And the winner is.........

Yes, we do have a winner. In fact, we have several prizes to distribute. The 'Year of the Pig'-competition closed yesterday, at the Chinese New Year and we received 14 submissions online.

The fastest solution was submitted by Gudrun Freidl, who solved the Word Puzzle in 204 seconds, and suggested that the following zoonoses were missing from the list: ringworm, campylobacteriosis, pathogenic E. coli, streptococcosis, cryptosporidiosis and tapeworm.

Well done, and congratulations, Gudrun!

Runners up were Lisa Hansen (333 seconds), Joris Sprokholt (543 seconds), Hana Orlikova (591 seconds) and Brandon Patton (time not recorded); together they suggested additional missing pig-related zoonoses:

• Cysticercosis
• Taeniasis (Taenia solium is the pork tapeworm. Since it is more specific than the tapeworm mentioned earlier, it gets extra points)
• Dermatophytosis

An honourable mentioning for Hana Orlikova, who also informed us about various antibody-studies in pigs and swine, that linked to the following infections and pathogens: Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium Bovis, M. tuberculosis complex, M.avium), Lyme borreliosis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia sp., Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis, Tick-borne encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis, and Toxoplasma gondii. Of course, this does not mean that all of these are pig-related zoonoses, but I admire the level of detail. In addition, she was the only one who provided a risk assessment for the image from the PigSaw Puzzle: Well done Hana, for this research !!

Gudrun, Lisa, Joris, Hana and Brandon; I will reach out to you with your well-deserved prize 🙂

Thanks to everyone for being such a good sport, and responding to this playful call!