Zoonotic and parasitic diseases were discussed at the international conference Labuda Days

The Institute of Virology of the Biomedical Research Center of the SAS (BMC SAS), the Institute of Zoology of the SAS, the Institute of Parasitology of the SAS, the Slovak Parasitological Society at the SAS, and Medirex organized the seventh edition of the international conference Labudove dni (Labuda Days). It was held from 16 to 19 June 2025 in the premises of the Congress Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Stara Lesna. In addition to participants from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the conference was attended by experts from England, Austria, Germany, France and Lithuania.

The main topics of the conference were parasitology, eco-epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, immunology and virology. The conference was opened by Dr. Mikuláš Oros, President of the Slovak Society of Parasitology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, followed by Dr. Mária Kazimírová from the Institute of Zoology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, who recalled the work of Dr. Milan Labuda, in whose honour the conference was held.

Afterwards, renowned experts prof. Olivier A. E. Sparagano from the UK Management College (Manchester, UK), an expert in molecular diagnostics of parasitic diseases, development of vaccines, probiotics and vector-borne diseases; prof. Lidia Chitimia-Dobler from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, LMU (Munich, Germany), expert in tick morphology and genetics; and prof. Gerhard Dobler from the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology (Munich, Germany), specialist in virus evolution and ecology.

The event and presentations highlighted the still new, but also open questions in the field of occurrence and genetic diversity of zoonotic disease agents, their circulation, genetics, immunology, proteomics, as well as diagnostics, epidemiology, control and prevention of diseases caused by them in humans and animals, tick physiology, tick-pathogen-host relationships, as well as other parasites.

The event also included a competition for the best student presentation, in which PhD student RNDr. Lukáš Ihnacik from the Institute of Parasitology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences won the 1st place, Mgr. Patrícia Hockicková from the Faculty of Health and Social Work, University of Trnava won the 2nd place and the 3rd place went to Mgr. Semen Kaliukanov from the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Bratislava. Congratulations to the winners.

The atmosphere of the conference was made more pleasant by the beautiful environment of our mountains. In addition, they had the opportunity to get new information about the stars from the staff of the Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, to whom we would like to thank.

Text: Dr. E. Špitalská, BMC SAS; Dr. P. Bartíková, BMC SAS

Photo: Dr. E. Špitalská, BMC SAS