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)

Among the available immuno-diagnostic methods of parasitoses, dot-immunobinding assay (DIBA) has been proved to be promising for its high sensitivity and specificity, easy performance, lack of need of special equipment, and consequently its practical usage in field work. In previously reported tests, soluble antigen was used, thus a sonicator and an ultracentrifuge were required to produce the antigen. This paper reports the application of integral P. falciparum as antigen in DIBA to detect antibodies in falciparum malaria cases. Of 52 sera from falciparum malaria patients tested, 49 (94.2%) showed positive reactions, which was similar to the result using soluble antigen in DIBA (96.2%) and was higher than that in IFA (86.5%) and ELISA (80.8%). No false positive was revealed in 48 control sera from healthy individuals and sera from visceral leishmaniasis, paragonimiasis, fasciolopsiasis and schistosomiasis patients.
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PMID:Dot-immunobinding assay (DIBA) with integral Plasmodium falciparum as antigen in immuno-diagnosis of falciparum malaria. 270 Aug 44

In a study of serum levels of endogenous tumour necrosis factor (TNF) in healthy people and patients with neoplastic or infectious disease, only patients with kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis) and malaria were found to have a strikingly increased frequency of raised TNF levels (66.6% and 70.0%, respectively). 7.9% of samples from both healthy subjects and patients with neoplastic disease contained measurable TNF. The discovery of elevated TNF levels in the sera of patients with parasitic diseases suggests that this cytokine may play a part in host defences against parasitic infections.
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PMID:Raised serum levels of tumour necrosis factor in parasitic infections. 287 27

A monoclonal antibody raised against a non-variable surface antigen of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense procyclic trypomastigotes was used to develop an antigen detection enzyme immunoassay for the diagnosis of rhodesiense sleeping sickness. The assay was evaluated using 211 sera from clinically suspected cases: 142 from parasitologically proven cases and 69 from patients who were negative on parasitological examination. The test was positive in 128 out of 142 parasitologically proven cases. The negative cases may have been in the early stages of the disease, or may represent patients with antibody levels sufficient to prevent detection of antigen. Of particular significance, however, was the finding that eight of the 69 patients with undiagnosed disease were antigen positive despite the negative parasitological findings. Since false-positive reactions were not observed with blood donor sera, or with sera from malaria, schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis patients, it is reasonable to conclude that the eight antigen-positive patients were actual cases of sleeping sickness. The remaining 61 cases who were negative for both parasitaemia and antigenaemia may conceivably represent the variety of diseases whose clinical manifestations resemble those of rhodesiense sleeping sickness. The antigen detection method would thus not only be complementary to parasitological diagnosis, but essential for correct diagnosis in certain stages of the disease.
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PMID:An antigen detection enzyme immunoassay for the diagnosis of rhodesiense sleeping sickness. 292 56

Immunoparasitology--the study of the immunology of host-parasite relationships--can post some notable research successes over the past decade. Progress towards prophylactic molecularly-defined vaccines against human parasitic diseases such as falciparum malaria, schistosomiasis mansoni and cutaneous leishmaniasis, as well as economically-important veterinary parasites, has been good. However, new vaccines are not coming as easily as might be hoped mainly because of several deficiencies in knowledge on the immunology of host-parasite relationships and the unknown relevance of well-characterized model systems to real-life parasitic diseases. In some models, the immunology of resistance and the immunology of disease are understood in broad outline. The availability of isolated antigens and their epitopes has improved quantitation of host immune responses to various life cycle stages of parasites and enabled vaccination efficacy or diagnostic potential to be assessed. One of several major challenges facing the immunoparasitologist interested in vaccine development is overcoming genetically-based unresponsiveness to "oligoepitope", defined-antigen vaccines particularly at the level of helper TH and cytotoxic (Tc) T cells.
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PMID:Immunoparasitology: its contribution to development of new parasite vaccines. 304 55

The dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Dot-ELISA) is a highly versatile solid-phase immunoassay for antibody or antigen detection. The assay uses minute amounts of reagent dotted onto solid surfaces such as nitrocellulose and other paper membranes which avidly bind proteins. After incubation with antigen-specific antibody and enzyme-conjugated anti-antibody, the addition of a precipitable, chromogenic substrate causes the formation of a colored dot on the solid phase which is visually read. The Dot-ELISA has been used extensively in the detection of human and veterinary protozoan and metazoan parasitic diseases, including amebiasis, babesiosis, fascioliasis, cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis, cysticercosis, echinococcosis, malaria, schistosomiasis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, trichinosis, trypanosomiasis and even ixodid tick infestation. The technique is rapid, easy to perform and interpret, reagent conservative, cost effective and field portable. In addition, the Dot-ELISA may be configured to detect antibodies or parasite antigen in either microtiter plates for large-batch testing or with dipsticks for small numbers of determinations. A slight modification of the Dot-ELISA procedure allows the determination of infection rates of vectors such as ticks and sandflies with parasites.
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PMID:Recent applications of the Dot-ELISA in immunoparasitology. 305 66

Sera from a total of 268 patients with protozoan, helminth, bacterial (leprosy and tuberculosis) infections or appropriate controls, were assayed for anti-tubulin antibodies in an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using purified tubulin as antigen. Levels of serum anti-tubulin antibody were significantly elevated in 67% of patients with visceral leishmaniasis, in 60% of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, in 89% of patients with onchocerciasis, in 100% of patients with schistosomiasis, and in 94% of patients with leprosy. Little or no increase in anti-tubulin antibody levels was seen in sera from patients with malaria (Plasmodium vivax) or tuberculosis.
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PMID:Antibodies to tubulin in patients with parasitic infections. 311 42

Some of the activities in chemotherapeutic research and vaccine development which WHO has initiated, participated, coordinated or funded are reviewed. WHO has interests in research, particularly, although by means exclusively, in all the communicable diseases and in applied vaccinology. Examples are given from various fields including progress in human trials of anti-sporozoite vaccines in malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum, chemotherapeutic studies on artemisine and halofantrine, pragmatic and systemic approaches to vaccination in leishmaniasis, recent work on the chemotherapy of leishmanial infections, African leishmaniasis and Chagas' disease, the anticipated impact of ivermectin in onchocerciasis control, studies on new macro- and microfilaricides, progress in the diarrhoeal diseases control programme, and the control of taeniasis/cysticercosis, ascariasis and hookworm through different delivery systems using population-based chemotherapy.
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PMID:Drug and vaccine development. 312 54

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to quantify soluble interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R) in the serum of patients with helminthic and protozoal infections. The results demonstrated that levels of IL-2R were normal in patients with helminthic infections limited to the intestinal tract (ascariasis, trichuriasis), but significantly elevated in patients with systemic or long-lasting infections (strongyloidiasis, schistosomiasis, fascioliasis, opisthorchiasis). In patients infected with Schistosoma mansoni levels of IL-2R were higher in those with the hepatosplenic than in those with the intestinal form of the disease. Patients with malaria also showed increased serum levels of IL-2R, irrespective whether the infection was caused by Plasmodium falciparum or P. vivax. No difference was observed between patients with acute or history of malaria. The highest levels of IL-2R were observed in patients with visceral leishmaniasis. Interestingly, in these patients the concentration of IL-2R correlated to specific antibody titre. The results are discussed in the context of preferential activation of T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and/or macrophages during the course of the different parasitic infections investigated.
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PMID:Interleukin 2 receptor in patients with localized and systemic parasitic diseases. 313 58

Effect of concomitant malaria on cutaneous leishmaniasis. Development of lesions in a Leishmania-susceptible (BALB/c) strain of mouse. Experimental Parasitology 65, 269-276. Symptoms of human leishmaniasis vary greatly, ranging from cryptic infections to cases with fatal sequelae. Factors regulating the severity of the disease are largely undetermined. Malaria coincides geographically with leishmaniasis in many areas and the immunosuppressive effects of malaria are well documented. It is therefore plausible that malaria could enhance the course of concomitant leishmaniasis. Interactions between Leishmania mexicana and Plasmodium yoelii were examined in BALB/c mice. Percentage of blood cells infected with P. yoelii and diameter of footpad lesions caused by L. mexicana were the criteria used to assay for disease severity. L. mexicana and P. yoelii infections were each significantly enhanced in dually infected mice when compared to mice infected with either parasite alone. Mortality rates due to the normally nonlethal P. yoelii were high during concurrent infections.
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PMID:Leishmania mexicana: effect of concomitant malaria on cutaneous leishmaniasis. Development of lesions in a Leishmania-susceptible (BALB/c) strain of mouse. 335 Jan 6

Ethiopia is a country of 45 million people in northeast Africa. With a stagnant, agriculture-based economy and a per capita gross national product of $110 in 1984, it is one of the world's poorest nations. 70% of the children are mildly to severely malnourished, and 25.7% of children born alive die before the age of 5. Life expectancy is 41 years. The population is growing at the rate of 2.9%/year, but only 2% of the people use birth control. After the 1974 revolution, the socialist government nationalized land and created 20,000 peasant associations and kebeles (urban dwellers' associations), which are the units of local government. The government has set ambitious goals for development in all sectors, including health, but famine, near famine, forced resettlement programs, and civil war have prevented any real progress from being made. The government's approach to health care is based on an emphasis on primary health care and expansion of rural health services, but the Ministry of Health is allocated only 3.5% of the national budget. Ethiopia has 3 medical schools -- at Addis Ababa, Gondar, and the Jimma Institute of Health Sciences. Physicians are government employees but also engage in private practice. A major problem is that a large proportion of medical graduates emigrate. Ethiopia has 87 hospitals with 11,296 beds, which comes to 1 bed per 3734 people. There are 1949 health stations and 141 health centers, but many have no physician, and attrition among health workers is high due to lack of ministerial support. Health care is often dispensed legally or illegally by pharmacists. Overall, there is 1 physician for 57,876 people, but in the southwest and west central Ethiopia 1 physician serves between 200,000 and 300,000 people. In rural areas, where 90% of the population lives, 85% live at least 3 days by foot from a rural health unit. Immunization of 1-year olds against tuberculosis, diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus, poliomyelitis, and measles is 11, 6, 6, and 12% respectively. Infectious diseases dominate the medical scene in Ethiopia. In 1984, tuberculosis accounted for 11.2% of hospital admissions and 12.2% of deaths. The leading cause of childhood mortality in 1984 was diarrhea (45%). Malaria, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and meningococcal meningitis are endemic. Intestinal parasitism is rampant, and the nationwide prevalence of leprosy is 3/1000. Venereal diseases were the 9th most common cause of hospital outpatient visits in 1984, but AIDS is rare. The leading noninfectious diseases are rheumatic and syphilitic heart disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hepatoma, and elephantiasis. Ethiopia has the highest number of cases of nonfilarial elephantiasis -- an estimated 350,000 cases -- in the world. Aside from a large influx of money, the most necessary changes to improve the health system are lowering the salaries of doctors and nurses, reorienting physician training toward primary health care, increasing the quality of existing health services, more efficient management, and better coordination between the Ministry of Health and the voluntary organizations.
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PMID:Health and medical care in Ethiopia. 271 Jan 85


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