Search results for "schistosoma"

Parasite eggs in urine cytology: fact or artifact?

2008

Urine sediment cytology should be done for three main reasons: initial evaluation in symptomatic patients, pursuit of patients with tumoral pathology, and risk population screening. Nevertheless, in the course of microscopic observation it is possible to observe several elements or structures that initially seem unrelated to what we are looking for. Schistosomiasis is an endemic disease affecting humans and animals in tropical countries and the Middle and Far East, but infrequent in the developed countries. Typical eggs from Schistosoma are nonoperculate, embryonated when passed in feces and with transparent shell. The eggs are elongate and large in S. mansoni (114–175 3 40– 70 lm in size),…

Morphological and genomic characterisation of the Schistosoma hybrid infecting humans in Europe reveals admixture between Schistosoma haematobium and…

2021

Schistosomes cause schistosomiasis, the world’s second most important parasitic disease after malaria in terms of public health and social-economic impacts. A peculiar feature of these dioecious parasites is their ability to produce viable and fertile hybrid offspring. Originally only present in the tropics, schistosomiasis is now also endemic in southern Europe. Based on the analysis of two genetic markers the European schistosomes had previously been identified as hybrids between the livestock- and the human-infective species Schistosoma bovis and Schistosoma haematobium, respectively. Here, using PacBio long-read sequencing technology we performed genome assembly improvement and annotati…

Screening trematodes for novel intervention targets: a proteomic and immunological comparison of Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma bovis and Echin…

2011

SUMMARYWith the current paucity of vaccine targets for parasitic diseases, particularly those in childhood, the aim of this study was to compare protein expression and immune cross-reactivity between the trematodes Schistosoma haematobium, S. bovis and Echinostoma caproni in the hope of identifying novel intervention targets. Native adult parasite proteins were separated by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified through electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry to produce a reference gel. Proteins from differential gel electrophoresis analyses of the three parasite proteomes were compared and screened against sera from hamsters infected with S. haematobium and E. caproni fo…

Current status of Schistosoma mansoni infection among previously treated rural communities in the Abbey and Didessa Valleys, Western Ethiopia: Implic…

2021

Background Schistosoma constitutes a major public health problem and developmental challenges in the majority of developing and subtropical regions. The World Health Organization has set guidelines for the control and elimination of schistosomiasis. Ethiopia is providing school-based Mass Drug Administration (MDA) at the study areas of the Abbey and Didessa Valleys of western Ethiopian since 2015. Moreover, mass treatment was already done in the same villages 30 years ago. However, the current Schistosoma mansoni infection status among humans and snails in the study areas is not known. Hence, the present study aims to determine the current status. Methods A community-based cross-sectional …

Gastro-intestinal symptoms associated with intense Schistosoma mansoni infection affect class-attentiveness of schoolchildren in Ethiopia.

2009

Abstract Objective To assess effect of subtle morbidities related to schistosomiasis mansoni on class-attentiveness of schoolchildren. Methods A cross-sectional study was undertaken involving 568 schoolchildren (mean age 13.4 years; 333 from Schistosoma mansoni endemic villages (Sille and Worke-Mado) and 235 from the non-endemic town Sheno. A questionnaire on signs and symptoms of ill-health was administered to all study subjects. In addition, parasitological and nutritional anthropometric data were collected. All study subjects from S. mansoni endemic areas were treated with praziquantel and albendazol while children from the non-endemic town were only treated with albendazol. Findings Pre…

Epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic and economic features of an immigrant population of chronic schistosomiasis sufferers with long-term residence …

2021

Background Schistosomiasis, one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTD) listed by the WHO, is an acute and chronic parasitic disease caused by blood flukes (trematode worms) of the genus Schistosoma. Complications of long-term infestation include liver cirrhosis, bladder tumors and kidney failure. The objective of this study was to carry out a clinical and epidemiological characterization of a schistosomiasis-diagnosed immigrant population with long-term residencein the EU as well as to evaluate the diagnostic methods available to date. Methods and results A total of 61 individuals with Schistosoma infection who received medical attention between June 2002 and June 2016 at the North Metrop…

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…

Preliminary ultrasonographical observations of intestinal lesions in a community with heavy Schistosoma mansoni infection in Richard Toll, Senegal

1994

The Hammerhead Ribozyme: A Long History for a Short RNA

2017

Small nucleolytic ribozymes are a family of naturally occurring RNA motifs that catalyse a self-transesterification reaction in a highly sequence-specific manner. The hammerhead ribozyme was the first reported and the most extensively studied member of this family. However, and despite intense biochemical and structural research for three decades since its discovery, the history of this model ribozyme seems to be far from finished. The hammerhead ribozyme has been regarded as a biological oddity typical of small circular RNA pathogens of plants. More recently, numerous and new variations of this ribozyme have been found to inhabit the genomes of organisms from all life kingdoms, although th…

Phylogenetic relationships of the family Campulidae (Trematoda) based on 18S rRNA sequences

1998

Traditionally, the family Campulidae has been associated either with the family Fasciolidae, parasites of ruminants, or the Acanthocolpidae, parasites of fishes, based on morphological similarities. Since morphology does not seem to resolve clearly the problem of the relationships of campulids, we have used the sequences of the 18S rRNA gene of the campulids Zalophotrema hepaticum, Campula oblonga and Nasitrema globicephalae, the fasciolid Fasciola hepatica, the acanthocolpid Stephanostomum baccatum and the outgroup Schistosoma mansoni to infer a phylogeny. Maximum parsimony and neighbour-joining methods were applied. Both methods indicated that campulids are closer to acanthocolpids than f…