factors, such as animal immune status.

Parafasciolopsis fasciolaemorpha is a liver fluke typically parasitising moose in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of our studies was to describe a case of fatal moose parafasciolopsosis, with special emphasis on the histopathological changes caused in the liver tissue by around 10,000 flukes. A male moose, found dead in Polesie National Park, eastern Poland, was subjected to parasitological necropsy. Macroscopic and histopathological examination of the liver was performed. Over 10,000 flukes identified as P. fasciolaemorpha were isolated from the liver parenchyma. Histopathological examination of the liver revealed the presence of multiple cavities, which were filled with flukes and cellular detritus and encysted with a layered capsule of connective tissue. Extensive liver fibrosis with signs of incomplete septal cirrhosis was also observed. Parafasciolopsosis with accompanying diarrhoea was the most probable reason for the moose’s death. However, it is possible that most moose are able to survive extremely intensive P. fasciolaemorpha infection by formation of extensive fibrosis, which isolates flukes from the liver parenchyma and therefore retards the failure of the organ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first histopathological description of changes in the liver of a moose infected with P. fasciolaemorpha.