Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hepatitis B and C are, and will remain for some time, major health problems in Egypt and the entire continent of Africa. Both infections can lead to an acute or silent course of liver disease, progressing from liver impairment to cirrhosis and decompensated liver failure or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a 20-30 year period. In addition, hepatitis B and C infection rates differ in different settings, and prognosis may be worse in conjunction with schistosomiasis in Egypt, malaria in Sudan and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in other African populations. Unlike hepatitis B virus (HBV), for which the prospects for controlling the spread of infection by vaccination are promising, prospects for development of an effective vaccine against hepatitis C virus (HCV) are limited. As well as screening of blood for transfusion and using sterile needles for injection, preventive measures should be undertaken to reduce the risk of contact (often described as community-acquired infection). Until more is known about the unidentified routes of transmission in tropical and subtropical settings it will be difficult to be specific about the kind of measures which may be effective. Success may largely depend on changing habits within the population. Prevention should be the main goal of current efforts until low-cost, effective therapies become available.
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PMID:Prevalence of hepatitis B and C in Egypt and Africa. 1072 51

The etiology of bloodstream infections (BSIs) in febrile (> or =37.5 degrees C) adults (> or =18 years old) in one Malawi hospital were determined during August and September 1997. After clinical evaluation, blood was drawn for comprehensive culture, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 testing, and malaria smear. Of 233 patients, 173 (74%) were HIV-1 infected, and 70 (30%) had BSI. BSI pathogens included 25 (33%) Streptococcus pneumoniae and 21 (28%) Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nine patients (4%) had malaria parasitemia. BSIs were more likely in HIV-1-positive than in -negative patients (62/173 vs. 8/60, P<.01). Clinical predictors of BSI included HIV-1 infection and altered mental status. Mortality among inpatients with BSI was higher than among those without BSI (P<.001). In conclusion, S. pneumoniae and M. tuberculosis are frequent causes of BSI in febrile adults. Similar surveys, performed periodically in developing countries, may assist in the identification of clinical predictors of BSI and in planning appropriate therapy.
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PMID:A hospital-based prevalence survey of bloodstream infections in febrile patients in Malawi: implications for diagnosis and therapy. 1076 72

Chemokines are small peptides that are potent activators and chemoattractants for leukocyte subpopulations and some nonhemopoietic cells. Their actions are mediated by a family of 7-transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptors, the size of which has grown considerably in recent years and now includes 18 members. Chemokine receptor expression on different cell types and their binding and response to specific chemokines are highly variable. Significant advances have been made in understanding the regulation of chemokine receptor expression and the intracellular signaling mechanisms used in bringing about cell activation. Chemokine receptors have also recently been implicated in several disease states including allergy, psoriasis, atherosclerosis, and malaria. However, most fascinating has been the observation that some of these receptors are used by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in gaining entry into permissive cells. This review will discuss structural and functional aspects of chemokine receptor biology and will consider the roles these receptors play in inflammation and in infectious diseases.
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PMID:Chemokine receptors and their role in inflammation and infectious diseases. 1080 66

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to identify risk factors for anemia among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive pregnant women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Baseline data from 1064 women enrolled in a clinical trial on the effect of vitamin supplementation in HIV infection were examined to identify potential determinants of anemia. The mean hemoglobin (Hb) level was 94 g/L, and the prevalence of severe anemia (Hb < 85 g/L) was 28%; 83% of the women had Hb < 110 g/L. Iron deficiency and infectious disease appeared to be the predominant causes of anemia. Significant independent associations with severe anemia were observed for women with body mass index (BMI) < 19 kg/m(2) compared with women with BMI > 24 kg/m(2) [odds ratio (OR) 3.13, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1. 37-7.14); malaria parasite densities > 1000/mm(3) (OR 2.70, CI: 1. 58-4.61) compared with women with no parasites; eating soil during early pregnancy (OR 2.47, CI: 1.66-3.69); CD4+ cell count < 200/microL compared with CD4+ count > 500/microL (OR 2.70, CI: 1. 42-5.12); and serum retinol levels < 70 micromol/L (OR 2.45, CI: 1. 44-4.17) compared with women with retinol levels > 1.05 micromol/L. The most significant risk factors associated with severe anemia in this population are preventable. Public health recommendations include increasing the effectiveness of iron supplementation and malaria management during pregnancy, and providing health education messages that increase awareness of the potentially adverse nutritional consequences of eating soil during pregnancy.
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PMID:Nutritional factors and infectious disease contribute to anemia among pregnant women with human immunodeficiency virus in Tanzania. 1091 7

An association was demonstrated recently between elevated in vitro production of interferon (IFN)-gamma by intervillous blood mononuclear cells (IVBMCs) and protection against placental malaria (PM). Because human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected pregnant women have increased susceptibility to PM, loss of the IFN-gamma response in these women may impair their ability to control PM. Measurement of cytokines in culture supernatants by ELISA revealed that IFN-gamma responses by HIV-positive IVBMCs were impaired, especially after malarial antigen stimulation. Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10 responses also were reduced in HIV-positive persons, the latter more so in HIV-positive, PM-positive persons. In contrast, tumor necrosis factor-alpha production generally was enhanced in PM-positive and HIV-positive persons. Overall, cytokine production was reduced in HIV-positive persons with CD4 T cell counts <500/microL, particularly in response to malarial antigen. Thus, HIV-mediated cytokine dysregulation and impairment of the protective IFN-gamma response may contribute to the increased susceptibility of HIV-positive pregnant women to malaria.
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PMID:Immunity to placental malaria. II. Placental antigen-specific cytokine responses are impaired in human immunodeficiency virus-infected women. 1095 Jul 98

Malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are common, widespread and overlapping problems in the tropics. Despite this there has been minimal evidence to support an important interaction, other than during pregnancy in multigravid HIV-infected women. The lack of an interaction in other groups is surprising, and would be unexpected based on present knowledge of anti-malarial immunity. However, most of the reported studies have been cross-sectional and performed in selected groups, making their findings difficult to interpret. Two cohort studies in children were similarly inconclusive, although both hinted at a decreased ability to control parasitaemia with more advanced HIV-disease. Recent work from Entebbe carried out in a well-characterized cohort of HIV-infected adults revealed an increase in malarial fever with deteriorating immune status. Rates by CD4+ T-cell count groups > 500, 200-499 and < 200 cells/microL were 45, 73 and 115 cases per 1000 person-years respectively, P < 0.01 for trend. These findings support an important interaction between HIV and malaria. The public health consequences and the relevance of these findings out with Entebbe are uncertain. The importance of understanding this interaction further must be a priority for sub-Saharan Africa: consequently further studies designed primarily to answer these questions will be necessary. Meanwhile, the optimism that the global malaria situation was largely unaffected by the HIV pandemic may need to be reconsidered.
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PMID:Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting at Manson House, London, 18 March 1999. Fresh from the field: some controversies in tropical medicine and hygiene. HIV and malaria, do they interact? 1097 85

Chemokines are a group of approximately 50 small peptides that are potent activators and chemoattractants of leucocytes. Except of their role in inflammation they are involved also in other biological activities as angiogenesis, hematopoesis, and enhancing the host response to tumors. The chemokine family is divided according to their different biochemical structure and biological activities into 4 subfamilies--C, CC, CXC, and CX3C. Activities of chemokines are mediated by a family of 7-transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptors. Chemokine receptors have been implicated in several disease states, esp. in allergy and malaria. However, the most fascinating was discovery that some of them serve as coreceptors for human immunodeficiency virus type 1. (Tab. 2, Fig. 1, Ref. 38.)
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PMID:[Chemokines]. 1118 55

Malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfections are common in pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. The current study shows that placentas of malaria-infected women contain 3 times as much CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) RNA as placentas of women without malaria. By immunohistochemistry, CCR5(+) maternal macrophages were seen in placentas from malaria-infected women but not in placentas from malaria-uninfected women. In addition, CCR5 also was found on fetal Hofbauer cells in placentas from both groups. Thus, malaria infections increase the potential reservoir for HIV in the placenta by increasing the number of HIV target cells.
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PMID:Malaria enhances expression of CC chemokine receptor 5 on placental macrophages. 1123 15

To test the capacity of malaria parasites to trigger virus expression in vivo, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transgenic mice were infected with Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi clone AS. Splenocytes recovered during peak parasitemia showed a dramatic elevation in viral p24 production that returned to baseline by day 15 and failed to rebound at recrudescence or after reinfection. The major sources of virus expression were antigen-presenting cells (APCs) rather than T lymphocytes. Nevertheless, T cells from infected mice stimulated with plasmodial antigen triggered 5-10-fold increases in p24 production from dendritic cells in vitro, which suggests that viral induction stems from interaction of malaria-specific T lymphocytes with HIV-expressing APCs. Indeed, depletion of CD4 T cells resulted in a 70% reduction in the p24 response stimulated by malaria in vivo. These findings demonstrate the ability of Plasmodium species to immunologically activate latently integrated HIV in vivo but suggest that this process may be restricted to acute infection.
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PMID:Malaria infection induces virus expression in human immunodeficiency virus transgenic mice by CD4 T cell-dependent immune activation. 1126 9

A range of serological tests, including rapid plasma reagin (RPR), Widal test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and -2, direct Coombs' test (DCT), and rheumatoid factor (RF) were performed in a well-characterised cohort of 100 patients with acute malaria (Plasmodium vivax infection: 31 patients; P. falciparum infection: 69 patients). Twenty-five healthy volunteers from a similar area were used as controls. Three patients from the severe P. falciparum group died, the remainder of the patients recovered completely. A large proportion of these patients showed false-positive serological reactions during the acute stage of infection, which became negative on re-testing, four weeks after recovery. In tropical countries such as India, where malaria is endemic, results of serological tests should be interpreted with caution in a patient with pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO).
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PMID:False-positive serological tests in acute malaria. 1128 19


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