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)

We have shown that a member of the 70-kDa heat shock protein (Hsp70) family is a major target of the humoral immune response during Leishmania donovani infection. A recombinant fusion protein was recognized by sera from 92% (35 of 38) of patients with visceral leishmaniasis, including representatives from each of the major regions where it is endemic. Serological analysis of recombinant Hsp70, expressed by a series of deletion constructs, identified the carboxy-terminal region as the immunodominant site. This region, which is the most evolutionarily divergent part of the molecule, was recognized by all sera from patients with visceral leishmaniasis which exhibited an anti-Hsp70 response. Purified recombinant L. donovani Hsp70 was not recognized by sera from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, Chagas' disease, leprosy, malaria, or schistosomiasis. To determine the regions involved in antibody recognition, a series of overlapping peptides were synthesized on polyethylene pins by the Pepscan method, and a hexamer, EADDRA, was identified by the visceral leishmaniasis serum samples as an immunodominant B-cell epitope.
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PMID:Mapping of a visceral leishmaniasis-specific immunodominant B-cell epitope of Leishmania donovani Hsp70. 137 80

Positive outcomes, constraints, and future involvement of traditional healers in community health projects is reviewed. 17 projects of which 2 were nongovernmental were included in the analysis of traditional practitioners trained in implementing 1 or more primary care (PHC) activities. Traditional medical persons were, for instance, herbalists, diviners, spiritual or faith healers, traditional midwives, and birth attendants, who worked well with other staff and were willing to contribute to PHC. Skills were taught in promotion of 1) health education and prevention relevant to local problems; 2) improving nutrition and food supplies (breast feeding, weaning foods balanced diets, kitchen gardens); 3) safe drinking water supplies and sanitation; 4) maternal and child health care and family planning (pregnancy monitoring, risk referral, contraceptive distribution); 5) prevention and control of local endemic diseases (diarrhea and oral rehydration therapy--ORS, tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, malnutrition) and referral for treatment; 6) immunization and referral of children 5 to clinics for vaccination; and provision of 7) treatment of common diseases and injuries (1st aid and accident prevention); and 8) essential drugs and maintenance of a basic dispensary. Examples are given for Ghana, Swaziland, Nepal, and brazil and show the high level of interest of healers. There was increased use of ORS and decreased use of purges, use of handwashing in basins, construction and use of latrines, increased referrals, and increased use of midwives for birthing. 7 projects showed improvements in attitudes, knowledge, and behavior of healers; in the health status of population; and in attitudes and behavior of health staff. Constraints were the lack of government recognition of the value of traditional healers, of government commitment, and of dialogue between healers and government staff. Clearly defined roles and tasks are important for deterring problems. Harmful practices of healers can interfere with proper medical care. Recommendations were to stimulate government action to incorporate traditional healers into health services, to define carefully the role of healers, to engage in evaluation research with other sectors, to tailor training programs to the needs of local traditional healers, and to develop effective strategies to integrate healers. Traditional healers are a valuable resource in PHC.
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PMID:Traditional healers and community health. 141 32

Subfecundity is caused by disease and nutrition as well as by genetic, environmental, and psychological components. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are caused by 21 different pathogens of which syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are the most important. Syphilis is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum with incidence of 10% in Thailand. 20% in Papua New Guinea, and 40% in Ethiopia. Stillbirths in infected mothers range from 66% to 80%. Gonorrhea is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoea and its incidence was 18% in female patients in Ugandan clinic. 20% of women in Africa with cervical gonorrhea develop salpingitis. The risk of pelvic inflammatory disease is several times higher in IUD users. The bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis caused infertility in 15.4% of men in a 1991 study. Herpes simplex virus 2 infects 15-30% of sexually active adults, and the chance of fetal transmission is 40% when maternal lesions are present. Diseases other than STDs include tuberculosis (TB) whose development is aided by conditions such as malnutrition, malaria, leprosy, syphilis, and African sleeping sickness. Genital TB causes a 5-50% rate of menstrual disorders including amenorrhea and a 55-85% rate of sterility in women. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium protozoa, and the feverish state included by it can lead to oligospermia. Severe malarial anemia can lead to fetal and maternal mortality. The protozoa Trypanosoma causes African sleeping sickness that produces azoospermia and impairs the pituitary gland and ovaries. Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) and filariasis have less direct effect on fecundity but they negatively impact nutritional status. Maternal nutrition substantially impacts fetal and infant survival. During the Dutch famine of 1944-45 there was a 50% decrease in births 9 months subsequently. A 10-15% weight loss results in amenorrhea.
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PMID:Endemic disease, nutrition and fertility in developing countries. 163 64

Haemolysis and frank anaemia from dapsone therapy of leprosy has been long recognized. However, the frequency and severity of this side-effect have not been well documented. We report herein a retrospective analysis of the effect of daily dapsone (generally 100 mg/day) on the haemoglobin concentration of 100 leprosy patients undergoing initial chemotherapy. The average haemoglobin was found to fall significantly by almost 2 g/dl, from 14.25 +/- 1.27 g/dl to a nadir of 12.31 +/- 1.61 (P less than 0.001). Eighty-three percent of patients had a fall of haemoglobin concentration of 1 g/dl or more, while in 16% of patients the haemoglobin fell greater than or equal to 3 g/dl. Increasing age was found associated with an increased magnitude of dapsone-related haemolysis (P less than or equal to 0.004). Decreasing the daily dose of dapsone was associated with an increased haemoglobin concentration (P less than 0.001%). We have concluded that dapsone commonly results in not only haemolysis but a significant decrease in haemoglobin concentration. This may have serious clinical implications, especially in endemic areas, where, owing to nutrition, malaria, and intestinal parasitism, the haemoglobin concentration is already compromised.
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PMID:Effect of dapsone on haemoglobin concentration in patients with leprosy. 187 Mar 79

The direct agglutination test (DAT) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used for serodiagnosis of parasitologically confirmed Indian visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases. All the sera of VL cases were positive by both the methods. DAT titres of VL cases were greater than or equal to 1:3,200, and ELISA values were greater than or equal to 0.55 1:400 dilution. In the control group, sera of widely prevalent diseases of India, such as leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, and liver cirrhosis, were included. Both tests could discriminate between VL and other patients of the control group. The sera of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) patients gave OD values of greater than 0:55 and had DAT titres of 1:1,600. Both tests are sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of VL cases. DAT, being simpler and more economical, will be suitable for diagnosis and epidemiological studies for VL under rural conditions of India.
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PMID:Evaluation of direct agglutination test (DAT) and ELISA for serodiagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in India. 194 50

The sera of 187 patients from across the leprosy spectrum were screened for the expression of the PR4 idiotype, which was first identified on a human hybridoma-derived monoclonal antibody from a patient with leprosy and found to react with the Mycobacterium leprae phenolic glycolipid and a variety of polynucleotides. Sixty per cent (51 out of 85) of patients with lepromatous leprosy (LL), 66% (33 out of 49) with borderline lepromatous (BL) disease, 47% (14 out of 30) with borderline tuberculoid (BT) leprosy, and 56% (13 out of 23) of tuberculoid (TT) patients were found to have significantly elevated titres of the PR4 idiotype in their sera compared with endemic controls, irrespective of the presence or absence of endemic malaria. Sera from 52 patients with tuberculosis were also screened as a control for mycobacterial infection. The PR4 idiotype was significantly elevated in 37% (19 out of 52) of these patients. No correlation between idiotype and serum immunoglobulins IgG and IgM was found, indicating that the concentrations of idiotype levels in sera were not merely a reflection of changes in serum immunoglobulin levels. It is hypothesized that the expression of the PR4 idiotype is due to certain germline genes preferentially expressed rather than being the result of polyclonal B cell activation.
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PMID:Expression of a common idiotype PR4 in the sera of patients with leprosy. 204 33

The health situation in Nigeria is typical of tropical Africa. It is characterised by high childhood and maternal mortality and a relatively short life expectancy. Mortality in childhood in due mainly to diseases like malaria, measles, poliomyelitis, tetanus, diarrhoea and acute respiratory tract infections. Diseases like filariasis, schistosomiasis and leprosy which are now readily controlled by drugs cause considerable morbidity in later life. Although the technology and tools (particularly vaccines and drugs) for the control of most of these diseases are now available, it has not been possible to make optimal use of them in Nigeria and other tropical African countries because of unfavourable social and economic conditions. The non-availability of drugs most needed for healthcare and disease control has been found to be due not only to insufficient funds but also to the use of the limited funds on expensive drugs that have little bearing on the disease pattern. The Essential Drug Programme initiated by the World Health Organisation, now adopted by Nigeria and about 100 other countries mostly in the Third World, aims to correct this unsatisfactory drug supply situation by ensuring that the available funds are used to provide those drugs needed by the large majority of the people and are made available at all times at prices that most people can afford. The Bamako Initiative in the African Region of the World Health Organization is also designed to ensure regular availability of drugs particularly to primary healthcare facilities. Seed drugs are provided to the health institutions either by the National Government or through external aid. These are sold to patients at a small profit margin. The proceeds are then used to replenish stocks and the small profit used to improve services in the health centre. The introduction of these programmes in Nigeria has improved drug availability considerably in the past couple of years and should soon start yielding further dividend in the form of measurable improvement in the health situation.
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PMID:Drug supply in Nigeria. 204 36

Monoclonal antibodies L12F7 against the target antigen of L. donovani promastigotes were used for the detection of circulating antigen (CAg) from sera of visceral leishmaniasis patients. The results showed that of 118 serum samples from visceral leishmaniasis tested, 105 were positive (88.9%). 55 normal serum samples were negative. No cross reaction with sera from patients with vivax malaria, schistosomiasis, leprosy and brucellosis, was found. The authors suggested that this assay may be used as a sensitive and new serodiagnostic test for detecting existing infection of visceral leishmaniasis for epidemiological survey and for assessment of cure after effective treatment.
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PMID:[Application of monoclonal antibodies against Leishmania donovani, II. Detection of circulating antigen in sera of visceral leishmaniasis before and after treatment]. 206 47

6 commercially available ELISA kits and 4 new Brazilian made methods for detecting HIV were compared on 2 panels of sera, 292 from AIDS patients, HIV-positives and negatives, and 180 sera from asymptomatic blood donors, including 90 HIV-positives. The kits tested were 5 ELISAs: Roche Diagnostica (Basel), Hoechst Enzygnostic (Sao Paulo), Virgo Electronuclionics (Columbia MD), Organon Teknika (Boxtel, Netherlands), Salck Industria e Comercio de Produtos Biologicos (Sao Paulo), and a passive hemagglutination test, (Salck Ind), and indirect immunofluorescence IIF (Virgo electronucleonics, Columbia), a dot blot (Embrabio, Empressa Brasiliera de Biotecnologia Ltda, Sao Paolo) and Karpas AIDS cell test, Fujichemical Industries Ltd (Chokeiji, Takaoka, Japan). The sensitivities ranged from 84.2% to 100% with no significant differences in sera from panel A. In panel B, the sensitivity of the PHA test was significantly lower than that of the ELISA and the AIDS cell tests. The specificities of the PHA and the AIDS cell tests were also lower than that of the ELISA. The costs of all the tests were similar, but the equipment needs varied. The simplest tests to perform were the dot blot assay, PHA and Karpas AIDS cell test. The Hoechst ELISA is simpler because it does not require dilution of the serum. The dot takes too long for use in a blood bank, 16-18 hours. Immunofluorescence tests would be practical in countries already screening blood for malaria or Changes disease. Brazil is not doing so on a large scale due to lack of political will. In countries with high incidence of malaria, Chagas disease, leishmania, hepatitis and leprosy, HIV test need to be tested on local sera because of possible B cell activation.
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PMID:Evaluation of enzyme-linked immunosorbent and alternative assays for detection of HIV antibodies using panels of Brazilian sera. 209 32

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) developed using Leishmania donovani promastigote soluble antigen gave positive responses in practically all the clinically and parasitologically diagnosed patients with kala-azar in a preliminary study. Healthy control subjects from non-endemic and endemic areas gave negative results. No cross-reaction was observed with patients having leprosy, filariasis, malaria, tuberculosis, or amoebiasis. Blood samples collected on filter paper were adequate for the test. The test appears promising in the diagnosis of kala-azar.
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PMID:Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the diagnosis of kala-azar in Bhadohi (Varanasi), India. 226 Jan 70


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