Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
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.
 ...
PMID:Mapping of a visceral leishmaniasis-specific immunodominant B-cell epitope of Leishmania donovani Hsp70. 137 80

Early observations on this disease were made in Mauritius by Chapotin (1812) before the discovery of Schistosoma haematobium. Bulinus cernicus, the snail intermediate host, one of the nine species within the B. forskali group, is restricted to the island and the disease is not occurring in the neighbouring islands of La Reunion and Rodrigues. Under laboratory conditions, the snail susceptibility to the Mauritian strain of S. haematobium has been demonstrated. But the infection rate of the snail remains very low and the transmission of the disease is sporadic except in three foci. Its occurrence is not linked with agriculture or irrigation but is closely related to other man/water contacts in the rivers. Without clinical significant signs, the disease, quite different of the historic description, is largely underestimate. The snail is well adapted to the climatic conditions on Mauritius with a remarkably resistance to long drought periods. In fact, distribution of snail and evolution of population size fluctuate dramatically. Canalization and drainage of rivers, streams and marches since the beginning of malaria outbreak, widespread use of pesticides during the antimalaria spraying campaigns, only overhead irrigation, permanent maintenance of the lined canal system, induced many ecological constraints to possible snail habitats. Without animal reservoir of infection, control of urinary schistosomiasis or even its eradication looks feasible through a large school case-finding eventually associated with mollusciciding activities in the main foci.
 ...
PMID:[Specifics of the epidemiology of urinary schistosomiasis in Mauritius]. 144 77

A commercial EIA for the detection of antibody to Trypanosoma cruzi was clinically evaluated. The primary use of this test is in the diagnosis and screening of donated blood in Latin America. When compared with sera positive by xenodiagnosis, the assay had a clinical sensitivity of 100%. When tested against matched hemagglutination (HA) and immunofluorescence (IFA) results (i.e., when both tests gave negative results) the EIA had a specificity of 99.03% (305/308). The cross-reactivity of this test was determined using sera from malaria and leishmaniasis patients (obtained from Africa, ensuring that the sera did not contain Chagasic antibodies) and from schistosomiasis, toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis, syphilis, and systemic lupus erythematosus samples. The EIA was 100% specific whereas IFA or commercially available HA kits from Latin America cross-reacted with several of the samples. In this investigation, the EIA appeared to be at least as sensitive and more specific than IFA or HA in the serodiagnosis of Chagas' disease.
 ...
PMID:Clinical evaluation of an EIA for the sensitive and specific detection of serum antibody to Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas' disease). 153 65

This article is a transcript of the 58th Joseph Price Oration, delivered by Egon Diczfalusy (MD, PhD) at the 10th Annual Meeting of the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, held in Carlsbad, California on September 5-7, 1991. In his speech, Diczfalusy discussed the international community's moral obligation to promoting reproductive health, which hinges primarily on contraceptive prevalence. WHO figures indicate that 85% of the world's births, 95% of the world's infant deaths, and 99% of the world's maternal deaths take place in developing countries. While a women in a developed country has a 1 in 1750 chance of dying from pregnancy-related causes, the risk is 1 in 24 for a woman in Africa. The goals of reproductive health are well-known: reducing the unmet need for family planning, increasing family planning services and methods; lessening maternal, infant, and child mortality and morbidity; and reducing the prevalence of STDs. An investment of $2/capita would eliminate most maternal deaths in the developing world. An additional $2/capita spending increase in developing countries would also immunize all children, eradicate polio, and provide the drugs necessary to cure all cases of diarrheal disease, acute respiratory infection tuberculosis, malaria, schistosomiasis, and STDs. But the most important element with respect to reproductive health is increasing contraceptive prevalence. Over the next decade, yearly world population increments will approach 97 million. 94% of this growth will take place in developing countries. As Diczfalusy explains, the technology and resources to solve these problems exists. At bottom, the obstacle to overcoming the problems is the lack of political will.
 ...
PMID:Contraceptive prevalence, reproductive health, and international morality. 156 58

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.
 ...
PMID:Endemic disease, nutrition and fertility in developing countries. 163 64

In the Zaria region of northern Nigeria, which is endemic for malaria and schistosomiasis, laparotomy was performed for traumatic rupture of the spleen in 27 children, 10 of whom had splenomegaly. Eleven of the children were pedestrians knocked down by motor vehicles while crossing the road and six were boys who fell off mango or guava trees. Using suture techniques, 17 ruptured spleens were repaired and one was partially resected: eight of them were enlarged. Total splenectomy was performed in nine cases. Five of the children in the splenic conservation group died within 4 days of surgery owing to severe associated injuries. It is concluded that splenorrhaphy is quite feasible in both normal-sized and enlarged spleens and should be encouraged in similar tropical countries where splenomegaly is a common response to endemic malaria and schistosoma.
 ...
PMID:Conservation of the ruptured spleen in children: an African series. 170 68

In a study of 528 rural primary schoolchildren in Central Zambia, it was found that the health status of the schoolchildren was not good as indicated by inadequate nutrition, a high prevalence of S. haematobium (18%), hookworm (33%), and malaria (43%) infections. There were no statistically significant differences in prevalence of undernutrition between girls and boys and there were no significant trends with age. The treatment and control of hookworm disease, urinary schistosomiasis and malaria deserve a high priority in this area. As for malaria, until an international programme on its control can be developed, the acquisition of protective immunity is of paramount importance. This study shows how the use of 'simple' screening procedures can provide information to direct health education and other disease control measures in school health programmes. As the economic situation in Zambia is not good, the best hope for improvement of the children's health lies with environmental improvement in sanitation, water supplies and provision of basic health education.
 ...
PMID:The health status of rural primary schoolchildren in Central Zambia. 171 Nov 29

The relationship between intensity of Schistosoma mansoni infection and the degree of related morbidity was suspected to differ locally within the Machakos district of Kenya. To test this possibility, prevalences of hepatomegaly and splenomegaly among 1483 school children were compared between 2 areas, Kangundo and Kambu, within this district. These areas, which were similar in many geographical and economic respects and populated by the same tribe (Akamba), had comparable levels of S. mansoni infection and no S. haematobium infection. A relationship was observed between the prevalence of hepatomegaly and intensity of S. mansoni infection, which showed no consistent difference between the 2 areas. In contrast, a relationship between the prevalence of splenomegaly and intensity of S. mansoni infection was observed only in the Kambu schools, and not in the Kangundo schools where the overall prevalence of splenomegaly was much lower. It was possible that part of the splenomegaly observed in Kambu was due to malaria. However, the observation that malaria and schistosomiasis in 2 Kambu schools were not positively correlated allowed approximations to be made of the relative contributions of each to the prevalence of splenomegaly. It was concluded that, in a school close to the river that formed the main transmission site of S. mansoni, schistosomiasis-related hepatosplenomegaly was present in at least 17% of children. The reason for the high prevalence in Kambu of hepatosplenic schistosomiasis remains uncertain, but it could include a synergistic interaction of schistosome infection with malaria.
 ...
PMID:Differences in the rate of hepatosplenomegaly due to Schistosoma mansoni infection between two areas in Machakos District, Kenya. 175 56

In Germany maternal mortality related to pregnancy, birth and child-bed is only about 11 women/100,000. In some African countries mortality is up to 100 times as high, UNICEF reported in 1991. The causes of high infant and maternal mortality are poverty, inadequate hygiene, and lack of preventive medical care and timely treatment of diseases for 60% of the population in the least developed countries. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa currently have the world's highest population growth rates of 3-4%/annum. Diarrheal and respiratory diseases are the most common causes of death, but recently tuberculosis has reappeared. Acute respiratory infection (ARI) causes at least 4 million deaths/year or 11,000/day. Each year about 800 million malaria infections occur worldwide. Although antimalarial drugs have reduced mortality, resistant Plasmodium strains have made therapy difficult. Schistosomiasis is endemic in 74 countries: about 200 million people are infected and more than 600 million people are at risk. Central and East Africa are the areas worst affected by the AIDS pandemic. In some cities more than 1/4 of men and women in the 20-40 age group are infected with HIV. Up to 90% seroprevalence rates have been found among female prostitutes. Perinatal transmission is becoming prevalent where 20% or more of the pregnant women are infected. In some regions of Africa prevalence rates can reach 505 and more for the adult population. By the early 1990s AIDS will be the leading cause of mortality in the 20-40 age group in some regions. A 1991 forecast for the Mbeya Region of Tanzania predicted that the 15-44 year age group would decline from 41% to 37% during 1988-94, while infant mortality may increase by 50-100/1000 live births. The only control measures of HIV transmission remain the avoidance of infected blood or infected medical equipment, and prevention is through education and information.
 ...
PMID:Strategies to maintain health in the Third World. 179 44

During the study in the anti-salt dam area in Bignona, we noted that malaria was mesoendemic (IP = 45.2%), with a high transmission during the rainy season. Prevalence rate of schistosomiasis was low. Intestinal parasites were frequent (74.4%). It is to be feared with the putting salt out, the prevalence rate of the parasitic diseases would increase, so it is important to create an unity of follow up.
 ...
PMID:[Endemic parasitic epidemiology in the anti-salt dam area of Bignona (Senegal)]. 184 73


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>