Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022568 (keratitis)
 5,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The prevalence, intensity and clinical manifestations of onchocerciasis were investigated in three village communities along the Bahr El Arab and its tributaries in Southern Darfur, Western Sudan. Onchocerca volvulus has not been reported from this region before. Over 300 people were examined and the selection of patients was aimed at obtaining a cross-sectional view of the disease at all ages and in both sexes. Prevalence rates were high (67.5%, 28.6% and 32% in Titribi, Radom and Kafia Kingi, respectively). The intensity of infection in young adults was generally about 30 mf/mg, but ranged up to 100 mf/mg. Infections were detected in subjects as young as two years old; about one quarter of those sampled in Titribi had nodules, mostly in the pelvic region. Clinical signs of acute and chronic dermal changes were especially marked in Titribi. This village was located closest to the breeding sites, which appear in the rainy season only. More than a third of those samples had severe pruritus and showed many self-inflicted excoriations. Both anterior and posterior eye segment changes were detected in each community, and cases of onchocercal blindness were attributed to sclerosing keratitis and to optic and chorioretinal atrophy. One case typical of intensely localized disease was seen, where the affliction was unilateral and severe with oedema and pigment changes, but very few microfilariae present. Onchocerciasis appears to be well established in this region and has apparently caused abandonment of some settlements in recent years.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Onchocerciasis in Sudan: the Southern Darfur focus. 360 40

The microfiladermia of Monanema martini was studied in two natural murid hosts, Lemniscomys striatus and Arvicanthis niloticus, with 137 and 39 rodents respectively inoculated once, twice or several times. Microfilarial densities (mf/mm2) were measured at the ear pinna every three months. Almost all the rodents developed a microfiladermia. When L. striatus rodents were inoculated once with 30, 80, or 400 infective larvae, microfiladermia increased (peaks of 108, 148, 174 mf/mm2 respectively, at six to nine months p.i.); this fits with the fact that, in this filaria-host pair, the number of adult filariae is proportional to the number of inoculated larvae, and remains at a constant level for more than eight months. Nevertheless microfiladermia was limited, especially during the peak, showing the complexity of its regulatory mechanisms. Several low doses over one year, resulting in 145 L3, increased the microfiladermia at the same level than one dose of 400 larvae; the recovery rate of the larvae was reduced but the total number of filariae recovered was increased. A. niloticus, from which the filarial strain originates, showed a much lower microfiladermia than L. striatus (7 mf/mm2 with 80 larvae, at six months p.i.). This was due to a smaller recovery rate of the infective larvae in this host and, overall, to a reduced fertility of the female worms and a shorter lifetime of adult filariae. However, repeated inoculations increased the microfiladermia (32 mf/mm2), due to the constant presence of small numbers of young filariae producing microfilariae. It is to be noted that the two biological systems presented by M. martini in L. striatus and A. niloticus correspond to the two types of ocular pathology described in a recent opthalmological study, chorioretinal atrophy and keratitis respectively.
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PMID:Monanema martini in its murid hosts: microfiladermia related to infective larvae and adult filariae. 793 58

The filaria Monanema martini with skin-dwelling microfilariae induces in its natural murid hosts lesions similar to those in human onchocerciasis. This was demonstrated by histo-pathological studies but it appeared useful to evaluate the model by a clinical investigation. An ophthalmological analysis was performed on the two species of hosts, inoculated by one, two, or multiple doses of larvae, and with infections of at least one year duration. A total of 140 eyes was examined (anterior and posterior segments). We established a system for enumerating the different types and severities of lesions. We prepared a file for each eye and attempted to quantify our observations. The significant lesions were different in the two host species. In Arvicanthis niloticus, in which motile microfilariae were seen in the anterior segment, punctate keratitis was predominant. In Lemniscomys striatus, the posterior segment showed complete chorioretinal atrophy, similar to the final stage of onchocercal chorioretinitis in humans. M. martini represents in its natural hosts two complementary models for the study of the pathogenesis and treatment of human onchocerciasis.
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PMID:Ophthalmological study of the lesions induced by the filarial worm with dermal microfilariae, Monanema martini, in its murid hosts. 829 64