Search results for " visceral"
showing 10 items of 68 documents
Advances in leishmaniasis immunopathogenesis
2011
Decreased presence of Langerhans cells is a critical determinant for Indian Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis.
2015
Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is the dermal sequel of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and occurs after apparent cure or alongside with VL. It is confined to South Asia (India, Nepal and Bangladesh) and East Africa (mainly Sudan), the incidence being 5-10% and 50-60% respectively. In South Asia, as the transmission of VL is anthroponotic, PKDL patients are the proposed disease reservoir, thus assuming epidemiological significance, its eradication being linked to the control of leishmaniasis. In the absence of an animal model and its low incidence, factors contributing towards the immunopathogenesis of PKDL remain an open-ended, yet pertinent question. This study delineated the lesio…
Integration of animal health and public health surveillance sources to exhaustively inform the risk of zoonosis: An application to visceral leishmani…
2019
Abstract Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a parasitic disease that is endemic in more than 80 countries, and leads to high fatality rates when left untreated. We investigate the relationship of VL cases in dogs and human cases, specifically for evidence of VL in dogs leading to excess cases in humans. We use surveillance data for dogs and humans for the years 2007–2011 to conduct both spatial and spatio-temporal analyses. Several models are evaluated incorporating varying levels of dependency between dog and human data. Models including dog data show marginal improvement over models without; however, for a subset of spatial units with ample data, models provide concordant risk classification …
On the reservoirs of Leishmania infantum in urban areas
2020
Leishmania has biologically adapted to specific phlebotomine sand flies through long co-evolution. The ability of Leishmania spp. to bind to sand fly midgut allows each Leishmania species to propagate and differentiate into infectious promastigotes and be transmitted. Sand fly feeding upon a mammalian host is the first step towards being infected and a host of Leishmania. Once deposited into the skin, host susceptibility to infection vs. ability to mount a sterilizing immune response predicts which hosts could be reservoirs of different Leishmania spp. Materials, in addition to parasites, are expelled during sand fly during feeding, including salivary antigens and other factors that promote…
Polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis and prognosis of Mediterranean visceral leishmaniasis in immunocompetent children.
2002
Objective. To assess the usefulness of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay amplifying the small subunit rRNA coding region of Leishmania species performed on peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) aspirates for the diagnosis and follow-up of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in children living in the Mediterranean basin. Design. A prospective study was conducted on children consecutively hospitalized over a 1-year period at our Infectious Diseases Department in Sicily (Italy) presenting with fever, hepatosplenomegaly, and/or pancytopenia and a positive Leishmania serology (≥1:40). Results. Among the 14 patients hospitalized with signs and symptoms suggestive of the disease and a positive …
The significance of serum soluble IL-2 receptor as a marker for active visceral leishmaniasis in Sicilian patients
1992
SUMMARY Sera from nine Sicilian patients with confirmed visceral leishmaniasis (Leishmania donovani infantum; VL), at the moment of the diagnosis, during the course of the disease and after clinical recovery, were analysed for the concentration of soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R). The results show that sIL-2R is a marker of disease activity, since it is in high concentration at the beginning of infection and returns to the normal range following successful chemotherapy. At the same time of serum analysis for sIL-2R, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of VL patients were stimulated with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) or antigen and supernatant tested for IL-2 and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) pro…
The Obesity Paradox Predicts the Second Wave of COVID-19 to Be Severe in Western Countries.
2021
While COVID-19 infection and mortality rates are soaring in Western countries, Southeast Asian countries have successfully avoided the second wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic despite high population density. We provide a biochemical hypothesis for the connection between low COVID-19 incidence, mortality rates, and high visceral adiposity in Southeast Asian populations. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a gateway into the human body. Although the highest expression levels of ACE2 are found in people’s visceral adipose tissue in Southeast Asia, this does not necessarily make them vulnerable to COVID-19. Hypothetically, high levels of visceral adiposity cause s…
Cross-sectional survey of canine leishmaniasis in Pantelleria island in Sicily
2019
Dogs are the major reservoir of Leishmania infantum, the causative agent of canine visceral and cutaneous human leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean basin. Canine and human leishmaniosis are endemic in Italy, particularly in central and southern regions, including islands. Here we show a preliminary, clinical, serological and molecular study carried out in Pantelleria island during 2017. In this study, we clinically examined 136 dogs for the presence of symptoms compatible with leishmaniasis, determined the titer of anti-Leishmania antibodies, and investigated Leishmania DNA by real time PCR in blood and/or lymph node of each dog. The prevalence of disease was equal to 27% with 95% CI [21%; 3…
Recurrent leishmaniasis in kidney transplant recipients: Report of 2 cases and systematic review of the literature
2011
The characteristics of 8 episodes of leishmaniasis with atypical manifestations in 2 Italian kidney transplant recipients are analyzed and contextualized among those of 52 other episodes of leishmaniasis observed in 19 transplant recipients found through a systematic review of the international literature. In all the patients, the initial episode was visceral leishmaniasis, which was associated with mucocutaneous involvement in 2 cases. With the exception of 1 case of post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis, 2 episodes of Leishmania endophthalmitis, and 3 episodes of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, all the recurrences were characterized by visceral involvement. The potential role of polymerase cha…