Search results for "Neglected tropical diseases"
showing 10 items of 48 documents
Schistosomal appendicitis: Case series and systematic literature review
2021
Background Globally, schistosomiasis affects at least 240 million people each year with a high proportion of cases in sub-Saharan Africa. The infection presents a wide range of symptoms mainly at the gastrointestinal and urogenital level. Cases of schistosomiasis-related appendicitis are seldom reported. The aim of the present study is to identify the prevalence of schistosomiasis-related appendicitis in Beira, Mozambique and compare to global prevalence. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all cases of appendicitis recorded from January 2017 to March 2020 at a single pathology department located in Beira in order to assess the prevalence of schistosomiasis. Moreover, we performed a systema…
Arginase activity in the blood of patients with visceral leishmaniasis and HIV infection.
2013
Background Visceral leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease associated with high mortality. The most important foci of visceral leishmaniasis in Ethiopia are in the Northwest and are predominantly associated with high rates of HIV co-infection. Co-infection of visceral leishmaniasis patients with HIV results in higher mortality, treatment failure and relapse. We have previously shown that arginase, an enzyme associated with immunosuppression, was increased in patients with visceral leishmaniasis and in HIV seropositive patients; further our results showed that high arginase activity is a marker of disease severity. Here, we tested the hypothesis that increased arginase activities associated wi…
The prevalence of onchocerciasis in Africa and Yemen, 2000-2018: a geospatial analysis.
2022
Abstract Background Onchocerciasis is a disease caused by infection with Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to humans via the bite of several species of black fly, and is responsible for permanent blindness or vision loss, as well as severe skin disease. Predominantly endemic in parts of Africa and Yemen, preventive chemotherapy with mass drug administration of ivermectin is the primary intervention recommended for the elimination of its transmission. Methods A dataset of 18,116 geo-referenced prevalence survey datapoints was used to model annual 2000–2018 infection prevalence in Africa and Yemen. Using Bayesian model-based geostatistics, we generated spatially continuous estimates o…
Predicting the environmental suitability for onchocerciasis in Africa as an aid to elimination planning
2021
Recent evidence suggests that, in some foci, elimination of onchocerciasis from Africa may be feasible with mass drug administration (MDA) of ivermectin. To achieve continental elimination of transmission, mapping surveys will need to be conducted across all implementation units (IUs) for which endemicity status is currently unknown. Using boosted regression tree models with optimised hyperparameter selection, we estimated environmental suitability for onchocerciasis at the 5 × 5-km resolution across Africa. In order to classify IUs that include locations that are environmentally suitable, we used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to identify an optimal threshold for suitabil…
Increased Vascularity in Cervicovaginal Mucosa with Schistosoma haematobium Infection
2011
Background Close to 800 million people in the world are at risk of schistosomiasis, 85 per cent of whom live in Africa. Recent studies have indicated that female genital schistosomiasis might increase the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The aim of this study is to quantify and analyse the characteristics of the vasculature surrounding Schistosoma haematobium ova in the female genital mucosa. Methodology/Principal Findings Cervicovaginal biopsies with S. haematobium ova (n = 20) and control biopsies (n = 69) were stained with immunohistochemical blood vessel markers CD31 and von Willebrand Factor (vWF), which stain endothelial cells in capillary buds and established blo…
Late Cardiac Events after Childhood Cancer: Methodological Aspects of the Pan-European Study PanCareSurFup.
2016
Background and AimChildhood cancer survivors are at high risk of long-term adverse effects of cancer and its treatment, including cardiac events. The pan-European PanCareSurFup study determined the incidence and risk factors for cardiac events among childhood cancer survivors. The aim of this article is to describe the methodology of the cardiac cohort and nested case-control study within PanCareSurFup.MethodsEight data providers in Europe participating in PanCareSurFup identified and validated symptomatic cardiac events in their cohorts of childhood cancer survivors. Data on symptomatic heart failure, ischemia, pericarditis, valvular disease and arrhythmia were collected and graded accordi…
TLR4 abrogates the Th1 immune response through IRF1 and IFN-β to prevent immunopathology during L. infantum infection
2020
A striking feature of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is chronic inflammation in the spleen and liver, and VL patients present increased production levels of multiple inflammatory mediators, which contribute to tissue damage and disease severity. Here, we combined an experimental model with the transcriptional profile of human VL to demonstrate that the TLR4-IFN-β pathway regulates the chronic inflammatory process and is associated with the asymptomatic form of the disease. Tlr4-deficient mice harbored fewer parasites in their spleen and liver than wild-type mice. TLR4 deficiency enhanced the Th1 immune response against the parasite, which was correlated with an increased activation of de…
Extracellular vesicles from parasitic helminths contain specific excretory/secretory proteins and are internalized in intestinal host cells.
2012
The study of host-parasite interactions has increased considerably in the last decades, with many studies focusing on the identification of parasite molecules (i.e. surface or excretory/secretory proteins (ESP)) as potential targets for new specific treatments and/or diagnostic tools. In parallel, in the last few years there have been significant advances in the field of extracellular vesicles research. Among these vesicles, exosomes of endocytic origin, with a characteristic size ranging from 30-100 nm, carry several atypical secreted proteins in different organisms, including parasitic protozoa. Here, we present experimental evidence for the existence of exosome-like vesicles in parasitic…
Proteomics of foodborne trematodes
2011
Abstract Food-borne trematodiases are among the most neglected tropical diseases, not only in terms of research funding, but also in the public media. The Trematoda class contains several species identified as the causal agents of these diseases whose biological cycle, geographical distribution and epidemiology have been well characterised. The diagnosis of these diseases is based on parasitological techniques and only a limited number of drugs are currently available for treatments, most of which are unspecific. Therefore, in-depth studies to identify new and specific targets for both effective diagnosis and treatments are urgently needed. Currently, little molecular information is availab…
Evaluating diagnostic indicators of urogenital Schistosoma haematobium infection in young women: A cross sectional study in rural South Africa
2018
BackgroundUrine microscopy is the standard diagnostic method for urogenital S. haematobium infection. However, this may lead to under-diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis, as the disease may present itself with genital symptoms in the absence of ova in the urine. Currently there is no single reliable and affordable diagnostic method to diagnose the full spectrum of urogenital S. haematobium infection. In this study we explore the classic indicators in the diagnosis of urogenital S. haematobium infection, with focus on young women.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study of 1237 sexually active young women in rural South Africa, we assessed four diagnostic indicators of urogenital S. haematobium…