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)

Rickettsial infections are considered a major cause of illness among inmates of Thai-Kampuchean border displaced persons camps. In the absence of sophisticated laboratory support, it had become common practice to treat patients with obscure fevers with tetracycline as a 'diagnostic' test for typhus. This study evaluated a group of 67 randomly selected camp inmates who presented with fever and had findings that indicated a specific diagnosis. Differential blood counts, malaria smears, hemoglobin determinations, blood cultures, dengue and Japanese encephalitis virus and rickettsial IgM and IgG antibody titers were determined. Patients were then treated with tetracycline and followed. They could be divided into six groups after data were analyzed. Those with no final diagnosis comprised 14 cases (21%), 4 patients (6%) were found to have dengue fever, 6 (9%) scrub typhus and 39 (58%) had murine (endemic) typhus. None of the bacterial blood cultures drawn from this group grew any organisms and no tick typhus or Japanese encephalitis was diagnosed. Analysis of symptoms and signs did not allow clinical differentiation between groups. All patients became afebrile and well within 1-5 days of starting tetracycline therapy. We conclude that rickettsial disease is a major health problem in the Thai-Kampuchean border camps. The incidence of murine typhus increased during the dry season and was more prevalent among males. The use of tetracycline as a 'therapeutic test' did not distinguish between rickettsial, viral and undiagnosed febrile diseases.
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PMID:Murine and scrub typhus at Thai-Kampuchean border displaced persons camps. 181 1

Many tropical and other unusual infections can occur in travelers or among foreign-born persons who have emigrated to the United States. The approach to the differential diagnosis includes considering the patient's geographic history, dates of travel, and clinical presentation, along with the geographic distribution and possible incubation periods of suspected pathogens. Important considerations include malaria, typhoid fever, rickettsial disease, dengue, brucellosis, tuberculosis, and leptospirosis. Traveler's diarrhea and dysentery are also common.
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PMID:Infectious diseases of travelers and immigrants. 633 88

Control of the vector is usually a crucial factor in control programs for tropical diseases spread by insect vectors. Successful control programs aim at vulnerable points in the interactions between the vector, the reservoir host, the pathogen, the human host, and the environment. The objective is to prevent potential transmission, or interrupt actual transmission, by reducing the abundance, longevity, or host contact of the vector--whichever is most appropriate to the particular pathogen or disease and the local situation. The importance of individual assessment in the light of local conditions and a knowledge of the biology of the local vector is stressed. The vector-borne diseases discussed here are malaria, filariasis, arbovirus diseases, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, plague and rickettsiosis.
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PMID:Vector-borne diseases and their control. 848 88

Rickettsioses is a possible alternative to presumptive diagnosis of malaria. A serologic study was carried out in 1994 to determine the prevalence of rickettsioses in children under 5 years of age from three different areas of Niamey, Niger. Indirect immunofluorescent assays using the micromethod were performed with antigens for Rickettsia conori, Rickettsia mooseri, and Coxiella burneti. Results were read from a positive threshold of 1/160 up to 1/640. Out of a randomized population of 177 children 35 were positive for at least one antigen: 17.5% for Rickettsia conori, 15.8% for Rickettsia mooseri, and 9.6% for Coxiella burneti. The incidence of positivity for Rickettsia mooseri and Coxiella burneti. was significantly higher in an area where contact between people and animals was particularly close. This high rate of positivity is in agreement with previous reports in other countries in West Africa and suggests that close contact between man and rickettsiae is common. Although dogs carry ticks in Niger, direct contact with Rickettsia conori is probably the most mode of transmission. Rodents like Cricetomys gambianus and Rattus norvegicus carry Rickettsia mooseri and goats and sheep which are often kept in the courtyards of buildings carry Coxiella burneti. The recently identified species Rickettsia africae could be transmitted by other vectors such as cattle ticks.
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PMID:[Serological study of rickettsia infections in Niamey, Niger]. 930 8

Viral haemorrhagic fevers, such as Lassa fever and yellow fever, cause tens of thousands of deaths annually outside the Netherlands. The viruses are mostly transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks or via excreta of rodents. Important to travellers are yellow fever, dengue and Lassa and Ebola fever. For yellow fever there is an efficacious vaccine. Dengue is frequently observed in travellers; prevention consists in avoiding mosquito bites, the treatment is symptomatic. Lassa and Ebola fever are extremely rare among travellers; a management protocol can be obtained from the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. Diagnostics of a patient from the tropics with fever and haemorrhagic diathesis should be aimed at treatable disorders such as malaria, typhoid fever, rickettsiosis or bacterial sepsis, because the probability of such a disease is much higher than that of Lassa or Ebola fever.
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PMID:[Viral hemorrhagic fever]. 956 57

Post-travel medicine is mainly European medicine: Some 80% of the diseases are ubiquitous in nature, and only 20% tropics-specific. The leading symptoms are diarrhoea (68%), fever (20%) and skin conditions (9%), sometimes in combination. The travel history is of decisive importance for the diagnosis. Quite simple questions aimed at identifying the start of the illness, symptoms, destination, travel class and vaccinations can be useful for differentiation purposes. For the acute diagnosis, such aids as urine stick test, centrifuge, microscope, a range of stains, and a stool test for occult blood suffice. The most common serious travel-specific diseases include malaria, falciparum > tertian, dengue fever, hepatitis, and rickettsiosis. When falciparum malaria is suspected ("flu without a runny nose", and a visit to a tropical country), the patients must be hospitalized. Emergency diagnosis is done with a blood smear, "thick drop", and rapid malaria test.
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PMID:[Diarrhea and fever after vacation in the south. Specific to tropics only in every 5th patient]. 1102 Oct 63

An antigen (LMS) prepared from Leishmania major-like promastigotes was used in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the diagnosis of human and dog visceral leishmaniasis. The results were compared with those from the indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT). A total of 1822 canine sera were tested, including sera from dogs with visceral leishmaniasis, transmissible venereal tumors, ehrlichiosis, rickettsiosis, or Chagas' disease and sera from healthy dogs. The antigen was also tested with 227 samples of human sera, including sera from patients with visceral, cutaneous, or diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis and from noninfected individuals, as well as sera from patients with Chagas' disease, toxoplasmosis, rickettsiosis, hepatitis B, schistosomiasis, ascaridiasis, malaria, rheumatoid factor, leprosy and rheumatoid factor, tuberculosis, or leprosy. All dogs and all human patients had a clinical and/or serological and/or parasitological diagnosis. For detecting antibodies in sera from dogs with leishmaniasis, the antigen showed a sensitivity of 98%, specificity of 95%, and concordance of 93% and when used for detecting antibodies in human sera presented a sensitivity of 92%, specificity of 100%, and concordance of 92%. Comparison between ELISA and IFAT demonstrated that ELISA using the LMS antigen yielded more reliable results than IFAT. The LMS antigen displayed no cross-reactivity with sera from patients or dogs that had any of the other diseases tested.
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PMID:Leishmania major-like antigen for specific and sensitive serodiagnosis of human and canine visceral leishmaniasis. 1241 75

From laboratory records, information was collected on all 77 cases of rickettsioses diagnosed in Sweden during 1997-2001, 14 of which were diagnosed as belonging to the typhus group and 63 to the spotted fever group. Signs of hepatic involvement occurred more frequently in the typhus group. Denominators for the number of journeys to different parts of the world were retrieved from a commercial Swedish tourist database. The estimated risk of rickettsioses in destinations outside Europe varied from 1 case in 140,000 travellers to south-east Asia to 1 in 1600 travellers to southern Africa. The risk of infection in southern Africa increased over the 5 y period and is now 4-5 times higher than the risk of acquiring malaria in the same region. Rickettsiosis is an important differential diagnosis to consider in the febrile traveller, especially from South Africa. It should be remembered that the serological response may be considerably delayed and in patients with a negative first serology, serological testing should be repeated. Where there is a strong suspicion of rickettsiosis treatment may have to be started without a confirmed diagnosis.
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PMID:Rickettsioses in Swedish travellers, 1997-2001. 1283 53

Rickettsial diseases have been reassessed in recent years since they represent an important field in today's medicine. New agents have been described: some are non-pathogenic agents and the others are associated with well-defined or peculiar clinical patterns. In addition, different species of rickettsiosis are found in relation to the geographic areas of the world. Some agents may be defined as variants of older diseases whereas most of the newly described forms of rickettsiosis represent distinct entities with unique epidemiologial and clinical features. Probably the main news regards the group of the spotted fevers. An additional new aspect is linked to the medicine of travellers and tourists. However, this aspect may not be significant for the rickettsial diseases in relation to other human illnesses, such as malaria. Therefore, an investigation into the geographical origin of patients has to enter our routine medical work.
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PMID:Rickettsial disease: classical and modern aspects. 1496 12

Although potential arthropod vectors are abundant in Cameroon, acute febrile illnesses are rarely evaluated for arboviral or rickettsial infections. Serum samples from 234 acutely febrile patients at clinics in Tiko and Buea, Cameroon, were examined for antibodies to Rickettsia africae and African alphaviruses and flaviviruses. These serum samples did not contain antibodies against typhoid, and blood malarial parasites were not detected. Serum samples of 32% contained immunoglobulin M antibodies reactive with R. africae by immunofluorescence assay and were reactive with outer membrane proteins A and B of R. africae by immunoblotting. These findings established a diagnosis of acute rickettsiosis, most likely African tick-bite fever. Hemagglutination inhibition testing of the serum samples also detected antibodies to Chikungunya virus (47%) and flaviviruses (47%). High prevalence of antibodies to arboviruses may represent a major, previously unrecognized public health problem in an area where endemic malaria and typhoid fever have been the principal diagnostic considerations.
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PMID:Acute spotted fever rickettsiosis among febrile patients, Cameroon. 1510 9


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