Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019158 (hepatitis)
 30,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The availability of new biotechnologies has led to the prediction that new or improved vaccines can be developed for 27 diseases within the next decade. The reasons why such optimism cannot be extended to the availability of vaccines for many other infectious diseases are considered by reviewing the steps in vaccine development, from identification of the etiologic agent to construction of attenuated or inactivated vaccines. Impediments to development may exist or arise at any point in this pathway (e.g., multiplicity of serotypes, inability to cultivate the pathogen, multistage life cycles with multiple antigens, unpredictability of epidemics, inadequate knowledge of pathogenesis and immunity, fear of gene splicing, need for an adjuvant, and lack of profitability). Diseases for which vaccines are not likely to be available in the next decade include trachoma, onchocerciasis, pneumonia due to Legionella and to mycoplasmas, amebiasis and giardiasis, schistosomiasis, syphilis, chlamydial urethritis, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and filariasis, and non-A, non-B hepatitis.
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PMID:Impediments to the development of additional vaccines: vaccines against important diseases that will not be available in the next decade. 266 4

Human infection with Schistosoma haematobium and/or Schistosoma mansoni is known to be widespread in central Liberia, but no information is available about its clinical manifestations or its significance for public health. Details of a cross-sectional morbidity study are reported. A sample from hospital out-patients and samples from 3 villages situated in areas with different transmission patterns (lack of transmission, transmission of only S. haematobium and transmission of both S. haematobium and S. mansoni) were examined. All 184 individuals were examined by standardized case history, clinical and parasitological investigations, including a skin snip for onchocerciasis and a count of schistosomal and other intestinal worm eggs from stool and urine. A complete blood count, urine analysis, urine cultures, hepatitis-B surface antigen determination and abdominal X-rays were also carried out. Schistosomal egg counts ranged from 1 to 6200/10 ml urine for S. haematobium and from 1 to 228/g stool for S. mansoni. Difficulties for the definition of accurate morbidity indices are discussed. Except for haematuria and dysuria, the overall morbidity in the study area was not striking, neither for S. haematobium nor for S. mansoni infection. No cumulative pathology was observed in patients with mixed infection. The frequency of hypertension, hepato- and splenomegaly, ascites and bacteriuria was low and no relationship to schistosomiasis could be established. Bladder calcifications were found in 10% of people living in an area of transmission of S. haematobium. Although the intensity of infection is low for both S. haematobium and S. mansoni, long-term follow-up studies are essential for a more accurate assessment of the public health importance of these parasites.
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PMID:The impact of schistosomiasis among rural populations in Liberia. 613 75

A prospective study was conducted to determine the etiologies of isolated pruritus among out-patients attending a hospital dermatology clinic in Lome. Two hundred and twenty patients (120 men and 100 women) suffering from isolated pruritus were included in the study. The most frequent etiologies were; digestive parasitosis (n = 50), onchocercosis (n = 45), drug allergy (n = 26), food allergy (n = 10), psychological pruritus (n = 25) and hepatitis (n = 13). The etiology was not determined for 29 cases. This study shows the large contribution of parasites to the pathogenesis of pruritus in tropical Africa.
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PMID:[Etiology of isolated pruritus in dermatology consultations at Lome (Togo)]. 861 9

Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever constitute a substantial health burden on the population in Thailand. In this study, the impact of symptomatic dengue virus infection on the families of patients hospitalized at the Kamphaeng Phet Provincial Hospital with laboratory-confirmed dengue in 2001 was assessed, and the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost for fatal and non-fatal cases of dengue were calculated using population level data for Thailand. When we accounted for the direct cost of hospitalization, indirect costs due to loss of productivity, and the average number of persons infected per family, we observed a financial loss of approximately US$61 per family, which is more than the average monthly income in Thailand. The DALYs were calculated using select results from a family level survey, and resulted in an estimated 427 DALYs/million population in 2001. This figure is of the same order of magnitude as the impact of several diseases currently given priority in southeast Asia, such as the tropical cluster (trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, and onchocerciasis), malaria, meningitis, and hepatitis. These results indicate that dengue prevention, control, and research should be considered equally important as that of diseases currently given priority.
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PMID:Economic impact of dengue fever/dengue hemorrhagic fever in Thailand at the family and population levels. 1596 64